Comments

1
Those are crude stickers. If I were a Seattle cop, I would have had one up a couple of weeks after the 2008 election, when the direction Obama was taking was already becoming clear -- well, months earlier than that, actually, to people who followed the money, and possibly years earlier to people who had actually studied the man closely -- and it would have read, "CAUTION: THIS PRESIDENT MAKES WIDE RIGHT TURNS." (Credit to Black Agenda Report. Sorry, I can't find the link; I guess the graphic wasn't tagged.) But I have a hunch my politics are a little different from those of the good ol' boys in question, and thus, our taste in stickers.
2
Remember when SPOG's newsletter editorialized that all Obama voters are "the enemy?"

We really oughta fire a whole lot of SPD officers.
3
I'm not really sure that the sergeant's sign is bad. Can't you read that as protect yourself, but don't use excessive violence (so you end up on YouTube)? It doesn't say "make sure there are no cameras so you don't get caught."

At the end of the day, police officers in violent confrontations sometimes do need to balance self-protection against the avoidance of unreasonable force. Keeping both sides of that equation in mind is what we want them to do, instead of shooting people for being scary or presenting a very small danger.

I don't know her. Maybe she's a huge asshole. But the sign doesn't tell me that.
5
"That's people's free speech." Yes, and it's on public property. Hello?
6
@3- What bothers me is that item 1 implies there is a considerable risk that the officer might not make it home safe. Police work is not particularly dangerous, but the war zone mentality is terrible for public safety (and the officer's mental health.)
7
@6 what makes you think police work isn't dangerous? you sound ignorant, ungrateful, and privileged- having no idea the work that goes into being a good police officer, much less what police officers deal with day in and out.
8
Perfectly legal. Not visible to the public. Lots of city employees have lefty posters/stickers in their own cubicles.
9
Group takes a tour of the precinct and the stranger decides to report on stickers instead of actual news.
10
@9 Ansel Hertz stopped pretending to be a journalist a long time ago. He's little more than a gossip blogger at this point.
11
@8:

Photo's, please.

@9:

The stickers are reflective of the sort of prejudicial attitudes that got SPD in trouble with the feds in the first place. It's an indication that, despite several years of investigation, analysis of practices, and actions identified to change the culture, it hasn't actually changed. That is information worth communicating to the public - although, I suppose one could say it's not "actual news" in the sense that nobody is probably surprised by the lack of serious commitment on their part to follow-through.
12
Sackman---that "heroic" supervising officer that allowed the savage beating of an unarmed harmless Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes for merely questioning the arrest of a friend for throwing a cigarette butt on the street. Perfect choice for a precinct that has special accountability training facilities.
13
But if it was an old anti Bush sticker, it wouldn't be a story.
14
I'm more than disappointed that these racist and/or extremist right-wing hicks are representing the people of Seattle as police officers. Clearly due diligence in hiring and training need to be updated—pronto!
15
To say these stickers are on private lockers misses a key point: That is, in a progressive city like Seattle, we have a reasonable expectation that our police force will not be staffed by ignorant, right-wing, smug thugs with badges.
16
It's two stickers out of probably 100 lockers or more. I'm sure there's pro democratic stickers as well, but of course that doesn't make an eye catching headline.
17
Ansel, have you considered the possibility that the "Try not to end up on YouTube" bit isn't a call for secrecy and opacity, but rather an exhortation to officers to avoid making fools of themselves in public? It could easily be either. Did it occur to you to ask anyone about that sticker so as to divine their intent?

I'm definitely concerned about the "American Sovereign Citizen" one. Sovereign citizens are people who think that the Constitution was long ago supplanted by admiralty law, and that we're secretly slaves to Chinese investors, and that if you file the right strangely worded documents you'll be immune to all laws and be allowed to turn bills into checks.
19
It's not that dangerous to be a cop.

https://fee.org/articles/by-the-numbers-…
20
@7 See @19. The biggest danger to the police ia teaffic.
21
Those stickers were on property of the cops' employer, which happens to be the City of Seattle (us), and they were a nasty slur on the President of all of us. The lockers didn't belong to the cops. This kind of sleazy stuff is a disgusting example of our police culture. If a City of Seattle employee in another department had such a sticker on their desk, I'd bet their manager would land on them pretty fast. Why do cops get to do it?
22
I'm a little more bothered by the sovereign citizen stuff on a police locker, since that's dangerous and illegal.
23
Or maybe it's a joke.
24
@13:

