"we keep police's salary at the poverty level, we shouldn't be shocked if they take bribes and tips"
The salary is well above the poverty level. If they take bribes and "tips", they are on the wrong side of the bars.
"god raise the damn pay, these are public servents not public s[m]urfs.
Ah. The blue uniforms explained.
"The key in fighting crime is actually acknowledging the root cause and doing something about it"
Why, certainly. The root cause is craven, violent and/or greedy behavior by immoral sociopath-types.
"Just because there is a single non-RIAA record company doesn't mean there isn't monopoly."
Actually, it does (monopoly means one). Aside from that, there are hundreds (thousands)? who are creating and making music recordings available without the RIAA.
"I thought that you meant that we should hire the best police officers possible."
Absolutely. But, while paying them more can get better officers, that is not the most of it. Corruption and bribery scandals happen at the top of the law enforcement pay scale (between $100,000 and $200,000 for big cities). Surely these are not poverty wages, yet these big chiefs/leaders/etc still take bribes.
"I intended to argue for a better "carrot" but you were intent on arguing for a better "stick"."
When you swear an oath, you swear an oath. No "carrot" should be necessary, or the oath is worthless.
"probably getting the price of each dvd/ vcd/ "whatever form" down will be a realistic start"
Maybe it is just me, but I think DVD prices are decently low right now (for the most part). I was just at a store yesterday and saw a huge selection of recent discs, new, for $7.50 each. Sure, the new ones are espensive when they first come out, but the prices often drift down.
I aay "for the most part" because I'd like to get those Babylon 5 sets sometime, and they are still very expensive.
"You seem to live in a fantasy world where all police are true to their oaths and are not tempted by external monies."
See other post, about the problem of not enough penalty for giving into this temptation.
"If you believe that police are working in their jobs because of some "duty" or obligation to the common good, then I have to believe that you are the one who is misguided"
Do you actually know anyone in law enforcement? Personally? Have you ever talked to any? Most of the police/etc I talk to are working their jobs for this reason and take their "duty" seriously. Or perhaps all the police you know really are heartless mercenaries with no sense of civic duty, and don't care about their oaths? If this is the case, no wonder you hate the police.
"But hey. I'm the one getting modded down, so fire away with whatever "arguments" you've got from that fantasy world of yours."
It is like you have never read the messages. After I post several about the real problems of police corruption, you say I am in a fantasy world where "all police are true to their oaths and are not tempted by external monies." You have me confused with someone else.
Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic. Especially after having in "heavy rotation" on my CD player a bunch of great music I got off a web site as MP3's provided by the artists themselves with no encumbrance of any kind. There is a LOT of this available.
" I do believe that they should be paid enough that the penalty for accepting a bribe is more than the benfit of accepting it."
Why not just hit the root of the problem: make the penalties for accepting bribes much stiffer? This is much better: the law enforcement system gets money from the penalty payments, and they don't have to cut back on the size of the force in order to pay for a huge pay raise in an ill-conceived attempt to make it so a few bad apples might feel less incentive to break their oaths.
"I do believe that they should be paid enough that the penalty for accepting a bribe is more than the benfit of accepting it."
Even if they are paid 10 cents a year, that is no excuse at all for this corruption. Your proposal to overpay them becomes a sort of bribe in itself: "See? We'll pay you EXTRA in order to actually stick to the oath you swore to in the first place!"
Any cop who will pick and choose whether or not to stick to their oath based on the level or presence of bribes from the MPAA or your proposal do not belong on the force. I have yet to see a single police oath with an asterisk (fine print) that says the oath does not matter unless there are bribes to "make" it matter.
"If the pay for enforcement of the law can be overcome by the acceptance of "tips", then either the punishment or the rate of prosecution of police officers who accept "tips" is too low."
Exactly. This is not a matter of "low pay" at all: it is a matter of just plain "bad cops".
"If the pay for enforcement of the law can be overcome by the acceptance of "tips", then the base salary is too low to prevent the officers from breaking their oaths."
