Without pay is one of the stiffest penalties ever given to a police officer.

Or they can be held to the same laws and punishments as everyone else?

Yeah, pretty much.

Cops have killed more people in the US than the total of all terrorist acts committed in the US.

But it looked so fun when Herc and Carver did it!

I made myself sad.

That's not literally true, but regardless, I maintain that we're allowed to react to animals, especially cats and dog, on an empathic emotional level, because that's how we communicate with and relate to them. When my favorite cat died, I cried a whole lot more than when my grandmother died. That doesn't mean my cat was more valued by me. It's just a feeling, and it's not right or wrong.

So we're not allowed to react to the homeless on an empathic emotional level?

That's about a half a light year removed from anything I said.

If it had been a homeless man whose throat was cut, I know I would have cared about it, but there are ways in which it touches me deeper when it's a cute little dog. I just don't think there's anything wrong with that.

So we are allowed to react to the homeless on an empathic emotional level, you just choose not to, because you think homeless people are less valuable than dogs.

The way pets work is we are tricked into thinking of them like children. They are small and feeble and literally depend on us for daily survival, just like a kid. In fact when an animal is domesticated over several generations it is stunted such that it never matures past kitten/puppy-hood. They work on that part of us that wants to care for the young.

The emotional response you feel when a pet is harmed is pretty much the way you would feel when an innocent child is harmed.

That said, I agree Homer. If it was a homeless person or some kind of minority the department would probably have tried to defend him more, and the tone of the reporting would not have been so charged with emotion.

Humans are kind of bullshit.

To be fair, JHMF does kind of have a bad history with homeless junkies insulting him and demanding dick pics. I could see how he might have more empathy for the dog.

I miss orcs. I hope she's OK.

Shes not...

I disagree with the "bad apple" theory being an accurate depiction of police culture.

There's a good synopsis on this in the section "Bad Apples or Rotten Barrels" pp14-17 from this review: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/PS64-27-2006E.pdf

That's also off my point, though not by a half a light year. Apples or barrels or whatever, I believe that a significant plurality, probably a majority, of police do not engage in, sanction, or otherwise suffer the crime of dog murder.

I had a viscous dog complaint once, it was that I had a hell of a time trying to get him to run.

MOST cops are decent folk who put up with tons of human jizz-rags and mental paperwork.

MOST cops turn a blind eye to the so-called "bad cops", thus making them every bit as bad.

Me too.