View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2008 > April > 09 > Entry
View from the cop: Who has the lock on “stupid”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been kind of slow here.
With the exception of the two Llamas who fell out of the trailer on I-285 Friday, not much has been going on.
By the way, the Llamas are doing well. One had a bloody lip and the other a swollen eye. Some of you may remember about 20 years ago a cattle truck wrecked on I-285 and Roswell Road. Several cattle were killed but a number of them escaped and for weeks ran amok in the Golden Ghetto.
We received dozens of calls from panicked homeowners who found cows in their back yard. “No ma’am. I don’t think the cow will attack. We haven’t had a cow attack in these parts as long as I can remember.”
It was amazing how long cows could remain relatively unnoticed in the suburbs. I don’t really know if we got them all back. They could be living among us now, living their secret lives.
Eight teenagers were arrested in Lakeland, Fla. for beating up a girl and filming it for show on YouTube. They beat the girl unconscious. The victim’s parents said “These Web sites are creating a space for criminal activity, beating, fights.”
“MySpace, MTV’s ‘Jackass,’ they are enticing our children and desensitizing out children. Now, if they create the best shock video, they are the heroes. They think it is top dollar.”
There’s something about the camera that causes dumb people to not only do the dumb things they do but also document those dumb things on video or photos. I guess it’s the least they can do to make the prosecution easier.
The more technology we invent, the dumber some people become. We’re gonna beat up this kid and film it. Then, we’ll send it and then watch it on YouTube…..and then what?
There was no end to the story? Eight kids participated and not one of them went “Hey wait—they might figure out who we are—oh yeah, the girl, you know, the girl we’re beating half to death knows us…..hmmmm, I’m not sure I’m in.”
In VALLEJO, California, a bride and groom spent their wedding night in jail after cops came back on a second complaint of a loud party. The groom got the booyah! (taser) when he got a little too aggressive. He and his cousin bowed up a bit too much. The bride was taken in for being too hammered. It doesn’t sound like the happy couple would have accomplished too much later that night anyway.
In WAXAHACHIE, Texas, a dentist accused of videotaping his female employees in the changing room with a hidden camera pleaded guilty. Steven C. Durbin, also a city commissioner in nearby Ennis, Tex., got five years of community supervision with deferred adjudication in the plea agreement on a state jail felony charge of improper photography or video recording.
As part of the agreement, Durbin, 50, must attend sex offender counseling, although he doesn’t have to register as a sex offender. Turns out his employees found a video camera in the employees changing area. They confronted him about the patients he videoed as well as the poor quality of the video.
These are the kind of people who, if they don’t get it together, will end up with a toilet seat grown to their butts.
Comments
By Gary
April 9, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this
The cows are still there, sir….on billboards.
This is Elsie reminding you all to eat more chickun.
By Lori Tate
April 9, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
I’m all for the immediate sterilization of anyone who does something that stupid.
By ElBubba
April 9, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this
I thought I had stupid friends when I was growing up. These kids in Fl take the cake. Lt. Steve makes the best point, eight of them and no one thought it was a bad idea. How easy is it to get eight brainless kids in one group? Evidently it’s not hard.
It will be interesting to see if they try them as adults. As well as the beat-down they’re facing kidnapping charges. I’m guessing that means Spring Break is sort of screwed up.
El Bubba
By El Buttface
April 9, 2008 3:05 PM | Link to this
Some folks think some folks needs beatin’ up, cause it’s the only ways to gitz things done proper like, if’n you be a diggin’ what I be a preachin’ dawg. Nowz I’ze dont be expectin’ to be respectin’ no man whats donts lives by the code of punchin’ faces in whens they needs it. Dog?
Anyones else be a needin face punchin?
By Stan
April 9, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this
Gary, you spell too well to be Elsie…El Buttface must be the cow
Stan
By Must Have
April 9, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this
Funny, funny stuff!
By jeff
April 9, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this
Most of the videos I see like that lately have at least one cop in them.
By Cassie
April 9, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
You know, I did stupid things as a teenager.
But I never left a record! There are no pictures, no answering machine messages, no grainy home movies.
What are these kids thinking?
In twenty years, one of these numbnuts will run for president and the scandal will be some YouTube footage of an at home sex tape or some kid shooting a hamster into a pool with a length of pvc and an airgun.
Honestly.
Go pick your own switch!
By Cassie
April 9, 2008 4:58 PM | Link to this
You know, I did stupid things as a teenager.
But I never left a record! There are no pictures, no answering machine messages, no grainy home movies.
What are these kids thinking?
In twenty years, one of these numbnuts will run for president and the scandal will be some YouTube footage of an at home sex tape or some kid shooting a hamster into a pool with a length of pvc and an airgun.
Honestly.
Go pick your own switch!
By Van
April 9, 2008 6:36 PM | Link to this
Steve,
Are kids really getting more violent in general, or are we just hearing about a few bad apples? What has been your experience as a police officer?
By drey
April 9, 2008 7:13 PM | Link to this
Kids are definitely more violent. Third graders especially.