You make no sense here. The corruption and "we only work if you give us extra money" situation would apply even if the pay was $200,000 a year. The MPAA has big money going here. How many hundreds of thousands do you want to pay each officer a year to remove any possibility of an MPAA bribe affacting their actions?
"In addition, if someone is willing to pay extra to have extra police protection,"
That reminds me of an obvious thing I overlooked. The poor already are ignored too much when they are victims. As they would not be able to pay the tips, this problem would get much much worse.
"then how is the police officer who assents to investigating "tipped" crimes at fault for spending more time looking into those crimes than into "untipped" crimes?"
Ever hear of "to protect and to serve"? There is NOT an asterisk there that says in fine print "only protecting those who pay us extra under the table".
I thought that enforcing the law only to protect those who bribe you was universally considered to be a problem. You seem to think it is a great reform.
"What is the problem with underpaid law enforcers from accepting tips?"
Aside from the fact that they are not underpaid, there is this problem. If you have a "tip" system, pretty soon they only enforce laws to benefit those who tip them. Want that burglary investigated? Tip them, or they will "ignore it due to more pressing matters".
"George [Lucas]... a man who made an entire industry out of three films. A man who wanted VCRs banned in America."
As the VCR is fading technology, maybe we can let him do this, in exchange for his removing Jar Jar from subsequent DVD and other "Star Wars" releases.
"Perhaps we expect too much when we ask them to put themselves in harm's way to save us time and again for peanuts."
You were going great until the last sentence. Most of them are quite well paid. Where unions are involved, they can even be overpaid. The pay level can negatively impact public safety: in order to pay them more, you have to cut down the size of the force. However, if they think the pay is too low, they should find another career rather than augment their pay with criminal activity.
"The MPAA and the RIAA will stop at nothing to protect their monopolies"
They may be bad, but they do not have monopolies. By definition, they can't be with all the freely available, legal non-pirated non-MPAA/RIAA films and music out there.
Slashdot Mirror
"god raise the damn pay, these are public servents not public s[m]urfs.
Ah. The blue uniforms explained.
"The key in fighting crime is actually acknowledging the root cause and doing something about it"
Why, certainly. The root cause is craven, violent and/or greedy behavior by immoral sociopath-types.
I think the accurate Gargamel quote should be "Those damned smurfs".
I don't either. The market as such can never lie.
Who do you think authorizes the police? Who do you think funds them? No idea? The lawmakers. They have plenty of power here.
Nah. Show me one in a prison cell saying "I'm serving a hard 60 to life because I greenlighted Gigli."
We'll see when we get the first article about collectors of the antique first iPod appear by the end of the year.
"Yeah, sonny, when I was young, the iPod only held 5,000 songs. Nothing like the 50 gigasong models we have now, young whippersnapper!"
This is about digital music file players, not just MP3 players. The article even mentions that the first item, the Sony, would not play MP3's.
"Just because there is a single non-RIAA record company doesn't mean there isn't monopoly." Actually, it does (monopoly means one). Aside from that, there are hundreds (thousands)? who are creating and making music recordings available without the RIAA.
Shhhh. Don't anger the Canadians. For some reason, they get all snitty when you call this tax a tax.
Absolutely. But, while paying them more can get better officers, that is not the most of it. Corruption and bribery scandals happen at the top of the law enforcement pay scale (between $100,000 and $200,000 for big cities). Surely these are not poverty wages, yet these big chiefs/leaders/etc still take bribes.
"I intended to argue for a better "carrot" but you were intent on arguing for a better "stick"."
When you swear an oath, you swear an oath. No "carrot" should be necessary, or the oath is worthless.
Maybe it is just me, but I think DVD prices are decently low right now (for the most part). I was just at a store yesterday and saw a huge selection of recent discs, new, for $7.50 each. Sure, the new ones are espensive when they first come out, but the prices often drift down.
I aay "for the most part" because I'd like to get those Babylon 5 sets sometime, and they are still very expensive.
