(Keifer Police Chief Johnny O'Mara posted a photo of a Starbucks cup label reading "PIG" given to one of his officers outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma on Thanksgiving Day 2019.)
Late last night, the New York Detectives' Endowment Association tweeted an “urgent safety message” with a link to the following statement below. I have posted the entire statement here below, because it will no doubt be taken down in the next few hours.
The New York Postreported that three NYPD cops were “hospitalized Monday night after drinking milkshakes from a Lower Manhattan Shake Shack that they believe may have been spiked with bleach.” According to law enforcement sources, the officers apparently noticed an immediate “funny taste” when they sipped the drinks and were taken to Bellevue Hospital. All three are assigned to a detail in The Bronx, but since they were working in Manhattan at the time, the NYPD’s Crime Scene Unit launched an immediate investigation of the restaurant and the surrounding events.
At 4:02 this morning, the NYPD Chief of Detectives tweeted this broad statement that really doesn’t explain much:
What is that tweet really saying or in this case, not saying?
Considering that this is not the first “report” of a police officer being harmed that is later deemed to be “an accident” and that this is a time of great uncertainty with regard to community hostility being directed at law enforcement — someone really needs to get to the bottom of things.
The incidents of police officers re-labeling their own coffee cups with the name “Pig” is also a strange phenomenon. A Starbucks employee labeled an order for police officers with “Pig” in Oklahoma in 2019 and the event went viral after the police chief posted the picture on Facebook. An employee at the chain confirmed doing it and said it was “just a joke” and was subsequently fired — but it seems other police officers took note.
In Kansas, a police officer wrote the word “Pig” on his own coffee cup and when his police chief called to complain and the event went viral, he resigned saying it was only a joke. Writing derogatory comments on your own coffee cups is certainly nothing new, but now it seems we are escalating to claims of bleach poisoning at a time when tensions in the US with law enfacement couldn’t be higher.
My question to you is are these vague explanations by police authorities about very serious criminal claims enough? Do the events of the last few years and the ongoing mistrust of police mean that the standards need to be raised? Last week we discussed the “Defund the Police” movement and how law enforcement is now tasked with taking on more duties than ever before, which is contributing to stress. Is this just another symptom of cops and burnout or is this kind of immaturity reflective of something bigger. Are these merely over-reactions from police officers who are dealing with next-level hatred right now or do some police officers intend to frame others to take the heat off of themselves? Can we afford this paranoia right now from the people enforcing the laws or are those same people manipulating the law?
I think we are owed more of an explanation by authorities about what specifically happened, especially considering that it looks like a false claim was made and distributed across social media to the possible detriment of a food chain. The police should be held to the same criminal standards as the public and the failure to do so only contributes to ongoing percolating issues of distrust.
Recently I saw that police in the US are given 5 months of training whereas in the UK they are given 2 years. The seriousness of the job should have the same amount of seriousness in training and in culture. It’s astounding that the people at the top often are the instigators - I’m thinking about the cops DC who were told to flatten the car tires of protestors.
We need to demilitarize the police. The video of an entire squadron responding to a report of a homeless man asleep at a bus stop, showing up in full battle gear, and then all officers shooting him to a pulp when he wouldn’t lie on his stomach was horrifying.
New York’s finest has always had a checkered past, so I think it is immaturity on one hand and the next level of mistrust by the public. It also tends to be an incestous group, GrandDads, Dads , sobs and daughters etc.
They pretty much get anything they want hazmat, tactical weapons, special teams plenty of overtime but they also see the worst of everything. It’s not LAW AND ORDER DADAT out there it can be a tough place.
We are in a surreal time with the pandemic, coming out of one recession and into another, and it easy to say let’s all take a breath and sit down and talk this through and we know that’s Not going to happen.
So what to do? I think Tracey has the right idea, more education. They want to be treated like professionals so Academy should be much longer with critical courses on race relations, peer pressure, etc. I have no idea what psychological screening is employed. I simply don’t believe they are victims. I have seen three murders of black men all for petty things. Haven’t seen any white men killed.
There are also so just mean violent people who choose this profession so they do what they want. A good weeding of those types must occur now.
One other point every single profession has their own blue line, Doctors do, Lawyers do, teachers do, if you are professional and participate in having some’s back in the secreted up you are part of the problem, but you don’t have guns. I honestly belueve for every bad cop there are 5 good ones. They aren’t victims IMHO
I think there is a real problem. With 40% of police officers having a domestic violence (DV) history (http://womenandpolicing.com/violenceFS.asp#notes), DV is higher in America's police than it is in the general population and the NFL. Intimidation and aggression practiced in the privacy of their own home certainly can't be good when they go out into the community.
