Auburn, AL Cop Fired for Speaking Out against Quota / Corruption

[TNforPaul45]

Best line: "They engage in tactics that drive out the good cops, and all you are left with are the cops that want to play the game. Cops who are bullies and want to show how tough they can be with a badge."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGeZiWOeGIc

[Keith and stuff]

Outrageous! Shame, shame shame. Also, since when is public intoxication a crime? I've heard about places creating ordinances against drinking in public but it is now illegal to be drunk in public in some places?

[Kotin]

I'd buy the man a beer...

[ZENemy]

Just one of those rare GOOOD apples.

[Philhelm]

But, but, but...police departments don't have quotas. Everybody knows that!

[SeanTX]

Outrageous! Shame, shame shame. Also, since when is public intoxication a crime? I've heard about places creating ordinances against drinking in public but it is now illegal to be drunk in public in some places?

I suppose the idea of the SPIRIT of the public intoxication law was to discourage people from causing trouble for others while drunk in public and encourage them to behave themselves. However, too many cops now only look at the LETTER of the law, drunk on the power that it gives them, and also knowing that they have to feed the legal machine with lots of new bodies so the $$$ can keep flowing.

Here in TX if a cop "thinks" you are publicly intoxicated, off to jail you go; it doesn't matter if you were just quietly enjoying yourself in a bar or maybe not even drinking/drugging at all. I've also heard of them while on domestic calls tricking drunk people to step out on to their front porch to "talk", then they are arrested for "public" intoxication. Which then usually gets thrown out, but, you can beat the rap -- but you won't beat the ride.

Even with a bogus arrest you still get punished, you have to spend the time in jail, pay out hundreds or thousands of $$$ to attorneys, bail bondsmen, etc. So the "Just Us" system (which includes bail bondsmen, attorneys, etc) still gets to make lots of money (more than they would make for pursuing real criminals).

[Keith and stuff]

Here in TX if a cop "thinks" you are publicly intoxicated, off to jail you go; it doesn't matter if you were just quietly enjoying yourself in a bar or maybe not even drinking/drugging at all.

That's outrageous! There is nothing wrong with being drunk in public. It certainly shouldn't be a crime!

[DamianTV]

Anyone who wants to know more about this honest cop needs to search:

Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rise+of+the+warrior+cop) (the honest cop in the video)

[phill4paul]

Best line: "They engage in tactics that drive out the good cops, and all you are left with are the cops that want to play the game. Cops who are bullies and want to show how tough they can be with a badge."

Yes, it is a very good line and should pretty much ends any debate on whether or not there are any good cops.

[noneedtoaggress]

Anyone who wants to know more about this honest cop needs to search:

Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rise+of+the+warrior+cop) (the honest cop in the video)

Radley is the bald guy in the video. He's a journalist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radley_Balko

[Anti Federalist]

Best line: "They engage in tactics that drive out the good cops, and all you are left with are the cops that want to play the game. Cops who are bullies and want to show how tough they can be with a badge."

A self hating, cop hater...who'da thunk it? o_O

[Anti Federalist]

Yes, it is a very good line and should pretty much ends any debate on whether or not there are any good cops.
Some nut on those Ron Paul Forums was sayin' some kind of Anti-MuriKa nonsense like that.

I couldn't hear him over all this Freedom.

*fart*

[LibertyEagle]

He also said what could be done to put a stop to it, but that requires action.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

TAKE THE BRIBE SERPICO!

[aGameOfThrones]

Just one of those rare GOOOD apples.

By police department standards.... a rotten apple.

[DamianTV]

Bump.

[Lucille]

Auburn Cop Fired for Resisting Quotas Gets Online Support; City Officials Deny Deny Deny
http://reason.com/blog/2013/07/26/online-community-comes-to-whistle-blower


Wednesday’s ReasonTV video “Cop Fired for Speaking Out Against Ticket and Arrest Quotas” is making waves, with over 150,000 YouTube views in 24 hours and a top link on Drudge Report.
[...]
In response to the video, one viewer made a Facebook group in support of Hanners. The group already has 6,000 members. Another viewer set up a fund for donations to help with ongoing legal proceedings. Hanners' email account has been flooded with support and offers to send groceries and job-placement services. Media outlets are swarming him for interviews and he reports he is happy for the aid and attention.

The police department declined my requests to talk during the making of the documentary. And now the city has now made a statement that there is not a quota system in Auburn:


Chief Register, as well as former Chief Dawson, have made it clear that they do not require quotas in the Auburn Police Division. If any Auburn Police officer is unclear on the expectations of the Chief or his supervisor, Chief Register, Public Safety Director Bill James and I all have open door policies and will be happy to hear their concerns and make our expectations clear.

Hanners kept copies all of his correspondence throughout his grievance process, including a response from the Public Safety Director Bill James specifically addressing Hanners' discomfort with the quotas. James said:


To make 100 contacts, which include among others, traffic stops, issuing warrants, field interviews and arrests, requires about two contacts per shift hour. Making two contacts per hour is not unreasonable and still seems to leave a lot of time to perform other duties that are detailed in your job description. Your supervisors as well as I have an expectation that each employee needs to be productive during their time on shift.
[...]
This production is measured using different matrix’s, including numbers. This is not any different than quantifying miles of streets paved or number of fire hydrants painted.

I asked Hanners to respond to this claim.

"Streets and fire hydrants don’t have Constitutional rights. They don’t pay taxes. They don’t vote. We’re supposed to protect and serve the citizens,” Hanners said, “They’re not to be looked at as inanimate objects that we have to keep rank and file like our streets being neat and our fire hydrants being painted.”

The city's statement also says that Hanners' claim that he was fired for violating a gag order is unsubstantiated. But they "cannot comment in detail on the specific basis for the termination." Hanners walked me through his grievance process and the internal affairs investigation:


"Well, the day my grievance was over, I get called into the Chief’s office, and was told that some evidence I presented was from an internal affairs investigation and the gag order had been placed and I wasn’t supposed to have it. So then the Chief, who is the suspect in my grievance, now starts an internal affairs investigation into me and my partner to see if we somehow compromised his own investigation into his own wrongdoing where he had found he had done nothing wrong. So in this investigation, they found that we had violated a gag order and that I had violated the city’s reporting policy by reporting these people. And they ultimately fired me for it and suspended my partner who gave me a statement that said everything I was saying was true."

Auburn Assistant City Manager James Buston is also saying that Reason did not do our journalistic duty:


“They did not even offer us the opportunity to respond before they put it together. It’s a pretty shoddy news organization, I would say.”

Actually, I have an email response from the police department, with the public safety director copied, declining my interview request.

http://cloudfront-media.reason.com/mc/toppenheimer/2013_07/auburnemail1.jpg?h=241&w=461