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In reply to the discussion: We must NOT buy into the narrative that a cop's life is worth more than any other [View all]Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)221. Possibly, it could be interpreted to mean that.
However the specifics of the case that the position was argued on are telling.
The decision, with an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia and dissents from Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, overturned a ruling by a federal appeals court in Colorado. The appeals court had permitted a lawsuit to proceed against a Colorado town, Castle Rock, for the failure of the police to respond to a woman's pleas for help after her estranged husband violated a protective order by kidnapping their three young daughters, whom he eventually killed.
For hours on the night of June 22, 1999, Jessica Gonzales tried to get the Castle Rock police to find and arrest her estranged husband, Simon Gonzales, who was under a court order to stay 100 yards away from the house. He had taken the children, ages 7, 9 and 10, as they played outside, and he later called his wife to tell her that he had the girls at an amusement park in Denver.
Ms. Gonzales conveyed the information to the police, but they failed to act before Mr. Gonzales arrived at the police station hours later, firing a gun, with the bodies of the girls in the back of his truck. The police killed him at the scene.
For hours on the night of June 22, 1999, Jessica Gonzales tried to get the Castle Rock police to find and arrest her estranged husband, Simon Gonzales, who was under a court order to stay 100 yards away from the house. He had taken the children, ages 7, 9 and 10, as they played outside, and he later called his wife to tell her that he had the girls at an amusement park in Denver.
Ms. Gonzales conveyed the information to the police, but they failed to act before Mr. Gonzales arrived at the police station hours later, firing a gun, with the bodies of the girls in the back of his truck. The police killed him at the scene.
He violated a restraining order, and illegally took his children. Mom was pleading with the Police to please do something, get him, get the girls back alive. The Police sighed and said whatever man, we're busy writing tickets. We have a quota man.
The police argued, and the Supreme Court agreed, that the Police do not have a Constitutional Duty to protect anyone, even if it is three minor children who have been kidnapped by their father in violation of a court order.
Now, does anyone remember how those two women got shot during the manhunt for Richard Dorner? Anyone? That's right, they were delivering papers in a neighborhood where the police were stationed to protect another police officer. So the police could be bodyguards for other cops, but they couldn't go to the amusement park where the estranged Father taunted the mother by calling her and telling her where he was with their daughters.
The Police had no duty to protect the woman. They had no duty to protect those girls. Court orders didn't mean squat. Kidnapping? Whatever, family dispute right? Three little girls dead, and the cops aren't responsible in the least.
You would think they would care about a crime in progress, you know Kidnapping? But I'm guessing it would have cut into their ticket quota. Gotta get those funds for the department.
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We must NOT buy into the narrative that a cop's life is worth more than any other [View all]
ellenrr
Dec 2014
OP
Buy more guns and come out shooting?...interesting world that would be with no good cops...
Fred Sanders
Dec 2014
#6
My friend, I found you a good cop before, but you haven't responded to it.
Savannahmann
Dec 2014
#35
Interesting world with no good cops at all...or only the odd one here or there is the line now?
Fred Sanders
Dec 2014
#45
I guess when the police kill a man in the streets he takes away the right
Ed Suspicious
Dec 2014
#81
Logic and reality-based thinking are ideals of the Democratic Party, unlike the Republican Party.
JEFF9K
Dec 2014
#146
Your reputation precedes you, kind sir, I am in no way WORTHY ..... !!!!
NoJusticeNoPeace
Dec 2014
#242
why, logically, does having a witness 40 mean there were maybe 100, or each contributed maybe 1%?
uppityperson
Dec 2014
#186
you refuse to clarify? oh. no, I do not see the logic and you don't want to explain how
uppityperson
Dec 2014
#225
You really believe that 1% of the evidence crap? That's not logical that's rationalization.
marble falls
Dec 2014
#266
Its your math, all right. And your own illogic behind it. You seem to think all witnesses are of....
marble falls
Dec 2014
#268
Absolutely. But not silliness. That's fantatasy. That's just silly. Its a Grand Jury, not a ....
marble falls
Dec 2014
#272
Suborning perjury. As an officer of the court he is sworn not to put up false witnesses or evidence,
marble falls
Jan 2015
#278
What you got there is presumption of guilt. You are already declaring a person in an encounter as
TheKentuckian
Dec 2014
#174
Right. And if we don't value a cop's life, then we can't insist that the cops value others' lives.
