Philly cops

[Chris0nllyn]

You may have heard about Officer Thomas Tolstoy.

The woman in the emergency room at Frankford Hospital told the detective that the police officer who sexually assaulted her was named Tom. After the attack, she said, the officer scrawled his cellphone number on a torn piece of paper and handed it to her.

Through personnel records, police traced the number to a 10-year veteran of the force, Thomas Tolstoy. Within hours of the alleged assault on Oct. 16, 2008, the officer was pulled off the street.

The city has paid $227,500 to settle lawsuits brought against the officer by two women who accused him of groping their breasts. But unless city prosecutors determine that there is sufficient evidence to file charges against Tolstoy in the Frankford woman's case - the only one in which the statute of limitations has not expired - he soon could be cleared to return to street work.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said he believed that - lack of prosecution notwithstanding - there might be truth to the accusations against Tolstoy. But the absence of corroborating evidence and the role allegedly played by the reporters meant that "the likelihood of being able to do anything with the case is very, very remote."

If the allegations against Tolstoy are true but the investigation itself became compromised, Ramsey said, an officer who should have been removed from the force will still patrol the streets.

"The odds are, I'm stuck with a guy who shouldn't be a cop," Ramsey said.

http://articles.philly.com/2014-08-23/news/53116962_1_frankford-woman-police-officer-assault

Last summer a cop Ramsey fired after he was caught on tape punching a woman for no reason got his job back thanks to an arbitration hearing.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/08/12/philly-cop-caught-on-tape-striking-woman-gets-job-back/

Since 2008 Philadelphia has fired 146 police officers, 88 of whom were arrested, and 48 who have been convicted so far, on charges like murder, rape, and extortion.

http://articles.philly.com/2014-08-01/news/52332162_1_narcotics-units-cops-body-camera

Then there's the anti-narcotics group who's actions have forced the district attorney to throw away hundreds of drug-related cases because of tainted testimony and could cost the taxpayers millions in lawsuits.

Seven Philadelphia police narcotics officers at the center of a federal corruption probe are also named in scores of civil lawsuits that add more claims of thievery, intimidation and brutality to those described in their criminal indictments, according to court records.

The potential financial impact of these suits, along with any others that may be filed, could expose the City of Philadelphia to millions of dollars in damages or settlements.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/b...arcs_could_mean_millions_in_city_payouts.html

6 of those 7 narcotics officers have been "suspended with intent to dismiss." The other officer was fired after he plead guilty to charges of corruption and turned state’s evidence.

http://time.com/3069249/philadelphia-narcotics-cops-charged-with-stealing-drugs-money/

In reality, the Philly Police Dept. can't do much about misconduct. The FOP is pretty strong.

Apparently the FOP President doesn't like the Philly Police Advisory Commission's recommendation that officers that have had civilian complaints should call apologize to those civilians. Doing that is somehow a,

...direct threat to public safety in this City. A threat which should no longer be tolerated by our citizens or their government.

http://www.fop5.org/pdfs/police advisory board letter 2012.pdf

http://articles.philly.com/2012-03-12/news/31152747_1_pac-backlog-complaints

Should “due process” apply to the employment status of government agents authorized to use violence against us?

 

[Lurk]

You know? Ramsey went from a cesspool job in Washington, D.C. to a toilet bowl job in Philly. But is the character of policing poor "in spite of" or "because of" the presence of Charles H. Ramsey?

 

[Hijinx]

You know? Ramsey went from a cesspool job in Washington, D.C. to a toilet bowl job in Philly. But is the character of policing poor "in spite of" or "because of" the presence of Charles H. Ramsey?

I would say the biggest problem is their hiring practices.

Background checks and some sort of test that requires being passed.

When you hire trash you get trash.

 

[itsrequired]

Should “due process” apply to the employment status of government agents authorized to use violence against us?

Under what circumstances are government agents "authorized" to use violence against you?

 

[FollowTheMoney]

Turn the tables .... legally.

“Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking an arresting officer's life if necessary.” Plummer v. State, 136 Ind. 306.
This premise was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case: John Bad Elk v. U.S., 177 U.S. 529. The Court
stated: “Where the officer is killed in the course of the disorder which naturally accompanies an attempted arrest that is resisted,
the law looks with very different eyes upon the transaction, when the officer had the right to make the arrest, from what it does
if the officer had no right. What may be murder in the first case might be nothing more than manslaughter in the other, or the
facts might show that no offense had been committed.”