152
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Mathew Bianchi took routine traffic stops seriously and handed out tickets regardless of people’s connections within the Police Department. He says he was punished for it.

...

The police unions distribute the wallet-sized courtesy cards — sometimes referred to as “get out of jail free” cards — to members, who in turn pass them out to friends and family. Bianchi had been instructed to let card carriers off without a ticket.

By the time he pulled over the Mazda in November 2018, drivers were handing Bianchi these cards six or seven times a day. But this woman’s card was a little older, a little tattered-looking. It was difficult to make out the contact information of the officer who had given it to her, which is usually written on the card’s back. So Bianchi did the wrong thing, which is to say, the right thing: He wrote the woman a ticket.

Though Bianchi didn’t know it then, he had just begun what would become a yearslong struggle to do the job the way he thought it should be done. He had inherited his moral obligations — and a strong dose of stubbornness — from his grandmother, who raised him on Staten Island. But he had no family in the Police Department, and no one who could tell him what to do when its leadership began to turn against him.

The month after he stopped the Mazda, a high-ranking police union official, Albert Acierno, got in touch. He told Bianchi that the cards were inviolable. He then delivered what Bianchi came to think of as the “brother speech,” saying that cops are brothers and must help each other out. That the cards were symbols of the bonds between the police and their extended family and friends.

Non-paywall link

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Because we don't have the monopoly on violence.

[-] Deceptichum@kbin.social 7 points 9 months ago

No, I mean physically copy the cards.

Its not like they’re legally binding or impersonating a police officer.

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

You probally could. Thats another issue with them. They are an unregulated and unmonitored "break the law" pass given out to strangers.

Based on the article, you need to write a cops name on the back as that's the common "security feature" they add to prevent counterfeits, but thats it.

Of course, if the cop figures out it's a fake, they will apply every ounce of possible bullshit they can to ruin your life.

[-] FaceDeer@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago

Ideally, everybody would have one. Then the cops won't have any idea whose are real and whose aren't, and if they just start indiscriminately ruining everyone's life things will be much the same as they are now but at least those "special" people won't be immune any more.

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Even that doesnt "hack" the system, because it's nebulous and has paper thin rules. The only requirement is that it loosely IDs an "ingroup" not bound by the law like the "outgroup."

They can change the cards at any time to defeat the hack. They can change it to a hand signal and a card. As long as its informal and not written down or explicitly acknowledged, it can be anything.

They can also just opt not to apply it even if you have the "right" card if you are perceived to be in the "outgroup," i.e black/brown, or in an old beater, or or or....

[-] FaceDeer@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

Okay, ideally this just wouldn't be a thing at all. I'm proceeding on the assumption that it's going to be a thing.

Giving everyone one of these cards is still a big leg up, though. It throws chaos into the nice little club these police have set up. It means that everybody knows about it, and it means that the cops never know for sure who's actually "in" and who's "out." Even if they issue new ones constantly, making things cat and mouse, it means the "in" group needs to constantly be updating their cards. Anyone on the "in" group could still find themselves in a situation where they've slipped up and are presenting an old card, at which point they need to argue with the cop to convince him. If they fail, they get ticketed. And then the infighting ensues, just like in the case this article's about.

Turn this secret club into an open battle.

this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
152 points (98.1% liked)

News

23284 readers
1465 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS