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idkwhatimdoing , in This Texas town has about 250 people. It has 50 sworn police officers.

How does a town of 250 have the funds to pay 50 police salaries?

Pons_Aelius ,

How does a town of 250 have the funds to pay 50 police salaries?

Texas Highway 155 crosses Ledbetter Bay as it passes through Coffee City

Coffee City’s budget shows the town collected more than $1 million in court fines last year. That came from more than 5,100 citations officers wrote

MTLion3 ,

So it’s literally funded by leeching. Not like most police sects aren’t, but this seems especially egregious

snooggums ,
@snooggums@kbin.social avatar

The leech to town ratio is very high.

SCB ,

The town’s citizens do not want to pay taxes, so they are effectively outsourcing their costs to motorists passing by.

GreenMario ,

Sounds like a wildfire should visit that town, nothing of value would be lost.

idkwhatimdoing ,

That’s still nowhere near enough for 50 cops with public level benefits. Even if every dollar of that goes towards the cops, at $20k/year each, it would hardly cover federal taxes on their income, let alone the income itself

dogslayeggs ,

Because only 12 of the 50 are full time. The rest are reserves that are used as surge for events and stuff in other cities.

DigitalTraveler42 ,

The town is probably a ticket trap or they make way too much money off of civil asset forfeiture, it all sounds shady AF.

idkwhatimdoing ,

Between insurance, pensions, salary, reimbursements, and fringe benefits, you’re looking at a minimum cost of $70k per full-time officer per year. They’d have to issue $3,500,000 in tickets to cover that alone, and even then, that leaves nothing for vehicle replacement/maintenance (which is huge on a fleet of cop cars), non-officer employee salaries (clerks etc.), rent/taxes/maintenance on the station, equipment and weapons, training programs, and so much more. No way tickets and forfeitures alone take in that much in a town of 250

DigitalTraveler42 ,

Cartel town maybe? There’s probably some pretty surprising levels of corruption going on there.

Ertebolle ,

They're not full-time:

The opportunity to wear a badge allows officers to make extra money. In the state of Texas, a commissioned reserve officer may work off-duty performing traffic control duties, commonly known as “road jobs.” Of the 50 sworn officers at the Coffee City Police Department, 38 are reserves according to state records.

idkwhatimdoing ,

Ahhh that makes more sense, but still crazy. Definitely staying out of Coffee on any road trips I take…

Son_of_dad ,

Corruption

BombOmOm , in "Shocking": More mothers are working than ever before
@BombOmOm@lemmy.world avatar

Wasn’t that a huge point of the feminist revolution? To get women out of the kitchen (ie, out of their homes, away from where their children are) and into the office?

justhach ,
@justhach@lemmy.world avatar

The choice to do so, yes. Not the material conditions that make it absolutely necessary for both parents to work full time just to stay afloat.

BombOmOm ,
@BombOmOm@lemmy.world avatar

When you double supply, the value of each unit of supply goes down. This exact situation was predicted.

orclev ,

That’s only true if demand remains constant. It’s also an incredibly cynical way to look at the labor market. This is a result of the continuing gutting of the middle class and concentration of wealth in the hands of an ever shrinking pool of the ultra wealthy. The answer to why it’s no longer possible to support yourself on the pay of the majority of jobs even working full time isn’t “too many workers”, it’s the leeches at the top taking the majority of the profits.

BombOmOm ,
@BombOmOm@lemmy.world avatar

it’s the leeches at the top taking the majority of the profits

Why now though? Why didn’t this happen 50 years ago? 100 years ago? Have people suddenly become greedy and were somehow not greedy before? No, something (or somethings) have changed in the last few decades that brought this about.

orclev ,

Why now though? Why didn’t this happen 50 years ago? 100 years ago? Have people suddenly become greedy and were somehow not greedy before? No, something (or somethings) have changed in the last few decades that brought this about.

Oh, that’s super easy, Reagan happened. It just takes a while for unstable systems to reach a tipping point. Reagan put that brain fart out there, and then the GOP picked up that ball and ran with it for all they were worth. They know a good grift when they see one.

Potato_in_my_anus , in 'Trump isn't funding any of us': Co-defendants in Georgia case are struggling with mounting legal bills

Trump’s lawyers will argue that they did what they did without his knowledge. That’s why he’s not helping them.

Blumpkinhead , in Forsyth County schools cancel talks after author says the word 'gay' to elementary school students

These people have lost their damn minds.

Lojcs , in New York police will use drones to monitor backyard parties this weekend, spurring privacy concerns

Is having a large party supposed to be illegal? Either way doesn’t sending drones to someone’s backyard constitute unwarranted search?

SheeEttin ,

What’s visible from public spaces, including the air, is not considered a search of your persons, houses, papers, and effects. Or at least not an unreasonable search.

