Monday, April 12, 2021

Lessons Not Learned

Another quiet weekend around here, that is ..... if you don’t count when I took a stroll down to the mail center yesterday to pick up mail delivered the previous day and saw this ....



It’s difficult to see through the security gate, but the left side has been torn down, mail boxes looted.

Looking for stimulus checks, I imagine.

I’d blogged, back in early March, about installation of the security gate and door, accessed by use of our common area key. I’d commented that we should be okay insofar as break-ins “for a while”. Emphasis on “for a while” because, looking at the dime store key handle, it didn’t look like much of a challenge for a seasoned criminal to pop, unscrew or pry loose.

It appears that’s exactly how entry was made.

Then

Now

When will this management group learn you get what you pay for ─ all that iron gate and a cheap key handle.

Returning from the Pain Cave this morning, "closed" sign removed from the security gate, I was able to get a better photo of inside.


Looks like management has been able to re-secure the bottom row of boxes.

The security people, who drive around the property once a night, don’t get out of the car. They just do a loop around the property, take off and their agency gets paid.

In the upper right hand corner of the photo is a camera. Doesn’t seem to be serving a purpose insofar as identifying the culprit(s).

With management personnel living right above the mail center ─ seeming not to hear the banging and clanging of boxes being broken into, management might consider a ring camera type set up, attached to the staffers, so they can't continue to ignore.

So there’s that.

And speaking of lessons not learned, there’s this ...


With the climate being what it’s been since George Floyd was murdered by Chauvin & Company, you’d think this Virginia Cop Joe Gutierrez would know better than to harass, intimidate, pepper spray, a Black man, let alone an Army Lieutenant for no reason whatsoever. Gutierrez went so far as to threatened to have Lieutenant Nazario's commission taken away if he lodged a complaint.

In the video, Gutierrez appears to be looking for an excuse to kill Lieutenant Nazario.

The Lieutenant was smart to have driven to a lighted area and kept his hands raised, even though Gutierrez ordered him to unbuckle his seat belt because, had he lowered his hands to do so, Gutierrez would have used that movement as an excuse to shoot. Like what was done a few years back to Philando Castile.

Philando was just a passenger, disclosed he had a license to carry and, when he reached for license and registration ─ as requested even though he wasn't driving and shouldn't have been asked, the cops murdered him.

As for threatening the Lieutenant's commission, now that the world knows this happened and the Lieutenant is suing, I hope he takes Gutierrez' pension, house, car ... everything.

Since the cops can't seem to manage their hatred, maybe they'd think twice if they were made to realize how much they have to lose if they don't keep their hatred in check.

Consequences should be part of their training.

I don’t even know what to say about the latest ─ the kid murdered for having a car freshener in his rear window.

Not sure this was even a real thing, I googled “is it illegal to hang air freshener in car”. Evidently, it is in California ... “You cannot hang items, or objects, from your rear-view mirror because it could possibly obstruct your view”.

I don’t recall reading that in the DMV book or seeing it on a test, but I bet it will be covered in the next edition.

At any rate, a further example of lessons not learned ─ the cop that chose to shoot even though the atmosphere is what it is.

18 comments:

  1. The Lieutenant did what police have been telling us to do for 30 years. If you don't feel safe, drive to a well lit area.

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    1. That cop wasn't having it, but I can't imagine what he thought he was doing, and how there'd be no blowback.

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  2. I am continually stunned by the news coming from America. The police seem out of control- whenever a murder is reported the first thing my husband and I think is 'was it a black person'. Nothing ever seems to improve and no lessons are ever learnt. It makes one angry and frustrated. Our police are unarmed but we have specialised armed branches which can be called out in extreme situations. (That's apart from those on security detail such as airports)

    Shocked to see your mail continually being broken into. We are very lucky here as we still get home delivery.

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    1. The cops have been out of control and getting away with this crap, and more, for years. Just a bunch of thugs. The fact that video and social media has brought it to light doesn't seem to deter them one bit. It does make one angry and frustrated, also depressed and demoralized.

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    2. I can't believe that policewoman - 'I meant to taser him' but she actually shoots him- does the idiot not know the location of her gun v taser and the weight/feel difference- makes you want to tear your hair out. So she resigned, big deal, she murdered a young man- you've got to hope they follow to this up.

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    3. To top it off, she was TRAINING another cop. Some instructor she turned out to be.