If it had been an anti-Bush sticker it WOULD have been a story - simply by virtue of the fact that there was actually a cop willing to put that sentiment out there in the presence of all their Right-Wing colleagues.
25
@19 just because the job is less dangerous than it used to be does not mean it's not still dangerous. there are unexpected situations every day- most of which the majority of society and everyone reading these articles will happily leave for police to handle.
26
@25. you didn't read the article/link that @19 provided. Or, rather, you stopped reading after the first point (in my opinion, a minor point relative to the later points) that states job-related police deaths are less common than they used to be. Keeep reading. (Hint: the part where it says homicide rates of cops are similar to rates of the general population -- that's the real stat; also worth reading: job-related deaths for cops are suuuuuper low compared to many other common professions.)
27
Let's go get the muslims to yell "fuck the police" with us because some kid died.

You fuckers aren't right. Oh look, stickers. That's worth crying to mommy about.

We've got people calling for mob violence against those they disagree with, and you all march right in line.

Oh, hey guys, the spectre of communism FUCKING SUCKS.
28
I'm with the people who said the "sovereign citizen" sticker is the big news here. Those folks are... seriously problematic. They've killed cops.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/…

The beliefs about government, citizens, and the legal system are going to affect a cop's work. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/…
29
You may recall this dude.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/content/dai…

(and yes he probably had mental health issues, but most people with mental health issues have zero interest in premeditated horror, so you have to consider the ideology.)
30
Theres that liberal double stardard thats killing off Seattlerearing it ugly head again. Its ok for a SeaHawk football player making millions to sit on the sidelines with his "smartphone" during the National Anthem, but if a catoon character pees on a political corporate logo - which is really what it is, that first amendment and those protecting everyone else's constitutional rights, go right out the door. This town is going to have one major shortage of police soon but thankfully, this state and its ridicilous over-blown, over-priced, politically correct, feminist liberalism will be in my rear view mirror. Good luck- because Seattle is going to need every bit it can get! (Better stock up on tissues too for all the crying women you'll be seeing on the local news because they lose their cat).
31
The bend over sticker isn't crude. It's a reminder that your doctor needs to examine your prostate or vagina an(u)ally. So when Obama says you can keep your doctor, you'd better prepare to have a total stranger examine those areas instead.
32
Maybe a lot of cops are conservative politically because not many liberals become cops.

Since the consensus here is that it is an easy, low stress, safe, and secure job due to the union, why don't more liberals become cops?

Change starts with you!
33
These officers' mistake was to exercise their First Amendment rights in a way not approved by Ansel.
Had they, say, placed American Flag toilet paper in the bathrooms, Ansel would applaud their courage. (if they didn't know where to find it Ansel could tell them where he gets his…)

ProTip to Seattle public employees:
shitting on the flag is courageous, disagreeing with a Leftist politician is dangerous.
34
@15

you have a very valid concern.

unfortunately;
in a progressive city like Seattle, all the ignorant, left-wing, smug thugs you wish were on the force are only qualified to serve up lattes….
35
Most Seattle cops live in the suburbs, quite often the distant suburbs, where the political climate is a bit different.
36
It's political speech, get over it. Obama is arguably the most powerful person in the Western World, not an aggrieved peasant. Get over yourselves.
38
@37
"...when they murder people kin cold blood."

oooh.
Murder sends chills up our spine…..
Just how often does that happen?
In the past year say, in this huge country;
how often have the police murdered someone?
Once? Twice?
Please do tell.
39
Now THIS is some great journalism! Ansel's getting us a real look on the INSIDE. God forbid a police officer be Republican. If I'd have known that was legal earlier I'd have peed on things with the rest of those courageous May-day protestors.

It's articles like this that set thestranger apart. Bumpergate is gonna really turn some heads. I smell a Pulitzer.
40
Good little Ansel. Reporting all dissident activity like a loyal Stasi informant.
41
Here's a much better example of reporting on the precinct topic.
http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/critics-…

42
@38: Since you're interested, I'd sure love to hear your take on the Sorites Paradox.
How many yearly cold-blooded murders by police officers would it take before you consider it a significant concern? I asked you once before, but you ran away like a little bitch before you could answer, some I'm asking you again.
43
The fact that the first response by the COO of the department seemed to be to justify the stickers' presence as private free speech doesn't give the public a lot of reason to have confidence in the truth of any change of attitude in the department's ranks, top to bottom. Speech on one's own time when acting as a private citizen is one thing, speech in one's official capacity as a police officer tends to rub off on the department.
44
I feel that people who think this is no big deal also would think it's no big deal if a cop also posted a porno picture or had that poster "10 reasons why beer is better than women" up by their locker.
45
kjg
46
Evidently only a couple of blacks a year are murdered in cold blood by police.
Compared to 2500 a year murdered by black criminals.
Who kill blacks at 4-5X the rate other Americans are murdered.
Which should be a nationwide concern?
(hint: 2500 is 1000X a couple...)
47
Why does Black Lives Matter focus attention on black criminals caught in the act who are slain while resisting arrest while ignoring 2500 Black Lives MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD by those black criminals?
Evidently some Black Lives Don't Matter DiddlyShit…….
48
from BlackLivesMatter.com

