HT to Hotair
The Mayor of Wellford is defending her policy which bans police officers in that city from chasing suspects. Sallie Peake says the policy also includes vehicle chases along with pursuits on foot.
A memo issued on September 2nd from Peake to all Wellford officers reads:
"As of this date, there are to be no more foot chases when a suspect runs. I do not want anyone chasing after any suspects whatsoever."
WSPA first reported the mandate on Wednesday after an anonymous citizen faxed a copy of the memo to our newsroom. Peake was out of town and unavailable for comment. On Friday, reporter Chris Cato caught up with her in her office and questioned her about the origin of the policy. Peake says she issued the mandate because several officers have been injured during chases, driving up insurance costs for the town.
"The officers are costing us more money on insurance than most citizens here in the city of Wellford are even earning," says Peake.
She says the city is paying out $20,000 annually in workers' compensation claims, much of it due to the police force. In July, two officers wrecked their cruisers while chasing suspects and had to go to the hospital for minor treatment. The police chief says three officers have been injured during foot chases in the last two years.
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright says the policy prevents police from upholding the law--a direct violation of their constitutional oath. "If a bank robber or a drunk driver or a shoplifter or somebody with a warrant runs on foot, it's our obligation to do what we can do to bring them to justice," says Wright.
But when we asked Peake about her order impeding an officer from stopping a crime in progress, she became defensive and irate. The conversation went as follows:
Reporter: "Are you telling your officers if they witness a crime - they witness someone commit a crime on someone else and they're ten yards away - they can't go stop that person?"
Peake: "Is that in there?" (referring to policy)
Reporter: "It says no chases whatsoever."
Peake: "Well, that's what I said, no chases, didn't I? I didn't say nothing about a crime. If you see a crime, this that and the other -"
Reporter: "Well, that's what a chase is - "
Peake: "Well, I told them no chase on foot, and (the police chief) know exactly what I mean, so you're trying to twist what I -"
Reporter: "No, I'm not. You said no chases. No chases means no chases."
Peake: (claps hands) "You got you a story, thank God! You are so sweet! You got you a story on a woman in Wellford! Hallelujah! I'm so proud of you, Mr. Cato!"
Wellford Police Chief Chris Guy has told his officers to abide by the policy. He says they can still protect the public. "Just because a suspect may run does not mean we can't identify them, sign warrants, and catch them later," says Guy.
But Sheriff Wright says when a suspect gets away, there is always the chance he could hurt someone before officers catch up with him.
Peake says that won't happen in Wellford.
Here's hoping the arm of the law really is long. The earlier part of the story:
The mayor of an Upstate city has issued an order that may handcuff her police officers and put citizens at risk, according to some.News Channel 7 received a fax from an anonymous person identifying themself as "a concerned Wellford citizen". Included was a memo written by Wellford Mayor Sallie Peake, addressed to all city police officers. Dated September 2, 2009, it reads:
"As of this date, there are to be no more foot chases when a suspect runs. I do not want anyone chasing after any suspects whatsoever."
We have not been able to reach Peake for comment. The city clerk tells us the Mayor is out of town on vacation and is unreachable.
Wellford Police Chief Chris Guy confirmed the memo was legitimate. He says he has told his officers to abide by the order until he can sit down with Peake and talk about it. "This came about because an officer twisted his ankle while chasing a suspect a couple of weeks ago," said Chief Guy.
He said he could not comment further until he has talked with Peake about how the policy will affect his officers' abilities to perform their duties.
For an outside opinion, we went to Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright. "I've never seen a memo like that before, telling your police officers not to do their job," said Wright. "That's strange."
Wright says Peake has essentiall handcuffed her officers. "If a bank robber or a drunk driver or a shoplifter or somebody with a warrant runs on foot, it's our obligation to do what we can do to bring them to justice," says Wright.
He says the memo may actually be illegal because it directly conflicts with a police officer's constitutional oath to uphold the law. And he says while it may protect officers from injury, it may also put citizens at risk. "If you've got somebody that's running from the police, whose to say they won't break into your home to get away from law enforcement?" said Wright.
He said he is going to ask State Law Enforcement Division if the memo is legal. In the meantime, he says he will add patrols to the Wellford area in case officers need help catching suspects who decide to run. as if they all won't, now?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2009 09:49 ||
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"you got you.."
"I didn't say nothing..."
" ...them no chase on foot..."
Good Lord! Is this woman really that illiterate and/or ungrammatical?
