Comments on: Dress Up as a “Ninja” and…

By: floyd

floyd — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 23:25:40 +0000

cwm; what used to be "police protection" is now "law enforcement". if you don't see the difference than i'm better off without you. though sore tempted, i'll refrain from name calling![BTW my epithet's are far more clever than yours].

By: Steve Verdon

Steve Verdon — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:13:28 +0000

CWM,

Get off your high horse.

Fersboo,

I don't mind checking out the suspicious, but geez, look at that picture. They have him handcuffed, on the ground and there is an ATF agent kneeling on his kneck/upper back. If I did something like that, as a private citizen, to somebody I thought was being suspicious I have little doubt I'd be arrested.

The cops work for us. They should answer to us. Instead there is all too often a screen of secrecy and silence that falls into place when they screw up. That is unacceptable.

By: Fersboo

Fersboo — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:35:00 +0000

When I first read about this story, I was under the impression that this had occurred at night(I saw this elsewhere, but can't remember where). Given it is broad daylight, I think Steve, in his way, may have been right about ATF over-reacting. BTW Steve, detention is not arrest.

I was never a law enforcement officer, nor was I a MP, but I have over 10 years experience in the security field and have worked closely with law enforcement. Things that are out of the ordinary must be investigated. So I don't fault them too much for detaining the student until they could figure out what was going on.

The ATF were probably out of their element, but they did seem a bit over-zealous.

By: aTypical Joe: A gay New Yorker living in the rural south.

aTypical Joe: A gay New Yorker living in the rural south. — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 04:01:41 +0000

UGA student detained for wearing a mask... I like Athens. The New York Times says Athens a liberal college town that is sometimes referred to as 'the Berkeley of the South.'" This wouldn't happen at Berkeley: Jeremiah Ransom, a sophomore from Macon, was leaving a Wesley Foundation......

By: CWM

CWM — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 02:24:58 +0000

Yep, Plunk, we are a different group. Not long ago I did damn near the same thing to two late teens wearing all black around the back of a McDonalds. Guess what? They had handguns in their jackets and were planning an armed robbery.
You and Verdon sound like pompous asses making stupid generalizations so you can complain about the people laying their safety on the line so your sister doesn't get raped, so your mother doesn't get robbed, and so your wife doesn't get shot while at work.
Nobody believes the ATF stopped these kids because they thought they were ninjas who were going to hurt them with throwing stars.

By: floyd

floyd — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 02:19:06 +0000

the steves are right on this one fersboo! this country needs less of this kind of "protection" and more personal backbone, or we'll never get our freedom back.

By: Steve Verdon

Steve Verdon — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 23:48:46 +0000

But Steve you're being an ass...oopps sorry and ass. But in all fairness to Fersboo, ninjas are scary. Those ATF agents are lucky he didn't flip out and cut of their heads. Oh and ninjas are mamals...I did not know that.

By: Steven Plunk

Steven Plunk — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:31:28 +0000

It all goes back to the type of training our law enforcement officers receive.

No longer is a cop part of the community but now is a separate class of enforcer who must assume all are guilty and then treat them as such. Routine traffic stops often result in drawn guns and just try to engage a police officer in civil debate concerning law enforcement.

Police today regard themselves as a private fraternity with secrets to be kept and outsiders treated as threats.

As individuals they are usually polite, kind, and just like the rest of us. As a group they should frighten us to some degree. The photo of the arrested ninja, with the officers knee on his neck, shows us what could happen to any one of us.

The training and police culture are the problems and that is the fault of management.

By: Steve Verdon

Steve Verdon — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:57:21 +0000

Right...exactly how many people were killed by ninjas last year? Oh yeah, none.

By: Fersboo

Fersboo — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:51:51 +0000

Steve, don't be such an ass. If he ended killing somebody and it came to light that federal agents hed the ability to stop him before he committed the killing, you'd be braying with the rest of them about how the cops don't do their job.