"We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure…"

Already over 75% of black children are born to single women.

What level will BLM consider "success"?
49
I don't think political stickers/whatnot of any sort are appropriate in a a police station. Police are to serve the public without regard to race, religion, or political persuasion. Anything like described indicates bias in serving the public.
50
I worked for a police department for two years. In my opinion those stickers are not "anti-black president" but instead representative of the the general "anti-democrat" views that a typical white, Rush Limbaugh listener would have.
51
If they're allowed to have stickers, obviously the City cannot ban certain stickers based on the content of the speech in the stickers. The easiest solution to most of the issues that stem from being policed by an occupation force is to require that the police we pay with our taxes be residents of our city. If we need to provide for second mortgage or rental assistance, so be it. The savings from one or two wrongful death lawsuits could probably house half the force.
53
So, HOW many people per year would need to be murdered by police before it's a serious problem, in your opinion?
It's not a very hard question, Alleged. Grow a pair and answer it.
54
@53

It is not a hard question, but it is a silly pointless question.

There are many pressing challenges facing African-Americans.
However the cold blooded murder of African-Americans by police, while horrific, seems a very rare event.

BLM has created a false narrative that increases distrust between African-Americans and the police who serve and protect them, and makes the job of those officers more dangerous.

We are puzzled why Leftists and BLM choose to manufacture a provocative issue and attack the police.

Why are you so obsessed with this non-issue and so indifferent to the fact that African-Americans are murdered by criminals at four to five times the rate other Americans are?
How many more innocent black people per year would need to be murdered by criminals before it's a serious problem, in your opinion?

55
@54: Uh huh. Sounds like you don't actually have an answer to it. If it's so simple, why not just give your answer? I mean, just tell us how many; I'm not asking for research, just for your opinion. But go ahead, prove me wrong by giving an answer. Or pussy out, if you are indeed a spineless coward.

But speaking of silly and pointless questions, why does it matter how many are killed? Lynching, even during the heyday of the Klan, was a very rare event; in 1892 only 161 blacks were lynched in the entire USA, and that number fell below 100 around the turn of the century (out of a population of something like 8 million black Americans). And yet the murders of relatively few, an actual risk comparable to being thunderstruck, kept black Americans in terror. Similarly, relatively few racially charged outright murders today are able to poison race relations for the tens and hundreds of Americans in this country. (And that's not even considering the scientifically verified increase in force used against black and Latino suspects by police, compared to white suspects in similar situations.)

But as to your imbecilic question? I think the increased risk of murder victimization among black Americans is ALREADY a serious problem. (Unlike you, some of us are capable of worrying about multiple threats at the same time.)
And the fun thing is, working to bridge the gap between police officers and black communities will improve the efficacy of policing. My uncle, a (white) Illinois cop, attributes "black-on-black crime" to the decline of community policing, of how officers spend too much time driving around and not enough actually walking the beat and getting to know the citizens. The code of silence? The taboo against "snitching"? Those are products of communities that don't trust their protectors. Solve THAT problem, and suddenly combating crime becomes a lot easier. I'm going to trust the veteran police officer over the ignorant keyboard warrior, thankyouverymuch.
56
Community Policing is another victim of the BLM hate campaign against police.
The attacks on police inspired by BLM hate speech force police departments to double up officers in patrol cars, for their safety, cutting the manpower available for such programs.

The false narrative created by BLM hate speech increases distrust between officers and communities and increases reluctance of communities to cooperate and 'snitch'.

BLM is a huge piece of the problem.
57
@56: Um, the decline of community policing dates back at least three decades, as violent crime peaked in America during the '80s and early '90s. And the code of silence dates back even further. BLM is a creation entirely of the last decade. I'm no huge supporter of BLM as a movement (their cause is just, but they tolerate within their ranks the same old tribalism and hatred that they fight against), but you don't know what you're talking about, not remotely.