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  3. the cop has been fired; I want the cop's partner fired too. muthafucka pigs think they are SO macho! I'm SO sick and tired of the racism/bigotry in this country!

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    1. I agree that the partner should also be fired. He too held a gun on the Lieutenant.

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    2. Why they had their Guns drawn in the first place was the Mystery, Minor Traffic Stops shouldn't require you to point a loaded Weapon in the Face of a Citizen who isn't considered Armed and Dangerous. I once had an aggressive Cop stop me for not stopping 'long enough' at a Stop Sign, in the middle of the Night, with nobody around, I was terrified he was going to escalate to where he'd harm or kill me. I reported him, but I bet he's still on the Force. Had I been a Black Male, I'm certain that Bad Cop might have Killed someone that Night, he seemed itching to escalate a situation and vent Anger Issues on someone. I was crying by the time I got Home and The Man was so pissed off I was glad he couldn't drive... he said he'd never seen me so shook up... but I honestly felt it was a Near Death experience at the hands of a Bad Cop and with no Witnesses, I felt quite vulnerable. I still never go down that Road anymore, in Fear of that Individual still Patrolling that area, he's a bad situation waiting to happen if they keep him on the Force.

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    3. A female stopped in the middle of the night, no one around sounds like a rape scenario. In addition to their reputation for killing Black men, cops have been known to rape ... and then murder, young women they've pulled over late at night. You were lucky to have survived. I think they get off on aggression and chose victims they think they can get away with taking that aggression out on. Up until video and social media, it worked out just fine for them. No one believed the complaints.

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  4. This kind of stuff just seems to go on and on and on . . . it's got to stop.

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    1. I don't understand why they can't ... stop that is. It makes no sense whatsoever.

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  5. There are some jobs you just can't be Bad at, being a Cop is one of them. Keeping their Hatred in Check will only assume we should have the Haters on the Force and fit to Serve ALL of the Public, which they simply cannot when they bring serious Prejudices against portions of the Public along with them. Psychologically they are not fit to Serve and carry a Deadly Weapon anymore, period, and should be Fired. As for consequences, agree, when they know they have much to lose, greater accountability for not fucking up might be helpful in avoiding petty escalations over minor issues. Nobody should be executed for a suspected fake Twenty, an outstanding Misdemeanor Warrant, expired Vehicle Tags, Air Fresheners hanging off a Mirror. Too many of these Rouge Cops are becoming reckless with Deadly Force, they probably never had the Psychological Profile to be Good at their Job... and it's a Job where they hold Life and Death in their Hands of the Citizens they stop. It's no wonder Black Men in particular panic and try to get away, they SHOULD be afraid given that so many are being brutalized and Murdered by these Officers constantly... and Justice has been a Joke, the Injustice of it all is Globally apparent now that there's Videos of it happening and consequences are lacking. I'm not even sure this Chauvin Trial will have appropriate Conviction of that Murderer, if he gets a Sentence at all, it will not be harsh enough for what he did. To me when you strangle the life out of another Human Being and it took damned near 10 Minutes to accomplish, that's Premeditated Murder pure and Simple... he should get the Death Sentence, preferably the Gas Chamber.

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    1. Even though the death penalty is not really death because, due to all the bleeding hearts, these guys usually die of old age while the process goes on and on, I think Death would be fair and equitable judgment for Chauvin, and a deterrent to cops like him.

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  6. As for the Mailbox situation Shirley, the Old Days of making the Mailman Deliver Mail to each Home or Apartment should come back IMO, too much Mail Theft at Boxes. I liked the Old Mail Slots of Yesteryear in the Door of your Home, if something was too large, you could have it Delivered and Signed for in Person. I don't have a Solution... I doubt the U.S. Mail will opt for better Solutions that cause them any inconvenience or more work.

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    1. With staff living above the mail center, there's no excuse for their not intervening when they hear the noise. Frigging cowards, afraid of getting hurt I'm guessing. They tell us to "see something say something" but then they don't.

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    2. Then they are NOT doing their jobs and should be fired. Useless people...

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  7. Hi Shirley,
    Thank you so much for your wonderful comment on my blog. (I just wrote a comment on your blog and it disappeared using my iPad.) Doggone it! So I'm starting again on my MacBook. Anyway, I really appreciate the clarity you gave to this Virginia incident. You are absolutely right, of course. All this racism seems to be escalating. The police force all see what's happening in the country. You'd think they'd learn from it and be more professional and not resort to violence given any excuse at all... or even no excuse.

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