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Police Publish 'An Introduction To PEDO BEAR'
According to this article, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department knows that Pedobear is an Internet joke, but that hasn't stopped them from trying to warn the public about him. Their most recent tool in the fight against internet memes is this public safety information bulletin entitled: "An Introduction to PEDO BEAR." I look forward to the bulletin warning parents about the dangers of children playing in Chocolate Rain.
Check out the dangers of playing in sprinklers.
"We know that this is a joke, but we're going to approach it as if it's a serious thing."
Your tax dollars at work, people.
Living With a Nerd
It should be noted that "pedo" means fart in Spanish.
This constant paranoia over pedophilia has gotten insane. While it is a terrible crime, the odds of your kid getting killed by an SUV dwarf the odds that they will get molested by a stranger(some studies suggest that the child knows the perpetrator about 90% of the time). Meanwhile fearful parents park their kids in front of some sort of glowing rectangle and let them eat themselves to an early grave because a guaranteed life of obesity seems somehow better than a slim(really slim if your properly educate and observe the children) chance that they will be molested.
Furthermore the whole police state mentality is driving people who have these urges further and further underground. Dan Savage had a really interesting call on his podcast a few months back about someone who said he couldn't control his attraction to children. He hadn't molested anyone yet but he was scared he might, but thanks to the way the law is written now, if he seeks help the psychiatrist MUST report him to the cops where he will be thrown in prison and then booted out into a world where he is a pariah just for THOUGHTS he may have had. So instead of this man being able to seek professional help(which could include chemical castration), he is now forced to battle his demons on his own and is probably MORE likely to molest a kid than if he had been able to get help. But somehow Americans think that if they can use the police to arrest someone, they should no matter what the actual or perceived crime is.
Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not trying to minimize molestation, it's a real and terrible thing. But being irrationally afraid of the problem isn't going to make it go away and really isn't going to leave your children in a very healthy state when they grow up.
Monstar L
Scat Rat, Futa Cow, Shota Tiger, Yuri Bunny, Guro Dragon, S&M Horse, Furry Sheep, Yaoi Cock, Hetero Dog & Watersports Pig?
Do they not even warrant a warning?
PEDO BEAR is becoming a tool for pedophile to use.
I have doubts about the certainty of your fears. Do you have proof? You wouldn't just be saying that based on absolutely nothing, would you?
You can't take the sky from me...
This is obviously an attempt to stereotype all bears as pedophiles. This might make it politically easier to allow the hunting of brown and black bears in the county. It would also humiliate and shame the Downtown Association's bear that appears at farmers' market, helping to reduce the amount of "organic produce" in the county. Plus, it would allow the SLO Sheriff to seize the bear fountain in downtown SLO city, because it's "Just like the one that I [one of the deputies] wanted". Plus, it helps distract from other pressing issues. In fact, it makes a whole lot of sense for the Sheriff to issue an APB on pedobear.
I've been living around SLO now for six years or so. The Sherriff's Department is in a bit of an awkward position. On one hand, they have local politicians breathing down their necks to be tougher on crime. Between the Cal Poly party scene and the inevitable knee-jerk hatred of the college kids, there is definitely a sharp ideological divide between the SLOcals and the Polywags. On the other hand, there are some pretty high crime rate areas in the county (like my current town, Oceano) where violent crimes and gang activities are pretty common. Thus, the Sherriff's department is usually in a game of tug-o-war between what the county-seat residents demand (more enforcement in San Luis Obispo proper) and what is probably needed most (more enforcement in surrounding communities). As such, the Sherriff's department has to come up with a lot of unique ways of addressing odd problems.
It wouldn't surprise me if this flier was released in response to some of the SLOcals shitting bricks over something one of their teenage kids read in an internet forum. However, the Sheriff's department probably doesn't want to spend any time or manpower on the issue. So they probably released the flier to shut the local whiners up while maintaining enough autonomy to do their real jobs. For what it's worth, every time I've dealt with a Sheriff deupty here, it's been pretty pleasant. One of them helped scrape me off the road when I crashed my motorcycle, and even gave me a ride home when I refused to go to the hospital. Another couple of them recognize me when I am jogging now and wave and say hi if they are outside of their cars. I've never had them stop me for trivial bullshit. I've never had them stop me period. It's always been SLO PD and the CHP that give me shit over ridiculous stuff.
All in all, SLO county is a delightfully weird place to live. the SLO folk are so hell bent about maintaining a nice community that they pass all sorts of batshit insane, jerk off laws. For instance, just this year a city-wide ban on smoking was enacted. You can't smoke anywhere in public now, or within 20 feet of another person's residence. So if you smoke, you're screwed. Then there was the measure that made it so noise ordinance violations could be classified as "unruly gatherings" and, rather than simply fining the offenders, all members present can now be criminally prosecuted and arrested. As such, I'd hate to work for the Sheriff's department. They are stuck between trying to prevent real crimes (like the constant stabbings in Oceano, or the poaching of wildlife up in Cayucos) and pandering to a bunch of rich whiny twats that want to create the "perfect community." It's strange.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
Holy jesus I was going to post almost an exact duplicate of yours. I lived in SLO proper for 5 years while going to school and I must say that the town is absolutely crazy. Its a great place to visit--fun shops, beaches nearby, the school, extensive bro culture (alright, that last one was a joke)--but the amount of bullshit the cops give everyone along with the ridiculous laws like the smoking ban were enough to make me move away forever.
I was once pulled over and fined $180 for riding my bike with headphones on. Three of my friends have been arrested for drunk in public just because they were stumbling a bit on their walk home. Cops show up at most every party at exactly 10:00pm to issue $300 fines for first offense, and they double every time after that (the frats full of rich white guys are immune, though). There is a vigilante program run by the police called "SNAPS" that employs students to spy on parties. The Cal Poly PD is SLOPD, yet they are allowed to make a profit off of parking and traffic violating on campus (yes, the campus is a public institution but that money should go towards the school to better the parking situation).
And every summer the town is flooded by an army of retired, driving around in their aluminum boats. They make their way the wrong way down one way streets, they drive into groups of people walking in a cross walk on an unprotected left turn, and they blow countless stop signs to the dismay of the local cyclists. Their tour buses block entire roads and the packs they travel in on foot show no regard to traffic signs (WALK or DONT WALK) but the cops don't care. The whole community doesn't care and doesn't realize that most of the money coming into the town is from the college and the young students who attend. But as long as time continues to pass and the youth inevitably become the elders, this situation wont change. Those damn kids are just rampaging around with nothing but disdain, incarcerate them all I say!