By ElBubba
April 9, 2008 8:20 PM | Link to this
One of the reasons I don’t do stupid stuff these days, as an adult, is that I always assume there are cameras around.
The unintended consequences; I always dress well (and it takes more time and effort). I strike cool poses when I’m doing stuff like filling up the gas tank. Who knows, somebody could try to rob the gas station and I want to look sharp when I drop the guy.
Maybe that judge that caused such a stir this week could ask one of his buddies (caucasion) to kick out all of the black people and have a good sit down with these kids, then it would all be over.
El Bubba
By Lt. Steve
April 9, 2008 8:37 PM | Link to this
I really don’t know if there is more bullying or not. I know there’s more reported now with satellite tv and all of the video access. Remember the after-school fights? “Meet me after school and we’ll settle this?” Now days you can practically get that on pay-per-view. Boxing is losing out to the ultimate fighting bouts. To me, the alarming trend is the gun-toting 14-year olds wanting their fifteen minutes.
By Lee
April 9, 2008 8:38 PM | Link to this
I used to do stupid stuff back in my younger days. I finally realized there was a direct correlation between tequila and stupid stuff.
But what I really want to know is how do you make one of them hamster air guns?
Mabel, get the camera and watch this…
By Irish Eyes
April 9, 2008 8:49 PM | Link to this
My brother, father of five, maintains there is an interesting phenomenon regarding teenagers and their thought process. According to his theory, overall brain power does not increase in relationship to to the increasing number of teenagers present, but decreases individually. They cumulatively share but the power of one brain, i.e., one teenager, one brain; two teenagers, 1/2 brain each; three teenagers, 1/3 brain each, etc. Think about what happens in group situations when only teenagers are present. It seems that many of them are not thinking individually, but going with the flow. Scary and stupid, all at once.
By Stone
April 9, 2008 9:27 PM | Link to this
My nephew blew up a mailbox and I told my sister that it’s a forgivable offense, barely a crime. Then she told me he videotaped it. I told her to disown the stupid little sh*t and turn him over to the cops for felony stupidity. I guess I’m an old fart ‘cause I just don’t understand.
By ElBubba
April 9, 2008 11:02 PM | Link to this
Two cents
I would doubt that there is more bullying, now than any other patch in the last fifty years.
I think that the bigger the school, the greater chance of being bullyed.
Every one of these kids that have gone on rampages should have been stopped by their parents… “Oh, I didn’t know my kid had machine guns”
What? What didn’t you know?
I wouldn’t normally say this because I believe in the Constitution and support the ACLU, but if you have a crazy kid that may be hoarding guns and planning terrible things you should probably search his room…
El Bubba
By Irish Eyes
April 9, 2008 11:17 PM | Link to this
When my son was in the middle school, he came home all chatty about an after-school girl fight that was supposed to take place. The fight never transpired, but the background info. regarding the girls my hair stand up straight. Ever pose a question where you were simply ill prepared to hear the answer?
Kids today are more sophisticated and perhaps more worldly at a younger age, mostly b/c they have instant access to media outlets, and are therefore are exposed, or overexposed, to so much. However, they are held far less responsible for their actions. Violence should not be glamorized and accountability must be taken—-not always necessarily ending in a felony conviction, though. Most times, with a little direction & maturity, stupidity can be overcome.
Unfortunately, the media sensationalizes bad behavior. Too many excuses are made for poor judgment and lousy character traits, also. You never have to look further than a headline.
By ElBubba
April 10, 2008 12:00 AM | Link to this
I ran into this one awhile back. I was looking for videos of Whitewater Rafting on the Ocoee River.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uWiOaEEywI
By PM
April 10, 2008 7:23 AM | Link to this
I remember the cows on the loose 20 something years ago - one ended up in our back yard on Angus Trail - Our house was surrounded by 6 or 7 Fulton County police cars - The cow had other plans though and took out a fence and went on his way.
By drey
April 10, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
My daughter asked me to help her one day and I opened the trunk of her car and she had four or five “speed hump” signs that the county had installed. She and her boyfriend thought it was the height of hilarity. SHe had been driving around for weeks with the signs in the trunk. I didn’t yell. I didn’t panic. She was 16, and probably had just started having sex and smoking pot, just like all the baby boomers and every generation since, so I used a different approach. I calmly told her that yes, “speed hump” does have another meaning, and yes, it’s very funny. THen I pointed out that if a cop had stopped her for speeding, and happened to look in the trunk, that she could easily be electrocuted by a jury of her peers or hanged in a mob vigilante scene like what they done in the “Ox Bow Incident”.
Well, that was my daughter’s favorite movie, and you know what? Point Hollywood, because she never stole another speed hump sign again, nor did she drive with pot in the car that wasn’t stashed away in a box of tampax, like every generation before her since the baby boomer invented sex, drugs, and moronium.
Well, my daughter is doing fine now at the institute. I see her on sundays when they let them take walks around the garden. Let this be a warning to all dads this day.
