QOTD: Thuggery

Today's QOTD comes from your fine author, though it is not recommended for most situations in this PC world.

Sometimes you have to fight thuggery with thuggery; if we beat up a few bad guys with phone books more often, there would be less crime.

Baltimore, as we've discussed recently, is a cesspool of violence which means that the average beat cop has to deal with a lot of high stress situations and snap judgments.  Sometimes, they don't always make the best judgments, and when that happens they need to be reprimanded.  So, what happens when a 19 year veteran cop looses his job over an incident that took three years to investigate and probably didn't warrant anything more than a couple weeks without pay? 

Good question.  Investigative Voice has the stories this morning that stemmed from an inner harbor incident with a bunch of punk kids with no respect for authority.  Yes, the officer went a little far in his confrontation but the kid admits to the problem before minute two of the video (youtube video on IV link).  It's the same problem that has plagued Baltimore for a decade or more and it is continuously the elephant in the room no one wants to admit to or talk about; lack of family continuity within the city.  The punk kid shows a severe lack of respect to the officer and then fully admits to the cop that he has no father.  Where I came from, you grow up to fear what your father will do to punish you when you do something wrong.  Now, couple "behavior modification" with love from your old man, and it actually can turn you into a decent human being. 

Obviously, I do not know if the kid's father passed away or if he is one of the countless fornication kids in the city.  Baltimore cops have been known for their less than stellar reputations and abuse of power syndromes, but a veteran cop tossing around and talking tough to a loud mouth kid doesn't seem like a fire-able offense to me (and the review board agreed).  When the police get no assistance from the DA's office on putting the thugs and punks behind bars and there is a general lack of respect from the punks of all ages, it isn't shocking when the police get tough on their own accord.  Factor in the street knowledge of how to work the system as best as possible and situations like this become a regular headline grabbing occurrence. 

Either way, a couple skate boarding punk kids with no respect for the badge, didn't help themselves either.  Sure, it seems as though the officer was having a bad day and went a little far, but kids at that age who potentially would just be bounced around the juvenile justice system get better behavior modification from a tactic like my quote (though I don't recommend the use of actual phone books to the B-More PD).  If you want the police / citizen relationship to be better, cohere the family unit, instill some discipline into your children and don't be morons and break the rules or work the system.  Values matter and most of Baltimore, has none.