Yo_Mama
Dec 2014
#12
I don't know what you mean by "legitimate exercise of police authority is a proxy for the
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#53
Hmmmmmm ..... I wonder why that is? They've killed too many unarmed people, maybe?
marble falls
Dec 2014
#23
Your definition of anarchism is wrong. Anarchism is not about destruction, it is about
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#100
Are those like the "broken eye socket" photos you guys were passing around?
RandiFan1290
Dec 2014
#196
You can try to make this about me all you want, but I'm not carrying water for RW liars.
DisgustipatedinCA
Dec 2014
#222
I don't "carry water" for RW Liars, either, genius, so I'm SURE you'll be able to show us where I
whathehell
Dec 2014
#226
You know there is a Supreme Court Decision that the police have no duty to protect the public right?
Savannahmann
Dec 2014
#34
They already have which is why hundreds of them kick in doors every weekday morning
951-Riverside
Dec 2014
#83
I take your point, but when examples pile up, one can be excused for generalizing...
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#29
Yes, well said. It's the police who've developed an "us against them" mentality..
mountain grammy
Dec 2014
#52
Not a day goes by without seeing a video of a cops beating someone up..
mountain grammy
Dec 2014
#71
this is so true. thank you! "Our government at the highest levels committed torture
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#74
Cops lives may not be more important than others but they are just as important.
Thinkingabout
Dec 2014
#15
And who arrives to arrest that nutcase and protect the rest of us, the NRA?
Fred Sanders
Dec 2014
#43
I don't know about anyone else. I said, I do not think cop lives should be valued over anyone else's
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#64
I know, you were referring to Arctic Fox. I guess I agreed with him/her rhetorically...
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#70
"We should care less when a cop is killed"? That sucks -- EVERYONE's life matters.
whathehell
Dec 2014
#136
really? So in the low-income neighborhood, cops investigate assaults and rapes? that would be
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#27
They are operatives of a racist institution, are trained to act in racist fashions, and are immersed
TheKentuckian
Dec 2014
#198
Seems fair, you are unwilling to discuss the institutional aspect which is over arching
TheKentuckian
Dec 2014
#261
Being a cog in a system doesn't require "brainwashing" just tolerance, immersion, training,
TheKentuckian
Dec 2014
#265
I Think it's akin to the civil rights cases the federal govt brings in murder cases
marshall
Dec 2014
#40
The cops of today are not like those of the 50's. I remember when they were friendly.
L0oniX
Dec 2014
#48
I agree with you, it is sad that on DU so often people do not delve deeply into the issues....
ellenrr
Dec 2014
#72
Who here would be in favor of stopping the killing? We have families killed by family
Thinkingabout
Dec 2014
#89
"The officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day
DrDan
Dec 2014
#91
I condemn the killings of the 2 police officers...and you have no right to interpret what I mean...
George II
Dec 2014
#92
Cops are a manifestation of our system of laws, like judges or attorneys.
lumberjack_jeff
Dec 2014
#181
I we could do something about the subculture of violence in many departments--
eridani
Dec 2014
#192
Sorry but all killing tears at the fabric of society. People have a tendency
still_one
Dec 2014
#204
Yes, People are shaped by what personally happens to to them, no doubt about it. I know people who
still_one
Dec 2014
#212
I agree! I know a lot of cops from my neighborhood and they are good people.
hrmjustin
Dec 2014
#211
Very well said, including the part about feeling obliged to precipitate every reference to
sabrina 1
Dec 2014
#248
"Cops defend property." That is something I am always having to explain to people.
Odin2005
Dec 2014
#269