#7
Good! They should also stop arresting people because that implies a value judgement and probably hurts their feelings. Besides, everyone is innocent until proven guilty so why are the police chasing them in the first place?
#9
Just have police and 911 dispatchers take requests and complaints, and get back to the service requesters within 48 hours, in an 8-to-5 sort of way. With a 12 to 1 lunch break, of course. We must be civilized here, ya know.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/19/2009 16:24 Comments ||
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#10
Easy solution. If a perp runs, shoot him. Just let the public know that if a police officer wants to talk to you, you damn well had better stop.
#2
if he actually did expect professionalism, i want some of what he was smoking...
Posted by: abu do you love ||
09/19/2009 14:32 Comments ||
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#3
They are like that because it *works*! Perhaps not with Chris Wallace (a _real_ reporter) but with the other networks and other anchors.
Not that the other networks are putting up any sort of argument.
Reminds me of a child where the parent is always 'giving in' to each and every whine, complaint, desire and want. It does not bode well for the child...
#8
the guy's treatments resumed within weeks - he never missed a chemo session. He also received stem cell therapy, and lived four more years. elarson is right on, the system worked
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2009 10:34 Comments ||
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President Barack Obama has said that some Americans may oppose him because of race, but that this has not been the main factor behind healthcare protests.
He suggests, in TV interviews to be broadcast on Sunday, anti-government sentiment was the key reason for angry protests against healthcare reform.
Former President Jimmy Carter said this week that much of the vitriol against reform plans was "based on racism". Many felt "that an African-American should not be president", he said.
Mr Carter made the point after Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" while Mr Obama was delivering an address on healthcare to Congress last week.
Recent protests against Mr Obama's healthcare reform plans have included angry town hall meetings and a taxpayers' demonstration in Washington last weekend. Some have accused Mr Obama of tyranny and promised to "reclaim America".
In comments to ABC, Mr Obama said race was a "volatile issue" and "it becomes hard for people to separate out race being a sort of part of the backdrop of American society versus race being a predominant factor in any given debate".
"Are there some people who don't like me because of my race?" he said. "I'm sure there are.
"Are there some people who voted for me only because of my race? There are probably some of those too.
But he added that he thought some were "more passionate about the idea of whether government can do anything right. And I think that that's probably the biggest driver of some of the vitriol."
In a separate interview with CNN, Mr Obama said he did not think race was the "the overriding issue here".
He also said he was not the first president to come up against angry protests. "The things that were said about FDR [Franklin Roosevelt] were pretty similar to the things that were said about me - that he was a communist, he was a socialist," Mr Obama said. "Things that were said about Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the New Deal programs were pretty vicious as well."
#1
So, Now it's Official, Criticise Obama and you're a RACIST.
Moron.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/19/2009 3:07 Comments ||
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#2
"Mr Obama said he did not think race was the "the overriding issue here"."
As predicted by me and many, many, others, the best sign that Obama and his agenda was in trouble was that his minions would push a meme that implied or outright said that ANYONE who opposed ANY part of his agenda for ANY reason was a proven racist. The script for this was written the day Obama was elected. The minute was chosen exactly when Carter uttered his surly hatespeech this week. This is a sign of desperation, and, as I also predicted, this response will not help Obama but will hasten his demise. He and his crowd obviously did not know that when they sent out Carter and others, they thought that would help and it didn't. Hence this damage control type of speech by Obama.
This is boilerplate for the left, particularly the academic left, where the notion that all white people except for a few enlightend, chosen elite are born and inherent racists. There's an old joke from the early nineties that was fairly common around universities, that you could tell when a leftist was losing an arguement on facts when they were accusing their debate opponent of racism. Avoidance of generic prejudice and bigotry are no longer taught in our education industry, only specific condemnations of white racism, sexism, and homophobia. Black bigotry against whites, women's bigotry against men, gays referring to heterosexuals as "breeders", and, most importantly, the virulent bigotry against Christians that is pandemic in the education industry, are not mentioned or corrected or chided when present.
This is all part of postmodern leftism, and those latter prejudices are either ignored or in some cases encouraged because after all, don't the people who possess them have very right to do so, given the great evil of whites and straights and capitalists and Christians?
Sad and dysfunctional.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/19/2009 6:02 Comments ||
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#3
Hence this damage control type of speech by Obama.
It's only damage control when they exert efforts to keep the ship afloat and functioning.