Lojcs ,

So they can use thermal imaging from outside the house to watch the people inside? That’s bs

SheeEttin ,

I know thermal imaging has been used to look for marijuana farms, back when grow lamps were incandescent and houses would stand out as hot. But I don’t know if they had warrants for those or not.

But to actually use imaging, whether it’s thermal, radio, or X-ray, to see through a wall, is definitely considered a search.

WeirdGoesPro ,
@WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

How do you think they catch grow-houses? They thermal scan neighborhoods for heat signatures from the grow lights. Cops are masters of subverting the law to do whatever they want.

Voyajer ,
@Voyajer@lemmy.world avatar

Thermal cameras can’t see through glass, but they could be used to see if a building is significantly warmer than the surrounding structures.

treefrog ,

Police are not allowed to use anything other than the ‘naked eye’ (their own senses) without a warrant.

If this includes police dogs (it does, the SC ruled on this and a conservative justice wrote the majority opinion), it includes drones (with or without thermal cameras).

NYC will see a lawsuit out of this for sure.

Neato ,
@Neato@kbin.social avatar

So if I got a drone and live streamed some cops backyard pool party that'd be ok?

SheeEttin ,

It would probably be legal.

Tagger ,

Possibly not advisable, they tend to be quite … shootie

WeirdGoesPro ,
@WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Depends, are you a cop?

treefrog ,

What’s visible with the naked eye. If using a dog outside an apartment door to smell weed is unconstitutional, I imagine doing a flyover with a drone is too.

anticommon ,

I remember hearing about police thermal camera use being unconstitutional (or at least not allowed) in some places. How is this different?

I would like to add I have no source for this it’s just something I remember hearing and you shouldn’t believe people on the Internet do some research in verified sources or reputable news organizations and definitely don’t just blindly believe what I have to say, but if it’s for entertainment purposes then sure believe me. I believe me but I’m not heavily invested in verifying this fact.

JoeBigelow ,
@JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca avatar

Cops use(d) thermal imaging to bust grow ops, the house with the extra warm roof? What’s in the attic?

zaph ,

I’ma need to see a source for this claim.

SheeEttin ,

en.wikipedia.org/…/Aerial_surveillance_doctrine

That’s a good place to start. It summarizes a few supreme court cases that you can read more about.

zaph ,

Absolutely wild overreach. Thanks for the link.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Your property rights do not stop at the ground. No one has the right to fly a drone over your property. There’s just usually not much you can do about it.

SheeEttin , (edited )

This is not correct. Navigable airspace is controlled by the FAA alone. Part 107 rules state that in fact you must fly a small unmanned aircraft less than 400 feet above ground level or within 400 feet of a structure. So, if someone is flying a drone around, they must fly it fairly close to the ground (though a little quadcopter at 400 feet would be pretty hard to notice).

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

You may be thinking “the airspace above the surface that could reasonably be used in connection with the land” seems noticeably vague. At what point does my airspace end and the public highway begin? Unfortunately, there is no exact answer to this question, but generally, the government considers the public highway to start around 500 feet in uncongested areas, and 1000 feet otherwise. Flight over private land cannot interfere with the enjoyment and use of the land.

www.landsearch.com/blog/property-air-rights

Hope their drones go higher than 500 feet.

SheeEttin ,

Keep reading. The very next bit from that page:

What about the airspace below 500 feet? Can helicopters, drones, or hang gliders legally fly above my property? In 1946 in the case of the United States v. Causby, a large military aircraft flew 83 feet above a farmer’s land startling his chickens, causing them to kill themselves by flying into walls. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the farmer. So we are at least entitled to 83 feet. What about the space between 83 and 500 feet?

Well… this appears to be rather unclear and is still undecided.

Like I said, navigable airspace is controlled by the FAA, but what is “navigable airspace” is not quantified. And the rules say small unmanned aircraft cannot exceed 400 feet.

Astroturfed ,

No one is flying the drones 400+ feet off the ground for surveillance… The cameras would have to be far too good/expensive for that to be practical.

SheeEttin ,

Sorry, I forgot which way I was using the negative when writing that sentence. I’ve fixed it. You have to stay under 400 ft, or within 400 ft of a structure.

thisbenzingring , in 4-Year-Old Fatally Shot By Woman Who Was Teaching Her 'Firearm Safety,' Authorities Say

what a piece of shit headline. the girl was being punished or the lady was trying to scare her and the gun went off. the 7 year old said that they were being punished for waking someone up and eating food?! this is probably a foster parent situation. I sure as fuck hope that 7 year old is placed in a new home!

showing someone gun safety is the killers excuse, thats not what happened here at all.