Does it ever bother you that you just make shit up constantly because you're too lazy and ignorant to learn what's actually going on?
The list grows and grows apace...
58
@46:

How many WHITE people are killed each year by White criminals?
59
@58

per capita, about a fifth as many as blacks.
60
And yet, the percentages of homicides where both victim and perpetrator are of the same race are not all that different (83.5% for White-on-White; 90% for Black-on-Black, according to FBI statistics). So, why no hue-and-cry over the preponderance of White-on-White homicide?
61
I understand the vitriol and baiting going on here due to the chance sighting of two locker door stickers, but just in case Ansel is checking in from time to time - what about the building? Is it OK as is? Would repairs do the job - maybe some expansion and remodeling instead of replacement? Any legitimate gripes about the facility? You saw it - what do you think?
62
You know you're a white liberal when the Seattle Police Department has a pattern and practice of killing, beating, and disproportionately detaining people of color right here in Seattle, but you ignore them and turn your attentions to stickers that criticize President Barack Obama, perhaps the most protected and secure person of color in all of world history.
63
@60

Let us explain it slowly; watch our lips…

Blacks are MURDERED. FIVE. TIMES. AS. OFTEN. AS. WHITES.

2500 times a year.

(Their murderers are usually black, but that is actually incidental…)

A reasonable objective fair person concerned about blacks being killed;
you know,
Black Lives Matter or whatever;
would be appalled at the carnage that sees blacks
FIVE TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE MURDERED
(2500 times a year).

That reasonable objective fair person/group would focus like a laser beam on this mass carnage in the homes, streets, neighborhoods, pushing the baby in the stroller of Black America and certainly not be distracted by something, tragic as it is, that takes the lives of a couple of people a year.
64
BLM is, of course, totally free to pursue their chosen agenda;
however;
Truth in Advertising, Inc insists that they rename themselves:
Black Thugs Matter (But Only When Shot By A White Officer)
65
And Alleged is still too much of a little bitch to just say how many yearly murders by police it takes to constitute a serious concern. What a surprise.
66
@65

you're funny
67
@66- You're sad.
68
67
not a bit
69
@66: Of course I'm funny, I'm Jewish.
Still waiting on you to grow a pair and answer the question. Unless, of course, you're too much of an idiot to give such a simple answer...
70
we are intrigued by how low the bar is for "growing a pair" these days….
71
@63:

"A couple of people a year"? Sometimes I'm not sure if you're actually serious, or just some joke-troll account set up for the express purpose of poking bears.

According to figures collected by The Washington Post, 1,502 people were shot and killed by LEO's in 2015: 732 were White, while 381 were Black, and another 382 were another race or unidentified. The number of unarmed Whites and Blacks killed by police were exactly equal: 50 each, hardly "a couple of people", even by the most generous application of simple arithmetic. White people make up approximately 62% of the total U.S. population, but only 49% of those killed by police; whereas Blacks make up 13% of the population, and yet represent 24% of those killed by police. That works out to Blacks being 2 1/2 times more likely than Whites to be shot and killed by police, and an unarmed Black person is FIVE TIMES more likely to suffer a similar fate.

Additionally, a companion study jointly conducted by criminal researchers from The University of Louisville & the University of South Carolina, determined that, based on documented incidents of police killings when adjusted by population, unarmed blacks were seven times more likely to be killed than unarmed Whites. Even when adjusting for other factors: age, mental state, inciting actions, crime rates in neighborhoods where police shootings occurred, etc., etc., the rates were still disproportionately higher for Blacks than for Whites.

As the study concluded:

“The only thing that was significant in predicting whether someone shot and killed by police was unarmed was whether or not they were black,” said Justin Nix, a criminal justice researcher at the University of Louisville and one of the report’s authors. “Crime variables did not matter in terms of predicting whether the person killed was unarmed.”

"In the study, researchers wrote that their analysis of the fatal shootings in 2015 'suggests the police exhibit shooter bias by falsely perceiving blacks to be a greater threat than non-blacks to their safety.'”

"Black individuals shot and killed by police were less likely to have been attacking police officers than the white individuals fatally shot by police, the study found.

“This just bolsters our confidence that there is some sort of implicit bias going on,” Nix said. “Officers are perceiving a greater threat when encountered by unarmed black citizens.”
72
jf
73
@70: Such a low bar, and yet you're still unable to clear it.
What does that say about you, hmm?
74
Can we not use 'pussy', 'bitch', and 'grow a pair' to call out someone for cowardice?
75
@74: I'm speaking to it in the only language it understands.

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