<p>The bottom line in all of this is that the GMU police handled this situation very poorly! Unless you give both parties a lie detector test, you are not going to know what really happened. He should not have been arrested for abduction - that is absurd. GMU is rising in popularity and this incident will truly tarnish it’s image.</p>
<p>^Good point! Where is the girl’s account of this sordid mess?</p>
<p>And I think a guy can put a chair in the door to wedge it open without waving it around…</p>
<p>Nobody will care in a month. Actually nobody will care much today.</p>
<p>In the real world people get arrested and then there are no charges filed and they are out the next day. Watch any of the Campus PD shows. They arrest kids all the time to get them away from situations and the next day they are released without charges. That is how the cops work when there is a situation they want to control and end when there are possible threats or harm if they leave without doing anything.</p>
<p>Agreed–the grandma who got tasered for dissing the cops is remembered no more…</p>
<p>Quote:</p>
<p>In the real world people get arrested and then there are no charges filed and they are out the next day.</p>
<p>Unless it’s a male and female having an argument, and the girl is crying. The guy doesn’t have a chance.</p>
<p>And no one has a chance against power-hungry cops. Plenty of these exist who give a bad name to the rest.</p>
<p>Somehow I have managed to avoid that all these years. Generally the cops don’t want to arrest anyone and will only if you continue running your mouth or it’s a domestic violence situation and somebody has to go.</p>
<p>I think the free speech clause of the Constitution should pretty much preclude being arrested merely because you “ran your mouth” and ****ed off a police officer… Not to mention the illegal search and seizure clause…:rolleyes:</p>
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<p>if you live on Lexington Avenue maybe. In general, the more rural or prosperous the community, the more likely the cops are refined and have principles. </p>
<p>Have you tried the cops in Manhattan’s Chinatown? (Why do you think the counterfeit shops flourish right next to the 5th Precinct station?)</p>
<p>*In general, the more rural or prosperous the community, the more likely the cops are refined and have principles. *</p>
<p><<<<<<<<<<<headbang>>>>>>>>>>>></headbang></p>
<p>^^^^^emeraldkity4, I second the motion.</p>
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<p>No, the First Amendment does not protect all speech. Speaking words that can be interpreted as threats, verbal assault, disturbing the peace, resisting arrest, failure to follow a lawful order, and more, are not protected and may constitute criminal misdemeanor or felony activity.</p>
<p>I suggest Poetsheart watch the next Campus PD marathon. Running off your mouth when they say to be quiet after you have already been detained WILL get you arrested in many towns.</p>
<p>emeraldkity, I don’t get why the headbang. In urban cities, where the sense of belonging is more tight and less diffuse – i.e. people are less likely to know each other on the block, police corruption is more common. Except in prosperous parts of those cities.</p>
<p>In many districts, those who grow up with a strong sense of justice and principle end up being lawyers or activists, not cops. Thus many police departments in urban, non-prosperous districts must draw from people who are more likely to be corrupt and/or power trippers.</p>
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Yes, because as we all know, prosperous people are rarely corrupt and/or power trippers. </p>
<p>So, are our politicians corrupt and/or power trippers because they come from non-prosperous places, or are they not corrupt and/or power trippers because they mostly come from prosperous places? I can’t make up my mind.</p>
<p>What I am saying is that I think you parents (that visit this site) tend to be disproportionately of the higher-income demographic, live in nice neighbourhoods that are politically empowered, etc. Thus you might be shielded from the type of endemic police corruption that plagues many cities and might be inclined to think most police officers are virtuous, morally-upright, etc. This is only because your neighbourhood councils have enough political power to get the most virtuous and courteous officers assigned to your sheltered communities.</p>
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<p>But you prosperous people, regardless of virtue, usually have enough power to get non-corrupt and non-power-tripping police assigned to your neighbourhoods and districts. Truly, the police are there to serve.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, the people serve the police, not the other way round.</p>
<p>I don’t know about GMU campus police’s hiring policies, but I’m guessing they might be choosing from a narrower pool.</p>
<p>“Truly, the police are there to serve.<br>
Elsewhere, the people serve the police, not the other way round.”</p>
<p>The Police are there to serve and protect the administration, students and staff of GMU.</p>
<p>Yes, it appears that the GMU campus police are called in for issues that at other universities would be resolved by “the people” (students, Librarians, RA, administration). At GMU, there appears to be a laissez faire approach by the administration - Don’t get involved - just call the police! </p>
<p>On GMU’s website it touts:</p>
<p>The program (Orientation) and staff encourage student’s self-growth, learning, and understanding their own relationship to the intellectual, social, and cultural climate of George Mason University. </p>
<p>So where was the staff/self-growth/learning or understanding?</p>
<p>What people are forgetting is that after the fact, the police/administration just can’t say, “opps, never mind, we drop those charges” the damage has been done. He now has an arrest record, which unless he goes through the expensive, time-consuming process of expungment, will be on his permanent record for the rest of his life. Every time he applies for a job, applies for graduate school, volunteers in his neighborhood he must explain this ridiculously unnecessary arrest.</p>
<p>All I know is that this situation could not happen at my student’s college or many others around the country.</p>