To the Philadelphia Police officers who find it necessary to beat people:
Being a citizen of Philadelphia, I cannot help but be outraged over the extensive police brutality that occured on Sunday outside of the TLA on South Street.
Once upon a time being a police officer was a job to be respected and appreciated. A few of my family members were even members of the police force back in the day. Now it seems that many of you have successfully bastardized everything that the position has stood for, leaving nothing but waves of bad press and internet videos of you beating people. Usually I’m all for the law being upheld, but as far as I can tell, you’re doing a bit more than that.
Why are you doing this? Is it because the chrome sheen of your brand new ASP brand extendable batons needs dulling? Is it because you have nothing better to do on a Sunday night? Is it because you look like idiots in your clear-lensed oakleys and need to prove how tough you are?
From the various videos of your gross misconduct I have taken liberty to make a few decisions about your intelligence. I have gleaned the following:
1: You do not respect anyone’s rights. In spite of all the ruckus, I don’t hear you once telling those being arrested their rights, nor do I hear them waive them. Big mistake.
2. You decide to take physical action without being threatened or provoked. Dudes are bleeding on film, millions can see you hitting them. They aren’t doing anything apparent to resist you. You look like maniacs.
3. You decide you can put your hands on people who have done nothing but hold up a camera. Not only do you look like a jerk for pushing around girls, but you also look like you have something to hide, like the kid waddling because he pooped his pants.
(tip: tell an officer politely not to touch you if he decides he can handle you for no reason)
4. You refuse to give out your badge numbers while being recorded. As far as I know, that’s also not allowed.
I’m not a lawyer or law student, but I am a reasonably intelligent person who has had to deal with somewhat mentally misguided police officers in the past. These things have always worked for me. And those punk kids were totally idiots for cursing at the cops. Don’t give them any ammunition.
Oh, and as an afterthought. If you’re going to post videos with text about the incident on myspace, make sure you use spellcheck. Otherwise you just look like a fool.