Here, they're trying to push the torpedo out of the hull, forgetting about the "leak" then staying topside to keep the ship pointed left.
Damage control means Carter should have been told to STFU. Instead he was probably called to shoot his mouth off about "racism."
We have three top democratic leaders, Pelosi, Carter and the woman from ACORN accusing an opposition group of racism, knowingly fanning the flames of racial passions, and not so much as a peep from the president that maybe those accusations were inappropriate to the current debate.
We accuse republicans of using a "circular firing squad" but the democrats have one as well as they shoot outwards towards their constituencies.
This all reinforces my belief that you can't be worried about personal liberties and not be worried about the federal budget.
It takes a lot of your tax dollars to separate you from your personal liberties. Democrats need money and lots of it to pay for cops, judges, district attorneys, professorships, seminars, printed materials, radio and TV ads, the alpha and omega of every journalism product any tyrant needs to retain power and so on to convince the justice system that "teabaggers" are the real threat to America.
And they don't like it when they are called on it.
#4
The unfortunate thing is that there still are some incidents of racism and other bigotry that still occur. There are far, far fewer than before, but they still happen. This constant "crying wolf" whenever the O-man doesn't get his way is only makes it worse for true victims of that kind of behavior.
(Yeah, I know, like a bunch of narcissists are gonna care about someone else's problems.)
By David Harsanyi
If you've been paying attention lately, you may be under the impression that the United States was spiraling into mass incivility.
The evidence keeps mounting: Congressman Joe Wilson yelling. Serena Williams yelling. Kanye West . . . whatever. All of these uncouth characters have been strung together by critics to establish, indisputably, that there is a societal explosion of boorish and coarse behavior.
On the political front, columnist Kathleen Parker calls this "a political era of uninhibited belligerence." House speaker Nancy Pelosi, lamenting an imaginary climate of violence, wishes "we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made."
Such a preposterous statement should be actionable. Pelosi, who only recently compared her political opponents to Nazis, isn't exactly a paragon of civil discourse. American politics has always been unsightly. Most of the time, in fact, far worse than today.
Have we transformed into so brittle a citizenry that we are unable to handle a raucous debate over the future of the country? If things were quiet, subdued and "civil" in America today, as Pelosi surely wishes, it would only be proof that democracy wasn't working.
It's no accident, either, that those in power are generally the ones choking up about the lack of decorum. The truth is, we could use far less bogus civility in Washington.
Some of us, for instance, would prefer the superb system of debating used by the British Parliament. Watching those foppish MPs holler "poppycock, sir!" at each other during speeches is a pure pleasure. The British trade courteousness for a more productive, more honest and, most important, more entertaining debate. (The occasional Taiwanese-style free-for-all parliamentary slap-riot wouldn't hurt C-Span's ratings either.)
Instead, here at home, stilted House rules dictate that a congressperson may not refer to the government as "something hated, something oppressive." Its members shall not call any unnamed officials "our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs" no matter how true the statement may be. And they never, ever can describe the president as a "liar," a "hypocrite" or claim he is "intellectually dishonest."
It's a miracle anything is discussed, actually.
Obviously, congressman Wilson broke the rules when he rudely blurted out, "You lie!" The vulnerable souls inhabiting Congress -- people who spend half their lives and millions of dollars smearing political opponents as child-hating, warmongering, brown-shirted socialists -- were profoundly offended by this act of rudeness. For many, it was another sign of the intensifying coarseness in American society.
Now, tennis (unlike politics) is, without question, one of the most civilized sports in the world. If there was any chance that Williams was going to shove a EXPLETIVE ball down the EXPLETIVE throat of a line judge, it might even be a sport worth watching. After that, despite the overwrought finger-wagging of critics, the incident tells us nothing about society at large -- other than that athletes can be competitive and lose their tempers.
Neither does a hammered celebrity rapper making an idiot out of himself on the MTV (the exemplar of proper etiquette, no?) Video Awards. Yes, I too yearn for the bygone era of hip-hop chivalry, but those days, sadly, have passed.
Where does that leave us? Exactly where we were 10 years ago -- or 20. I've been around this country a bit and most of the people I've encountered have been extraordinarily civil -- even if they occasionally drink too much or embarrass themselves or curse at each other while playing pick-up basketball.
This new focus on civility is meant to cloud another issue. Let's not confuse personal civility with political civility. A "civil" citizenry can mean a pliable citizenry, waiting -- sometimes forever -- to speak their minds.