By Cassie
April 10, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
The only thing I ever stole was a paperback copy of “The Wrath of Khan” from Waldenbooks.
I guess I led a boring life.
By Khan
April 10, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this
Cassie, you are very clever. You let your second in command pick away at me while you sit back and look for weaknesses, but suddenly I grow tired and wish to retire to my quarters with Cassie’s permission…..
By Bama
April 10, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
Am I the only parent who mandates that their teenage daughter is always in the supervision of another adult? My daughter cannot visit her friends when their parents are not home.
By Bama
April 10, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this
I wonder if Steve can drive me around Atlanta next weekend.
By Peer Pressure
April 10, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this
Good luck with that Bama. A teen’s peers are her guiding light in all matters, and if hot tub sex and ecstasy is what is going down, then no matter how many bible classes you torture her with or how many strict rules you inflict on her, she’s gonna end up as the after-photo in a “why we fight” poster for the war on chlamydia.
You needs to larns to goes wid da floes. Be cool, brothah! the more you show of your own humanity and weaknesses and share everything with your daughter, the more likely it is that she’ll be so horrified with what went wrong with you that she’ll turn down those party invites.
‘muff said.
By ElBubba
April 10, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
Evidence http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/henry/stories/2008/04/10/zebra0411.html?cxntlid=homepagetab_newstab
By Lex Luthor
April 10, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this
Bama,
Don’t belive your daughter won’t defy your rules. You are much better trying to control how they screw up (and learn!) than you are trying to prevent them from screwing up. You don’t want you child to leave the nest w/o street smarts.
By elladee
April 10, 2008 5:28 PM | Link to this
Lt. Steve, I would just like to voice my utter DISGUST after hearing about the teens in FL beating that girl. Utter DISGUST.
By Docbram
April 10, 2008 6:01 PM | Link to this
Lt. Steve:
A slow day, huh? What about Monday night at the Rent-a-Crimescene on Roswell Rd. across from Abernathy Square? I guess gunshots in the crowd of onlookers didn’t get your blood going much! Let me know what gets your attention, so I can leave town before it gets really bad!
By ElBubba
April 10, 2008 8:59 PM | Link to this
Docbram sounds mad, like he actually lives there and knows what is going on. Crime isn’t really humorous, is it Doc?
I don’t even know where Lithonia is, and I know it’s a different story, but it sure is fun to read about.
El Bubba
By Jimbo
April 11, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this
In a lot of those rampages the kids weren’t kids, they were old enough to purchase and the background checks sort of let us down. In a few of those cases they weapons were stolen from the parents and used in the shooting and in a very small number of cases, the parents were killed by the children and THEN their guns were stolen and used in a rampage. In at least one of those instances (Pearl, Mississippi) the kid slit his mother’s throat and came to school with a lever action .30-30 and opened up. A vice principal ran to his car, unlocked and loaded a pistol, and intercepted the punk on his way to the middle school to continue his spree. In the end the principal was charged with keep a concealed weapon on school property…
By BossLady
April 11, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this
I was taught growing up that what you do will come back to you full force and face to face.
When your husband realizes you are a slut and your children hear about your past and everthing, you won’t be able to look them in the face or tell them anything.
Your reputation and your appearance is something that is to be guarded and protected.
Background investigations are very instensive and will become more so. All of these character flaws will affect your future.
I’ll tell you what, the low self esteem people that followed the others are now losers who had no place to go after all the troublemakers are gone.
By Stone
April 11, 2008 5:29 PM | Link to this
ElBubba, lithonia is so small,one square mile, that it doesn’t even need to be capitalized. You could live right next to it and not know it, but for all the yelling thats going on.
By Keith Lynch
April 26, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this
Mr. Keith Lynch has become a victim of the unjust system, which has cost him the lost of his entire family. He has made a decision to give fathers voices that have suffered an unjust lost of children and family through the judicial system.
God’s calling has set Mr. Lynch’s will to walk from Chicago, IL to Atlanta, GA to bring attention concerning the misconduct, and miscarriage of justice that has not only befallen his family at the hands of law enforcement, and judicial officials, but to thousands of others throughout this nation.
Mr. Lynch began his walk for Justice on a cold rainy morning on March 31, 2008 at LaSalle and Van Bruen St in, Chicago, IL. There are five stages in Mr. Lynch’s walk for justice. The cities that are completed are marked in red. Mr. Lynch has walked over 318.00 miles thus far, and visited cities such as Gary, Michigan City, South Bend, Elkhart, Goshen, Merriam, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. He began his second stage journey south on April 21, bye crossing into the State of Ohio, with stops in Van Wert, Lima, Sidney, Dayton, Middletown, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Lynch has completed the second stage, and will rest in the city of Cincinnati before continuing the third stage, which includes crossing into the State of Kentucky, with stops in cities such as Crittenden, Owenton, Frankfort, Louisville, Elizabethtown, Munfordville, and Bowling Green, Kentucky. Review the story @ wwwkllundypublishingllc.com