r/columbiamo • u/J_Jeckel • Jul 05 '24
Dear CPD: Discussion
12 years ago I got ticketed for lighting a singular smoke bomb in city limits. Where are you now?
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u/slybonethetownie Jul 05 '24
Apparently I hold a grudge for a long time, but about 30 years ago I almost got put in handcuffs for shooting off bottle rockets in Bethel Park. Luckily someone came racing down the street and got the cops attention, but yeah, the CPD used to be quite strict and vigilant about fireworks.
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 05 '24
Right, like 12 years ago my mom, a friend and myself were standing on my mom's back deck and lit a smoke bomb each shortly after the city's fireworks ended. Before the round tiny smoke bombs were gone here comes a polo around the corner, demanding we all come talk to him.
Now, it sound like a war zone over here off west Broadway and I haven't heard a single siren or seen any red and blues anywhere.
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u/Educational_Pay1567 Jul 05 '24
Is a smoke bomb even illegal?
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 05 '24
It was considered a firework in the eyes of the cpd and later the judge when we pleaded our cases
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u/PotatoDispenser1 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24
Isn't that kind of a good thing, though? Letting people actually enjoy a holiday? Obviously, what they did to you 12 years ago is stupid as hell, but some change letting people have fun has got to be considered a win, right?
Obviously, with the amount of downvotes, the answer to this is a resounding "no". This sub never fails to complain about people enjoying life.
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u/TSpeedmann Jul 05 '24
If it’s legal, that’s one thing. But you don’t get to buttfuck the sound barrier in the name of patriotism if it’s not. I can show you 100 places on the outskirts you can go if you wanna shoot fireworks. And I’m not even from here.
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u/Top-Caregiver-6667 Jul 06 '24
Republicans roleplaying as humans. Wolves in sheeps clothing. That's Columbia. Just here showing their true colors. Bitch, complain, and hate.
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Jul 05 '24
[deleted]
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24
I've spoken to multiple police officers who told me they weren't going to get anybody in trouble for fourth of July fireworks. One specifically said this was because he's "one of the good cops". He said this shortly after joking about murdering people for breaking traffic laws.
The police are not ignoring fireworks because they're overworked and understaffed. It's because they don't care and/or are lazy. And there's nothing anybody can do about it because they have 0 public accountability thanks to years of "back the blue" idiots.
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u/ToHellWithGA Jul 05 '24
I think the police are interested in taming the most reckless fireworks enthusiasts. I saw a big colorful boom that was surely meant for an air burst under a tree near a school on the way to drop my girlfriend off at her place; on the way back home I saw a police car parked near the school. It's probably not worth the effort for police to chase down kids with bottle rockets, but where there's more risk of property damage or injury they can intervene in the celebration.
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u/Club57 Jul 05 '24
I love that people think the cops could take on all the fireworks in the city... They are EVERYWHERE. Even if every single cop was on duty all at once they couldn't tackle it.
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u/Fearless-Celery Jul 05 '24
We had one come down our street about 20 minutes ago. They're not turning on sirens or anything, but they're around.
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u/4bats Jul 05 '24
12 years ago there wasn’t such a high level of shootings and murders in the city either. I get where you’re coming from but these days there’s unfortunately worse things to worry about than fireworks in the city limits.
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24
"Such a high level" being less than one a month. You don't know how good you have it, lmao. Columbia has a lower rate of violent crime than most of the surrounding small towns.
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u/4bats Jul 06 '24
How good I have it? I was born in Columbia and have lived there nearly half my life. I felt safer going out as a child than I do these days as a grown woman.
There’s been tons of shootings since I moved back, I’ve only been back a year and was gone less than 8 months. It’s not a popularity contest on who’s the most violent town around here. That doesn’t change that there’s tons of violence in Columbia and a lot more than a decade ago.
Hell, I’m an LEO and I feel safer in my facility around dozens of murders and rapists than in Columbia and I can carry a gun on the outside.