See other post, about the problem of not enough penalty for giving into this temptation.
"If you believe that police are working in their jobs because of some "duty" or obligation to the common good, then I have to believe that you are the one who is misguided"
Do you actually know anyone in law enforcement? Personally? Have you ever talked to any? Most of the police/etc I talk to are working their jobs for this reason and take their "duty" seriously. Or perhaps all the police you know really are heartless mercenaries with no sense of civic duty, and don't care about their oaths? If this is the case, no wonder you hate the police.
"But hey. I'm the one getting modded down, so fire away with whatever "arguments" you've got from that fantasy world of yours."
It is like you have never read the messages. After I post several about the real problems of police corruption, you say I am in a fantasy world where "all police are true to their oaths and are not tempted by external monies." You have me confused with someone else.
Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic. Especially after having in "heavy rotation" on my CD player a bunch of great music I got off a web site as MP3's provided by the artists themselves with no encumbrance of any kind. There is a LOT of this available.
Why not just hit the root of the problem: make the penalties for accepting bribes much stiffer? This is much better: the law enforcement system gets money from the penalty payments, and they don't have to cut back on the size of the force in order to pay for a huge pay raise in an ill-conceived attempt to make it so a few bad apples might feel less incentive to break their oaths.
Even if they are paid 10 cents a year, that is no excuse at all for this corruption. Your proposal to overpay them becomes a sort of bribe in itself: "See? We'll pay you EXTRA in order to actually stick to the oath you swore to in the first place!"
Any cop who will pick and choose whether or not to stick to their oath based on the level or presence of bribes from the MPAA or your proposal do not belong on the force. I have yet to see a single police oath with an asterisk (fine print) that says the oath does not matter unless there are bribes to "make" it matter.
Exactly. This is not a matter of "low pay" at all: it is a matter of just plain "bad cops".
Nope. Read the parent.
"If the pay for enforcement of the law can be overcome by the acceptance of "tips", then the base salary is too low to prevent the officers from breaking their oaths."
You make no sense here. The corruption and "we only work if you give us extra money" situation would apply even if the pay was $200,000 a year. The MPAA has big money going here. How many hundreds of thousands do you want to pay each officer a year to remove any possibility of an MPAA bribe affacting their actions?
"In addition, if someone is willing to pay extra to have extra police protection,"
That reminds me of an obvious thing I overlooked. The poor already are ignored too much when they are victims. As they would not be able to pay the tips, this problem would get much much worse.
"then how is the police officer who assents to investigating "tipped" crimes at fault for spending more time looking into those crimes than into "untipped" crimes?"
Ever hear of "to protect and to serve"? There is NOT an asterisk there that says in fine print "only protecting those who pay us extra under the table".
I thought that enforcing the law only to protect those who bribe you was universally considered to be a problem. You seem to think it is a great reform.
Aside from the fact that they are not underpaid, there is this problem. If you have a "tip" system, pretty soon they only enforce laws to benefit those who tip them. Want that burglary investigated? Tip them, or they will "ignore it due to more pressing matters".
As the VCR is fading technology, maybe we can let him do this, in exchange for his removing Jar Jar from subsequent DVD and other "Star Wars" releases.
No, I would leave it to those who are in it for public service, rather than those who are in it to get rich. Besides, the pay is quite adequate.
If the word "thief" can be applied to content duplicators and copyright infringers (as the RIAA and MPAA do), it can be applied to any crime.
New York's finest paid by MPAA
Bust down your door and take your movie away!
In de car or on de horse,
They'll take your DVD's with excessive force.
Bad cops, bad cops.
The next step is to call them thieves.
You were going great until the last sentence. Most of them are quite well paid. Where unions are involved, they can even be overpaid. The pay level can negatively impact public safety: in order to pay them more, you have to cut down the size of the force. However, if they think the pay is too low, they should find another career rather than augment their pay with criminal activity.
They may be bad, but they do not have monopolies. By definition, they can't be with all the freely available, legal non-pirated non-MPAA/RIAA films and music out there.