Stupid/mind-numbingly infuriating cops/law roundup.

I swear to god, if I didn't know at least two cops who are decent folks, I'd be leaning towards the massive overgeneralization they were all dirtbags.

The system itself, on the other hand? Don't even get me started. No overgeneralization required - so completely f&'%ed up.

Woman jailed for serving salty burger to police officer - Boing Boing:

"A McDonald's worker in Georgia was arrested after serving a burger with too much salt to a police officer in the drive-thru.

...The police officer said that after he ate the burger, he nearly threw up. Bull wonders why the officer didn't he throw it away after taking a bite? By the way, the McDonald's gives free meals to the police who eat there."

Maricopa County Sheriff's Department burn down a house and kill puppy over traffic citations - Boing Boing:

"A Phoenix SWAT team armed with tear gas, plenty of guns, and an armored personnel carrier stormed a house, burned it down, and killed the family dog. They were looking for illegal weapons, but found none. However, they did capture a 26-year-old man who had failed to appear in Tempe Municipal Court on two traffic violations.

...in the ultimate display of cruelty, a SWAT team member drove a dog trying to flee the home back into the inferno, where it met an agonizing death.

Deputies then reportedly laughed as the dog's owners came unglued as it perished in the blaze."

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > More Painkiller Hysteria from Florida:

"...for purposes of charging and sentencing, Florida law counts the total weight of all the medication in which the controlled substance is contained. In this case, prosecutors threatened to charge Spence for the full 49 grams of pills in the bottle, even though they were 99 percent Tylenol.

..."Under Florida’s mandatory minimum drug laws, just 28 grams of a prescription pain killer carries a sentence of 25 years. Possession of the same amount of cocaine only gets you a mandatory three year sentence.""

TheAgitator.com: New Professionalism 2: Comments:

"Portland cop was playing video games and posting and chat rooms while on the job...

According to the Portland Tribune article in Friday’s newspaper, the deputy, using the screen name Trafalgar, said, “Seeing someone get Tasered is second only to pulling the trigger. That is money – puts a smile on your face.”

In another chat, the Tribune article claimed the deputy said, “I crushed a dude’s eye socket from repeatedly punching him in it and then I charged him with menacing and harassment (of me). He took a plea to get away from me. He shoulda picked somebody else to try and fight.”"

Singapore police raid protest held by 5-inch plastic dolls - Boing Boing:

"Anime fans in Singapore staged a micro-sized protest against a Singapore animation distributor by attaching tiny signs to plastic robot and monster statuettes and placing them in public. The Singapore authorities responded by sending four riot vans."

None dare care it bribery. The Columbus Dispatch : Driving drunk: $1,000 covers it in Waverly:

"Nearly 100 of them have made $1,000 "donations" to the Waverly Police Department to make their [DUI] troubles go away.

No DUI conviction. No jail time. No driver's license suspension or restrictions. Just a simple guilty plea to a lesser charge.

The donations allowed drivers, including those who refused blood-alcohol tests and some with four or five previous DUI convictions, to sidestep typical penalties.

...The convictions also do not come back to haunt drivers' records. The charges apparently are not reported to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, in potential violation of state law.

...Officials in Waverly said the donations are voluntary, but one conceded that if you don't have the money, you don't get the deal."

Missouri: Police Threaten, Detain Motorist for Parking After Hours:

"A St. George, Missouri police officer is caught on tape threatening to invent charges to arrest a motorist for parking after hours.

A motorist who refused to discuss his personal business with a St. George, Missouri police officer was threatened with arrest last Friday. Brett Darrow, 20, no stranger to unconventional encounters with police, caught a St. George Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein stating that he had the power to invent charges that would put Darrow behind bars. Update: Sergeant Kuehnlein was placed on unpaid leave Monday pending an investigation.

"Try and talk back... to me again," yelled Sergeant Kuehnlein. "I bet I could say you resisted arrest or something. You want to come up with something? I come up with nine things."

...Without the video, Darrow tells TheNewspaper that he would have stood no chance disproving the officer's word in court. Twenty-eight percent of the St. George municipal budget comes from traffic citations. Darrow wonders how many of the tickets were legitimate."