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Comment by dllthomas | Hacker News Reader

I find it sad that the officer could be a "joke around the precinct" - presumably incompetent and apparently eager to abuse their power - and still be an officer.

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In Seattle, 120 strikes and you're out:

http://petapixel.com/2014/02/04/police-officer-threatened-ar...

I know it's just 2 photos, but that body language serves the story well. It's very threatening. I know glasses are needed to look after eyes, but when talking with someone you don't know, take them off. Especially when in a position of authority.

I totally understand an "allegation", not sustained, not counting as a full "strike". Only 21 were sustained, and we don't know the seriousness of those allegations. It still seems late, but I'd like to know more before being confident about that.

In other news reports of official stats (sorry no link), this officer had way more allegations and sustained complaints than his peers.

Result of using gender quotas, maybe? Does anyone know to what extent the NYPD relaxes its standards for people who aren't qualified but are "under represented"? If there's a bias in the hiring phase, there's likely to be similar laxity in the firing phase, too.

Could move them to less sensitive positions, even in that case. Although it occurs to me that traffic duty might be such a position.

Police solidarity, and labor unions, for the win!

Yup. Police solidarity over fair treatment and good pay is something I approve of. Police solidarity protecting police misconduct is a threat to the public and should be dealt with accordingly.

What professional or semi-professional group doesn't close ranks? From politicians to doctors to plumbers, I can't think of any group where outing a bad apple is the norm.

This is actually quite amazing insight.

The ironic bit, that each group will tell how other group is bad by doing exactly the same misconduct.

Not all professional groups have ironclad unions and official rules that prohibit their victims from even knowing the result of the investigation. And most of them aren't allowed to shoot innocent people [1] or beat them to death [2] and suffer no consequences. It's one thing if you let the colleague slide on a minor infraction, it's another think when murder becomes minor infraction. That corrupts. One can not see people around you literally getting away with murder and not have consequences for your morality.

[1] http://jonathanturley.org/2014/02/12/eight-police-officers-f...

[2] http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/12/kelly_thomas_f...

Never worked in an office before?

You don't see that there's a distinction when the behavior in question involves abuse of a position of power?

No, I don't think it's uncommon that incompetent assholes end up in positions of power and aren't pushed out.

This isn't "a position of power" in an office sense. When a person is in a position of power in an office, those the power is over can quit. Still quite a different thing.

And beside that, it's certainly the case that incompetent assholes should be pushed out in other circumstances. It is simply far less crucial when it's not as likely to end people's lives.

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