We should expect police to be as transparent as they'd expect us to be. This mealy mouthed rebuttal by the chief of police of an unfounded claim by the association president is insufficient; in addition, the association president must issue his own retraction.
So: best case scenario, the officers got sick because the machine wasn’t properly cleaned (according to a CNN report), and the press release is paranoid & troublemaking; the tweet is icing on the cake. (Kind of “dammed with faint exoneration.”)
Worst case: the Shake Shack employees are crummy poisoners, and the police are crummy investigators. Ugh.
Half the country accepts juvenile behavior from the POTUS so dishonorable actions by his supporters will become commonplace. It makes everybody else look impeccably wise and adult by comparison.
People have lost their damned minds and there is no end to depravity and cruelty and nonsense and dumb stuff they'll pull. It's Lord of the Flies out there.
Recently I saw that police in the US are given 5 months of training whereas in the UK they are given 2 years. The seriousness of the job should have the same amount of seriousness in training and in culture. It’s astounding that the people at the top often are the instigators - I’m thinking about the cops DC who were told to flatten the car tires of protestors.
The world has gone mad.
Did they test the milk shakes? Being law enforcement, they certainly have the resources to do so.
We need to demilitarize the police. The video of an entire squadron responding to a report of a homeless man asleep at a bus stop, showing up in full battle gear, and then all officers shooting him to a pulp when he wouldn’t lie on his stomach was horrifying.
New York’s finest has always had a checkered past, so I think it is immaturity on one hand and the next level of mistrust by the public. It also tends to be an incestous group, GrandDads, Dads , sobs and daughters etc.
They pretty much get anything they want hazmat, tactical weapons, special teams plenty of overtime but they also see the worst of everything. It’s not LAW AND ORDER DADAT out there it can be a tough place.
We are in a surreal time with the pandemic, coming out of one recession and into another, and it easy to say let’s all take a breath and sit down and talk this through and we know that’s Not going to happen.
So what to do? I think Tracey has the right idea, more education. They want to be treated like professionals so Academy should be much longer with critical courses on race relations, peer pressure, etc. I have no idea what psychological screening is employed. I simply don’t believe they are victims. I have seen three murders of black men all for petty things. Haven’t seen any white men killed.
There are also so just mean violent people who choose this profession so they do what they want. A good weeding of those types must occur now.
One other point every single profession has their own blue line, Doctors do, Lawyers do, teachers do, if you are professional and participate in having some’s back in the secreted up you are part of the problem, but you don’t have guns. I honestly belueve for every bad cop there are 5 good ones. They aren’t victims IMHO
No one group has a monopoly on knuckleheads.
I think there is a real problem. With 40% of police officers having a domestic violence (DV) history (http://womenandpolicing.com/violenceFS.asp#notes), DV is higher in America's police than it is in the general population and the NFL. Intimidation and aggression practiced in the privacy of their own home certainly can't be good when they go out into the community.
Absolutely this needs further explanation(!- really? !)
It’s unfortunately another sign of poor quality hiring over a long period of time. And why police get called ‘dirty
pigs’ in the 1st place.
We could start with :
Restructuring and retraining.
Disarming and teaching.
Police should be another arm of community leadership. Not our disciplinarians; with Justice handled by the court system, not an individual
officer.
Currently I have little sympathy for Police. It’s about time the ones that need to be called out for overstepping bounds is happening. Finally. BLM
Interesting ... What did the 'thorough investigation's actually consist of ?
File this under "Things that make you go hmmmm."
I think the answer is 'yes'
I think it is them trying to manufacture the case that there is violence against them where they can find none.
We should expect police to be as transparent as they'd expect us to be. This mealy mouthed rebuttal by the chief of police of an unfounded claim by the association president is insufficient; in addition, the association president must issue his own retraction.
So: best case scenario, the officers got sick because the machine wasn’t properly cleaned (according to a CNN report), and the press release is paranoid & troublemaking; the tweet is icing on the cake. (Kind of “dammed with faint exoneration.”)
Worst case: the Shake Shack employees are crummy poisoners, and the police are crummy investigators. Ugh.
Paul DiGiacomo, President and DEA BOD is a Karen.
Half the country accepts juvenile behavior from the POTUS so dishonorable actions by his supporters will become commonplace. It makes everybody else look impeccably wise and adult by comparison.
Agreed
Sorry about the spell non check below
People have lost their damned minds and there is no end to depravity and cruelty and nonsense and dumb stuff they'll pull. It's Lord of the Flies out there.