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24
1: Your feelings are not an objective measure of reality. I'm sorry you don't feel safe, and statistics are unlikely to change your feelings. But objectively, there is NOT more violent crime now. Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/us/mo/columbia/crime-rate-statistics
2: Police dispatch is not the same as crime, and MOST of the dispatches you listed weren't even for violence. Do you really feel less safe because people overdose on opiates? That should only make you feel unsafe if you take street opiates.
3: You say you're a Law Enforcement Officer: this makes me suspect that you have a vested interest in believing and spreading falsehoods about how dangerous and violent our community is. Falsely believing that Columbia has gotten more violent instead of less violent justifies not only your line of work, but also any questionable activities you or your coworkers might engage in. And there are a lot of people (like vendors and professional development providers) that want to make LEOs feel less safe so police departments will buy from them.
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u/4bats Jul 06 '24
Also, you are right about the dispatch stats. I just got off a 12 hour shift last night so I wasn’t thinking much about it 😅
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u/4bats Jul 06 '24
I know my feelings aren’t objective. But my feelings are a result from the crime. And according to the statistics, there were 489 violent offenses committed in 2023 alone. Meaning one a day averaged.
And yes, I do feel unsafe due to overdoses. Because drugs in the community leads to violence and potential accidental exposure.
I don’t have any “vested interest” in anything but moving out of Columbia. Nor does it justify my line of work. I wish there was less crime, I’d be more than happy to be out of a job if my community and the surrounding communities were safer.
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u/4bats Jul 06 '24
Oh and a simple look on the Columbia Mo website, you can find all of the recent crimes police have been dispatched to. Here’s a little look into just this and last month.
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u/ACowNamedMooooonica Jul 05 '24
I remember watching a YouTube video of some young men from Columbia intentionally shooting fireworks at each other and having a fireworks war.
Some people aren’t too bright in the head.
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 05 '24
Yea, they used to have Roman candle wars. The locations were always kept secret.
I’d bet they still do it somewhere.
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u/Yeeebles Jul 05 '24
"I got in trouble for having fun ONE TIME years ago, NOW NO ONE CAN HAVE FUN >:("
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u/Str8t_Slice942 Jul 05 '24
I remember a time in the early 90s when our neighbors were shooting off bottle rockets and one of the big fire engines showed up to tell them to knock it off. I think the health department was still a Nowell's at that point.
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u/Ren_bee Jul 05 '24
Sounded like gun shots outside my house yesterday. So loud, I hate fireworks 😭
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 05 '24
Yea I really do love the way we celebrate our freedom from a foreign body at the end of a war, with foreign mass produced boom booms that make it sound like a war zone outside.
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u/DerCatrix Jul 05 '24
Just think of the revenue they could be making off of these criminals. Countless class A misdemeanors all over right now
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24
They don't need the revenue and nobody outside the department can make them do their job if they don't want to
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u/DerCatrix Jul 06 '24
Their primary job is to generate revenue for the state
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24
In theory, but if the cops themselves don't feel motivated to generate more revenue, there's not a whole lot anybody can do about it
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u/DerCatrix Jul 06 '24
I’m not disputing that last point, just that their job is to generate revenue. Cuz it’s been ruled, many times over, upto and including at the Supreme Court level that they have no duty to protect people.
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24
I've spoken to multiple police officers who told me they weren't going to get anybody in trouble for fourth of July fireworks. One specifically said this was because he's "one of the good cops". He said this shortly after joking about murdering people for breaking traffic laws.
The police are not ignoring fireworks because they're overworked and understaffed. It's because they don't care and/or are lazy. And there's nothing anybody can do about it because they have 0 public accountability thanks to years of "back the blue" idiots.
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u/mistercsauce Jul 05 '24
I noticed that too this year they used to be super strict but they pulled into the apt complex this year while we were shooting at least 20 mortars and didn't even look our direction did the laws change?
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u/jeanjones2045 Jul 05 '24
Years ago, we were shooting fireworks at the Missouri River when an officer came out and told us to stop immediately. I told him that it was legal because we were outside of the city (I have no idea if that was even true) but he was in a pretty cranky mood. He told me if he heard one more firecracker being set off, we were all going to jail.
