ù Quoting Tom Rightmer from a message to Ryan Bagueros  ù 
TR> This was a message to Don Box. Don and I have been on opposing sides 
TR> of several discussions. Just why do you think I would have a desire 
TR> to patronize Don? If I disagree with Don, I've done so openly and 
Well, first of all, you weren't being patronizing to Don, you were being 
patronizing to the general population, specifically those who have met your 
definition of "street people" ...
TR> or a drug addict, that is your problem and your expense. Ryan, ARE 
TR> YOU SAYING THAT WORKING PEOPLE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO SUPPORT 
TR> SOMEONE'S ALCOHOL OR DRUG HABIT? If not, you'll probably have a tough 
Well, if you want to go further, what I would really say is that there should 
be no such system where some people who slave their life away at work while 
others cannot even get a job, all for the benefit of a very few select 
individuals. Otherwise, hell yes, give the bum some change. 
TR> Ryan, tell us everything you know about alcoholism in the police 
TR> profession and where you got your information. In the same reply, 
TR> please tell us what this has to do with an obligation for a police 
TR> officer to buy alcohol or dope for a street person. I don't have a 
Well, it was basically an irony; here you are calling for the police to haul 
off panhandlers who want to spend money on (gasp!) beer, when the police who 
are these great working heroes have the exact same problems. First of all, 
cops
are overwhelmingly white with a working or middle class background. Perhaps 
because most employment psychology tests do not care about finding racist or 
classist tendencies (see Jennifer Nislow, How to Find Psychologically Sound 
Recruits, 14 Law Enforcement News 268, 1988), police are found to have 
exhibited these qualities (racism & classism), see Bayley & Mendelsohn, 
Minorities and the Police Confrontation in America 145 (1969). Arthur 
Neiderhoffer's 1967 employment-psychological study identified police officers 
as "cynical, authoritarian, rigid, aggressive, punitive, impulsive risk 
takers,
racially prejudiced, emotionally maladjusted, and lacking in self 
confidence." 
Furthermore, cops as a group experience high divorce rates, and they are 
disproportionately represnted in spousal and child abuse (see, Zamora, The SF 
Exam, Apr 4, 1994, pA2 and Phillips, The Record, Jan. 14, 1994, D1, or even 
Dauler, NY Times, Jan. 17, 1993, pM1). You can read about the alcoholism 
problem of cops in the Courier-Journal, Jan. 6, 1991, Denial Allows Officers' 
Drinking to Worsen, p1A. You might also want to check out the comprehensive 
"The Myth of the Good Cop and the Inadequacy of Fourth Amendment Remedies for 
Black Men: Contrasting Presumptions of Innocence and Guilt," Robin K. Magee, 
Capital University Law Review, Volume 23, 1994. It basically shreds the idea 
that society (and the courts) should presume that cops are somehow better 
equipped to deal with social problems given the poor training and poor 
education they have, and that the type of person who would become a cop does 
so
with abuse of power in mind.
I'll let you catch up a little on that one.
--- FMail 1.22
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