Boys (and girls) just want to have fun. Unfortunately for them, it ended up on TV
SAN FRANCISCO — One police officer was suspended and about 20 others faced discipline after making videos parodying life on the force that used racist, sexist and homophobic stereotypes, city officials announced Wednesday.
"This is a dark day, an extremely dark day, in the history of the San Francisco Police Department," said Police Chief Heather Fong, who called the acts "egregious, shameful and despicable."
The skits featuring uniformed and plainclothes officers were intended as a spoof and much of the content poked fun at the officers. A lawyer for the creator of the videos denied they were insensitive and said they were art taken out of context.
The videos were a bit rude, maybe insensitive, a little overboard. However, did they physically harm anyone? No. All they did was offend some people. Considering what police have to go through, I do not blame them for wanting to blow off some steam. But, the San Fran Thought Police are now out to get the real police
The department’s internal affairs division launched an investigation after the videos were discovered on an officer’s Web site.
The videos were removed from the Web site, Inside the SFPD, which was created by officer Andrew Cohen, who said the vignettes were produced for the Bayview station’s Christmas party.
"The guys on the streets have only one tool to relieve the stress," Cohen told KPIX-TV, "and it’s humor."
Attorney Daniel Horowitz, who is representing Cohen, said some of the content was sophomoric, but he blamed the mayor and police chief for drawing attention to the videos, which had only been viewed by police officers before a city news conference. He said his client had been slandered.
"Maybe it is dumb, and if it is dumb, who is releasing this nationally? The mayor and the police chief," Horowitz, who is a well-known TV legal analyst, said on KRON-TV.
Perhaps a bit too much humor for public figures and sworn public defenders, but, people need to lighten up a bit. You smack the officers on the wrist, sit them in the corner for a bit, and then let them get on with their jobs. And you don’t release the video’s out to the general public. Maybe then the story wouldn’t have been a top story on the website of a Raleigh, NC, TV station, WRAL. But then, what do you expect from an Ultra Liberal city which literally has it’s own Dept of Thought Police?
A special task force, the city’s Human Rights Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women would also investigate, Newsom said.
Listen, we entrust the police with deadly force, in order to enforce what is supposed to be the well-being of society. I think that’s a pretty damn good reason to hold them to a standard just a little higher than “boys will be boys,” and I’m not sure I really want to share a nation with anybody who doesn’t understand why. I sure as hell wouldn’t trust one of those bigots enforcing my rights, if I were a member of one of those minorities.
Smack them on the wrist? Like the police don’t already get enough of that when they do wrong. For all you want to bitch and whine and blame this all on political correctness, no, I’m sorry, this is a matter of sophomoric behavior having no place among what are supposed to be the City’s Finest.
You are a very sensitive little creature, aren’t you? These cops didn’t get jail terms. They didn’t get beaten by an indignant mob of pot-smoking hippies. They didn’t even lose their jobs. They got suspended at WORST, for being trained professionals who indulged in behavior not even worthy of the schoolyard. And you’re screaming as if they’d been put up on pikes, not subject to reasonable discipline for misbehavior.
I’m sorry, buddy, you don’t stop having the rights and responsibilities of being a cop when you’re off-duty. Might as well tell a soldier he’s free to get drunk and throw rocks at the locals when he’s on leave, because he needs to blow off some steam too! Nope, I guess that’d be pretty stupid, because he represents the United States every moment of every day. Well, Mister, so does a cop. And if he’s going to enforce the law, he has a responsibility to his community to behave his goddamn self.
And you have a responsibility not to hysterically blow this up into something it’s not. Shameful and stupid.
Commission on the Status of Women?
I just don’t even know what to do with that…
Well, I do, but if I say so in public, I’m sure the thought police would be headed to my house. Wow, have we really come that far?
At least they didn’t call 9/11 victims something bad, or say somthing negative about the war.
I suppose its all ok if they are only making fun of some minority group or something. Just don’t say anything bad about the tax cuts or global warming.
So, you’d be OK with flag-burning, then? It doesn’t hurt anybody. Anything goes, right?
You seem like the kind of person who’s sick of women, blacks, and gays always whining about being mistreated. Seems like you’d want to take away any excuse they’d have for complaining. The guarantee of equal rights and equal protection under the law extends to all citizens. The police are official representatives of the law, charged with ensuring that all citizens receive justice in equal measure. How can that be assured when police officers, even for “fun,” portray racist, sexist, homophobic stereotypes–and it is condoned?
It cannot be condoned, and they deserved the discipline they got. Justice isn’t reserved for white, straight people.
Why is the humor of the right always so very unfunny? I mean really, did anybody get the humor in O’Reilly’s Coit Tower “joke”?
Some cops get flack on the job for doing something that offended people (something that ended up on the Web, mind you), and you’re crying “thought police?” What a bunch of high-strung crybabies you are! Did you also call your parents “thought police,” and whine “but I wasn’t hurting anyone,” when they told you not to insult strangers for no reason?
Since when did basic manners become “the tyranny of librul political correctness?” Since you started fawning over Ann “The Blonde Brainstem” Coulter?
People get flack for saying the wrong thing in the wrong place all the time. How much potty-mouthed nonsense would your bosses tolerate at the workplace? (This question applies to those of you who have real jobs.) Yes, it’s unfair; so’s life. Grow up, get over it, and stop whining like a librul wuss.
They aren’t just getting flack. Some have been suspended, and others are being investigated.
I wonder how everyone on the Left would react if the officers claimed it was “free Speech.” Which, it is.
Hey, it was just a little nigger, spick, and queer bashing. Lighten up.
(sarcasm).
It seems that the police officer was the one who put the video up for all the world to see, on his web site. And you want to blame the media as the ones who made this “private” video public? Uh huh.
The website is not a well known one, like Malkin’s or Kos’, is it? The issue was not known until it was released during the press conference. Please read the article.
It is always painfully clear to just about all Europeans that Americans take everything sooooo very seriously. Where is the harm in showing a little creative energy among folks who have a stressful job? Grow up folks! It’s not all about “terrorism” as our mental midget president declares.
Keep up the good work Andrew!
Dutch.
i’m sorry for my language expressions, i’m a spanish local police and have a question: what is the andrew cohen website?. than you
Beats me, Tony. I never really looked for it. I caught the video on another site, or at least some of it.
Sure it’s “free speech.” So is talking like a potty-mouthed ten-year-old at the workplace. That doesn’t mean I can’t get fired for it, or that no one has a right to judge me by my words.
Like I said, life’s unfair. Rules of manners and conduct do get a bit wonky at times, but most sane adults find ways to express sensible opinions (and even not so sensible ones) without needlessly offending people. That’s not “Orwellian thought police,” it’s how real grownups act.
Get over yourselves, guys. Your “liberal=fascist” meme is getting old…or at least senile. Certainly the party that threatened to pull out of the latest Kyoto-related talks simply because Bill Clinton was scheduled to make a speech, have no cause to whine about “political correctness.”
Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.