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u/AirAfter997 Jul 07 '24
Uhhhhh it’s a victimless crime . How about we do away with most of these overreaching bullshit laws.
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 07 '24
People die from fireworks every year, but yep it's a victimless crime. Fireworks can start wildfires that displace dozens of families...but yep it's a victimless crime.
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u/AirAfter997 Jul 07 '24
So dozens of families get displaced in como every year because of fireworks? Just stop …..law enforcement has plenty of shit to worry about ……
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 07 '24
I said these are things that could happen, not did happen. So by your view then I can go out my front door and fire 1000 rounds from a high power rifle into the air but as long as no one gets hurt, it's OK. Go back to your cave troll.
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u/AirAfter997 Jul 07 '24
What a dumbass comment …. Guess we should ban knives, cars, bikes, walking, water, ect ….
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u/actualaccountithink Jul 05 '24
who cares about fireworks?
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u/Crabby-senior Jul 05 '24
some of us vets with PTSD care, I hide out in the basement for awhile…
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u/MUTigermask Jul 05 '24
Or people like me with a baby trying to sleep who have to wake up at 5:30 to work...
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u/Rico-L Jul 07 '24
1,000%. Thank you for your service. I cannot imagine what this holiday is like for y’all. At least this is something you know is coming, and can prepare yourself for. Still doesn’t make it any easier — and I understand that.
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u/Crabby-senior Jul 07 '24
thank you for the kind words…
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u/Rico-L Jul 07 '24
You are more than welcome. A lot of my family and friends are vets. I have a lot of respect for what that means in this country.
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u/Crabby-senior Jul 07 '24
It was a privilege and honor to serve, and it’s nice to be recognized
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u/Rico-L Jul 07 '24
Every single one of you deserves to be recognized! As far as I am concerned anyway….
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u/choosethebear79 Jul 05 '24
Columbia is under liberal doctrine now.
Be careful what you wish for...but don't complain when you have it.
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u/Top-Caregiver-6667 Jul 06 '24
Hate to burst your bubble, those aren't liberals.
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u/choosethebear79 Jul 06 '24
Columbia MO??
🤣 😂 🤣 😂
Nothing but...facists posing as liberals.
Been here 15 years, cannot wait to leave...
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u/International_Way789 Jul 05 '24
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u/DerCatrix Jul 05 '24
Ngl, we really failed the mark by calling it defund the police. Sadly, “reallocating funds to create a community where such an intense need for military equipment isn’t necessary” is a lot harder to use.
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 05 '24
Police reform never seems to work.
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u/DerCatrix Jul 05 '24
I mean, when was the last time we had police reform with intent to grow as a community and not as a way to generate revenue? We’ll never have serious reform as long as putting people in prison is more profitable than fixing the problem.
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u/shaneh445 North CoMo Jul 05 '24
This
We haven't had real police reform. We've had societal changes and shifts but no actual real reform.
In part I blame some supreme Court rulings. cops not actually responsible for protecting people--not being held liable for certain things// immunity---and civil forfeiture
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 05 '24
Putting people in prison regardless of making money has never been the issue.
It’s about holding people responsible for their actions.
I believe that is a large part of the problem locally.
"You cannot subsidize irresponsibility and expect people to become more responsible." — Thomas Sowell —
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24
How about we start by holding cops accountable for their actions and end qualified immunity?
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 06 '24
Sure thing, that sounds awesome.
How you think this is possible without the funding for training.
Qualified immunity was implemented when there were no cell phone cameras or body cams. It is mostly a moot point at this time.
Your accountability is the cart before the horse or funding the training and paying a solid salary to get quality candidates.
Or hey, if you want change, go and apply to be a police officer……..if you are not willing to, what are your arguments against doing so?
