How many times have I heard this statement?
These words are usually uttered by someone who is wearing my handcuffs or holding one of my citations.
Over the years I have come to the conclusion that when someone is involved in a police encounter, saying "I'll have your badge!" is the equivalent of "Fuck you!" in a normal argument.
When you've run out of useful, or for that matter irrelevant, things to say, you drop it...
Awwww, FUCK you!
Whenever I make a DUI arrest I hear it...
"I haven't had that much to drink. You're making a big mistake mister. I'll see you in court. I'm going to sue you for false arrest. I'LL HAVE YOUR BADGE!"
Whenever someone wants to argue a ticket I hear it...
"I don't think I was driving that fast. The light was yellow. I stopped at the stop sign. I know the city needs money, but you guys shouldn't be out here writing tickets for bullshit. I'll see you in court. I'LL HAVE YOUR BADGE!"
Whenever someone decides it is in their best interest to resist or attempt escape, yup, I hear it...
"Y'all didn't have to hit me with that stick. Y'all didn't have to shoot me with that Taser. Oh my God, this is police brutality. This is excessive force. I'm going to sue you for everything you have. I'LL HAVE YOUR BADGE!"
I have been threatened with someone "having my badge" countless times in my career.
But, you know what?
I still have it...
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6 comments:
It's the best "thing" they can muster up to make themselves feel better about the mess they got themself into.
Ah, irony.
There's a discussion on another blog, which I just commented upon, about how most people react to being told, "You did something wrong/offensive" with a knee-jerk "HOW DARE YOU?! and/or defensive posturing.
Maturity, however, is required for the next step to occur: The person admits they did something wrong, and then the 3rd and hardest step - apologizing.
It sounds like a lot of the time you never get past step one, which has to suck royally. But I bet that every once in a while someone will surprise the crap out of you and admit, "Yeah, I @%*(ed up. I'm sorry."
p.s. Computer people see this, too. "No, I did not spill anything on my computer! ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR??" No, sir, the sticky dried cola inside your machine is.
Of course, there's a world of difference between my job and yours. You're dealing with dangerous idjits, I'm just dealing with idjits.
All these people who want take your badge and none of them had a chest to pin it on.
Back in my days as a Federal bureaucrat I got a few threats from a few unenthusiastic people with whom my official duties brought me to deal.
I told them all to make sure that my name was correctly spelled when they filed the complaint.
Repercussions from my supervisor were forthcoming on only one occasion -- and he was laughing at the whole thing!
Of course, you're failing to see the broader societal function of that threat. If no one ever disagreed with you or threatened to file a report about you, you or your coworkers could over time become more inclined to abuse your delegated authority.
In a vast chaotic system, such as the society of people, hardly anything happens without a function. While to you people who claim to have your badge may be useless, they in fact aren't. Even if they are wrong in their specific occasion, it doesn't mean the actual function of disagreeing with a seemingly unlawful operation of delegated authority and reporting it would also be wrong at all times.
So, the more people claim to have your badge, the better it is for a civilized, honest and balanced society.
Of course I am , Leo. I "fail to see" a lot of things in people's eyes because I don't specifically touch on their specific point in my original posts. As I have said many, many, many times, what I post is simply my opinion and does not claim to touch upon every single possible motive people may have.
Otherwise, your point is perfectly fair. I would tend to agree that these people serve a purpose on some occasions, just not when they say this as a threat to try and get out of a ticket or something similar. That was pretty much my point.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
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