We have no duty to say "please" and "thank you" to elected officials. Not yet.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2009 00:00 ||
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F'n A it is...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/19/2009 2:04 Comments ||
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#2
...Man, these people should be glad Americans sometimes have zero historical memory. Take a look at the political campaigns of the early and middle 19th Century - they were vicious to an extent we wouldn't even recognize today.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/19/2009 8:14 Comments ||
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#3
More viciousness? Fine with me. Give them as much as they gave us -- its the only thing they understand, and not it does not "lower me to their level" (That's what the AUlinsky tactic wants ou to believe), it forces them to deal with me on terms I decide to set.
Like I said, fine with me -- but be aware that its not fine with some folks around here, partially for style from some of the mods (which in the real world style counts for nothing, only Winning counts), but mainly for legal reasons (Getting Fred sued would suck, so don't do it).
#4
If you want to pay for Fred's legal bills, then by all means go for it.
It's Fred's property. That means you either follow the house rules or start your own blog. If you got the energy to bitch about your posting 'inconveniences' here, you surely have the energy to post your stuff on your site.
Posted by: Black Bart ||
09/19/2009 14:01 Comments ||
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#6
If you want to pay for Fred's legal bills, then by all means go for it.
Not even that. OS would need to be ready and able to compensate Fred for his time, annoyance AND legal bills - and get Fred's consent ahead of time - before he goes for it here.
Blogs can be set up for free or near free, as has been mentioned on numerous previous occasions when you've b*tched about the rules here OS. Go start one of your own or respect this site's rules without pushing against them every time they annoy you.
heh - NYT finally acknowledges what everyone already knows. The baby has magnificent hair. Elizabeth the Enabler is not amused.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2009 17:55 ||
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Shouldn't this article have the picture that has Britney Spears, Gary Condit et al, that says a shattered nation longs to care about stupid sh*t again?
I mean, John Edwards is soooo 2004.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/19/2009 21:13 Comments ||
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#2
Poster's choice, Rambler. The other is equally perfect, but I imagine, it being Frank, the hair is what weighted the scale for this one. ;-)
#4
Through tools like 'Call 'Em Out,' you will be met with a rain of hellfire
Call em out. Rain of hellfire? I wondered what happened to Baghdad Bob. He is alive and well and working as the Czar of Propaganda and Misrepresentation.
#7
I went to the obama web site. Not a single American flag on the page. There were five or so of his obama nation logo's. The only refenence of a flag is on the web login. Looks like a flag on the ground. This guy and his band of idiots are going to throw our nation into a civil war. He is not pro American, he is pro anything but America...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/19/2009 15:14 Comments ||
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I do not think that the DNC knows with it is saying. A rain of Hellfire is something that they would not want to receive. Ask the boyz of Wazoo. If you could.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/19/2009 16:26 Comments ||
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[Pravda.Ru] Madeleine Albright said during the meeting that America no longer had the intention of being the first nation of the world.
Ms. Albright started her speech in Russian. "Hello and thank you! It's a pleasure for me to be here," she said in Russian. Albright wrote in her autobiography that she was trying to learn some Russian during the 1960s.
The former US Secretary of State surprised the audience with her speech. She particularly said that democracy was not the perfect system. "It can be contradictory, corrupt and may have security problems," Albright said.
America has been having hard times recently, Albright said.
"We have been talking about our exceptionalism during the recent eight years. Now, an average American wants to stay at home -- they do not need any overseas adventures. We do not need new enemies," Albright said adding that Beijing, London and Delhi became a serious competition for Washington and New York.
"My generation has made many mistakes. We give the future into the hands of the young. Your prime goal is to overcome the gap between the poor and the rich,' the former head of the US foreign political department said.
All very high-minded and eloquent -- albeit fallacious -- but seriously unhelpful in keeping the world running right. And very, very inappropriate sentiments when uttered by a former American secretary of state to a foreign audience, especially one that still fancies itself in competition with America for world dominance. On the other hand, it is Pravda, so let us hope they deliberately got it wrong.
#1
Halfbright--a dangerous nitwit--a leftist who would make the world more dangerous rather than less. What's with all these Marxists having a "collective" wet dream?
#2
Don't think that Pravda is that far off on this one. Albright is a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which is right up there with SPECTRE for being a collective of whacked out supervillain failures, from Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Harold Brown, Richard Armitage, etc.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