AND FUCKING 4 YEAR OLDS CANT EVEN TIE THEIR SHOES! WHY WOULD YOU GIVE THEM GUN SAFETY?

FUCKING HORRIBLE

SocialMediaRefugee ,

Yup, sounds like she was trying to scare the girl. She was mad at the kids and wacking them before this. Jackass didn’t even check to see if there was a round in the chamber not that they should be aiming guns at people and pulling the trigger.

I wonder if there were powder burns and a muzzle imprint on the kid, that would show if the gun was pressed against her. I wouldn’t trust anything they say at this point anyway.

RedAggroBest ,

The other methhead and the 7yo both say they saw the muzzle against her chest so it seems likely

HuddaBudda , in 'Trump isn't funding any of us': Co-defendants in Georgia case are struggling with mounting legal bills
@HuddaBudda@kbin.social avatar

In fact, Trump has publicly distanced himself from them, telling Newsmax he doesn’t know “a lot of these people.”

Wow, that is one hell of a breakup line.

Nothing quite like finding out you were the one night affair. After you just helped him bury the body.

jballs ,
@jballs@sh.itjust.works avatar

I still can’t wrap my head around why these people are willing to commit multiple felonies for Donald Trump, of all people.

tacosplease ,

They thought he’d be king and would then make them lords LOL. Was never going to happen whether Trump managed to steal the election or not.

corsicanguppy ,

Every one of them have joined a stupid cult like group for that sense of belonging and affirming their place in the group/world.

He plays on that. It works. They’ll follow one idiot, so they’ll follow another.

And their value system - as shown for republicans - is very upside-down: Trump has validity because he’s in the group, and the group is great because he’s in it and so he’s allowed in it. It’s seemingly not the other way around where he can’t join the group as a cad and a cheat. It’s amazingly circular too.

So yeah: joiners are his thing, and he gives them all the (little-s) social security they crave at the mere cost of them committing treason for him and going to jail.

Pretzilla ,

It’s a big GQP tent, but one of the biggest tent poles is racism

dmonzel , in New York police will use drones to monitor backyard parties this weekend, spurring privacy concerns
@dmonzel@lemmy.world avatar

I thought Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to be a warning, not a blueprint.

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

The quote from Mike Pondsmith, the creator of Cyberpunk – the TTRPG 2077 is based on – is “‘Cyberpunk’ is a warning, not an aspiration”.

stevivor.com/…/mike-pondsmith-says-cyberpunk-warn…

Tedesche , in 'Trump isn't funding any of us': Co-defendants in Georgia case are struggling with mounting legal bills

Surprised Pikachu ate their faces.

sik0fewl ,

I didn't think that the leopard would eat my face!

gAlienLifeform , in New York police will use drones to monitor backyard parties this weekend, spurring privacy concerns
@gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world avatar

Well, at least this song aged well

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar
technopagan , in 4-Year-Old Fatally Shot By Woman Who Was Teaching Her 'Firearm Safety,' Authorities Say

As a parent, EVERY kid feels like your kid. This made me cry.

Compactor9679 , in Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs sentenced to 17 years in January 6 case

Its fucking insane how prople get so much time for something so stupid in the middle of a year where there were riots all over the US

Pons_Aelius , in This Texas town has about 250 people. It has 50 sworn police officers.

As an outsider, local city based police forces sound like some medieval throwback to me.

Fredselfish ,
@Fredselfish@lemmy.world avatar

That must be a scary town to be stuck living in. Think time FBI step in and disband that police department.

BrandonMatrick ,

I lived across the inlet on the same lake, about 3 miles from the major bridge that they use to get most their speeding tickets - Between Frankston/Tyler, there’s a long 4-lane bridge where they park on either end. There, the speed suddenly drops, directly on the outside of the city limits. There’s always at least 2 waiting to get all the speeders coming off the bridge, and there’s nothing at the end of that bridge but a Fat Dog Liquor and a closed/burnt down café.

HoustonHenry ,

Can confirm, Lindale over here. It brings to mind a little village next to Alvin TX (where the FBI picked up that lady for making threatening calls)- probably the same population…only 2 cops…it’s a husband and wife combo…and he’s also the judge! Ya learn quick --> not 1 mile above the posted speed limit, and sometimes one under just to play it safe

roguetrick ,

It's the classic rent seeking example. Like throwing a chain across a river to charge a fee for crossing it.

originalucifer , in 'Trump isn't funding any of us': Co-defendants in Georgia case are struggling with mounting legal bills
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

ha, are these the only people who didnt see this coming? trump has never paid his bills, hes certainly not paying anyone elses

MrBusiness ,

Not too mention he got a bondsman and loans to cover bail.

Pulptastic , in Automaker Ford recalls almost 42,000 F250, F350 trucks for safety

I figured this was a hood height problem. Dangerous.

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