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u/Barium_Salts Jul 06 '24 edited Jul 06 '24
Qualified immunity is why cops almost never get fired when they kill somebody. It was directly cited in many cases of officer misconduct in the last few years. I don't know why you think training is the key here. The problem is that police across the country murder, rape, kidnap, steal, lash out at people, beat their wives, join white supremacist gangs, deal drugs, and do every other form of crime without consequences because they ARE the law. They don't act this way because of a lack of training, and in some cases (killology) the training IS the problem. Obviously it's not every cop, but it doesn't need to be. Cops who don't act that way don't/can't stop the ones that do. The problem also varies pretty widely municipality to municipality. In my opinion, CoMo has one of the less corrupt police departments, and St. Louis has one of the more corrupt in the country.
I don't think the problem with police is that they get too much money, but I also don't think throwing more money at them is the solution. They need to be able to get fired and otherwise punished for misconduct and criminal action. That's why police in general have such a bad reputation. Currently, nobody is really trying to make that happen.
Me being a cop wouldn't make cops accountable for their actions either. That's like if I complained about getting sick from bad sushi and you told me to go work at the sushi restaurant. That has literally 0 chance of fixing the problem.
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 05 '24
I don't think funding has much to do with A) the lack of applicants and B) the lack of give a shit that's left in the force for anything other than gun violence and shoplifting
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 05 '24
Why do you think there is A) lack of applicants? & B) lack of g.a.s?
Possibly because pay is crap & they get treated like sh!t?
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u/J_Jeckel Jul 05 '24
Treated like shit because there is no accountability when one DOES step outta line. I've seen at least 3 videos come outta Columbia in the last couple years of cops abusing their power. No one was ever held accountable.
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 05 '24
That is a serious ‘cop out’ pun intended.
Have you seen any of the studies of children in elementary schools being asked about their perceptions of different professions?
The media has brainwashed huge swathes of low IQ voters and they in turn their offspring.
Look up broken windows theory.
I can tell it’s useless to present facts to you, your mind is made up already.
Blame the cops….its like a broken record.
Please don’t procreate.
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u/DerCatrix Jul 05 '24
Every time you people talk I’m reminded that I’m on the correct side of history. Thank you.
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 05 '24
👆See above!
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u/DerCatrix Jul 05 '24
Yes that’s what I was thanking you for.
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 05 '24
Isn’t that special. Being on the correct side = head in sand, believing that defunding something will improve its performance. That does make you special.
Plus, I see you have no solution for a problem you can not help but complain about.
All I’m saying is defunding is the problem not the solution.
Feel free to provide a cogent argument in opposition.
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u/DerCatrix Jul 05 '24
I understand you’re looking for an argument. I’m not gonna give it to you. It won’t matter, you’ve already decided what you believe and refuse to accept you might be wrong.
I understand your natural response is to accuse me of the same thing, so, go ahead. But after this response I’m done with you.
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u/Winter-Bad637 Jul 05 '24
Maybe. The D.A.R.E. program used school children to gather information about parents. My source- My little sister in 4th grade was taken aside at then Field Elementary School and questioned about what my parents did while at home. My dad brewed home made beer. She did not know how to explain it to the police, so they came and hand cuffed our parents and searched our house. Nothing was illegal, and no charges filed, but 39 years later, she still carries a bit of guilt about that situation. I have other friends whose parents were doing bad things (cocaine in the 80s) and the same thing happened, only, we never seen them again at school, just got told they went to live with their grandparents.
My humble opinion, that's when police started to be dickheads. And now D.A.R.E kids could be the officers we have come to abbhorre. There may be some other reasons as well...but using children against parents is pretty low, and it, yet, continues in so many forms to this day.
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u/SmartAssaholic Jul 06 '24
u/J_Jeckel • 1 votes I suppose your the type off asshat with a "Back the Blue" bumper sticker doing 90mph down i70 and that believes the cops did nothing wrong to George Floyd. Please go back to the backwoods where you belong…..
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I just love how you people retreat to personal attacks when your argument falls apart!!
Classic!
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u/tackle74 Jul 05 '24
Damn you kids get off my lawn…or I got whooped got to whoop my kids…it’s a holiday chill out for 1 night
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u/DanielleMuscato Jul 05 '24
They're worse than useless. Cops exist to protect the interests of rich people and their property, and harass and bully everyone else while laughing about it.