Banning Police from Polling places?? (New Bedford, Bedford: transporting, attorneys, buy)

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by mp775

The bill doesn’t “ban police,” it bans State and County police without permission from EOPSS and the local police chief. What security could be needed at polling places that local law enforcement couldn’t handle, or would require unsolicited assistance from the MSP or the sheriff?

Exactly it's a false argument. Local police are still allowed

[Cape Cod Todd]

Why are we suddenly supposed to be afraid or intimidated by the Police be they local or state?



They are our neighbors, our fellow community members. They are just people doing a tough job. I say if you are nervous around them then you might just have a guilty conscious or believe the Democrat hype that they are just a bunch of racists with itchy trigger fingers.



I just think it is nonsense to put forth this bill to bar certain Police from the polling areas because voters might feel intimidated or maybe oppressed by them.



What is wrong with the world where those who risk their lives for us are now the enemy of the People?

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

Why are we suddenly supposed to be afraid or intimidated by the Police be they local or state?



They are our neighbors, our fellow community members. They are just people doing a tough job. I say if you are nervous around them then you might just have a guilty conscious or believe the Democrat hype that they are just a bunch of racists with itchy trigger fingers.

Please expound upon what "tough job" they are going to be doing around polling places? When was the last time anyone heard of violence around election time? In fact that's one of the things that has stood out about US democracy over decades. Peaceful elections, peaceful transition of power. I'm sensing a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy going on here.

[mdovell]

Given the fact that police officers have legally been used as a form of deterrence and a monopolistic force of a use-of-force naturally some people are nervous around them.

Police are armed and not everybody is armed. A single arrest can ruin you. Is not mean guilt or innocence or that charges will even be filed but the legal ramifications of dealing with the court system can be significant to say the very least.

Many people assume that a single rest means that there is guilt because why else would a police officer take the time and energy to arrest somebody unless there is the intent of actually charging. But please don't really charge people the prosecutor does.

Is there violence around elections? Well the 1968 convention certainly could be a little bit of proof of that. Not all polling centers have a police officer stations. But, you have to have police as a basic form of crowd control in large volumes. In many cases when you have open Town meetings you have to have some form of police.

I would generally argue that on a national level the image of police is different from a federal to a state or local level. In Massachusetts we have had the Quinn bill for quite some time. The Quinn Bill provides our financial incentives for police officers to obtain an associate's, a bachelor's and a master's degree.

Most police that I know of in Massachusetts have had some form of significant training through an academy or have some degree. I would make an argument that most police if they're serious about a career should have some form of a degree because of financial incentives are quite significant to say the least.

In Baton Rouge Louisiana for example police don't have to have a high-school diploma. In many suburban and rural areas police in this country might not know another language, especially sign language. This might sound like a joke but there have been instances where sign language has been misinterpreted to be some form of mental illness or gang signs.

if you go down south judges are often elected and that creates a conflict of interest between doing politically what can keep you in an office and actually obey the law. I know a retired administrative that while working in West Virginia had to deal with an issue with a fire department union. He had to argue in front of the judge in the entire Union came out and because they had a residency they were all potential voters of the judge. He was right in terms of the law but the judge didn't see that way because he knew he'd lose the election.

Heck I've read that parts of Georgia has coroners that are elected!

It's reasons like this that there are those you find on the left and on the right that do not trust government.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

Well...I'll say this much. Seeing a police presence at the polling station would be a bit disconcerting. Especially since I've been voting ever since I was eligible to (1988), and have not come across police. It would almost send a signal like, "is someone expecting trouble?" "Might I get heckled?" etc. So it's a pity that we need to be even mentioning the prospect of election violence. It's what used to separate us from the banana republics (or so I thought).

I've been voting in Boston for over 35 years and have yet to enter a polling location in the city that is NOT staffed by a police officer. Where on earth do you vote, if at all?



Besides, as others have pointed out this bill is about state and county presence at polls, not locals.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by johngolf

While I do not like the idea of police at a polling place I am afraid the upcoming election is going to get ugly before, during, and after the election as Trump has many rabid supporters.

Yet, most of the political violence being committed in the streets has been connected to leftists. And police have been posted at polling venues all along. They hold the ballot box keys until closing. So, either they have been so intimidating that you haven't noticed them, or you haven't been voting.
https://www.mass.gov/doc/950-cmr-53-...hines/download

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Why do we need police at polling places to begin with? I'm sure they could be called in the event of something illegal happening, but the polling places are already staffed with plenty of folks. It seems like a waste of taxpayer money to station them there permanently.

This isn’t “police”. It’s a poorly untrained sheriff and his poorly trained minions. They start as county prison guards at the jail on Faunce Corner Road in North Dartmouth. They’re generally the rejects who can’t get police jobs. Military civil service jobs. No college needed. While working at the jail, you “study” to be a sheriff on the taxpayer dime.

Of course, Hodgson is a COVID is a hoax guy so there are a bunch of job openings at the county jail since everyone at the jail ended up with COVID-19.

There are a bunch of jurisdiction issues in New Bedford. Hodgson somehow got money to buy a boat for joy rides. There’s already city police and environmental police boats in the harbor. New Bedford kicked him out. The guy is a wing nut and empire builder. It’s totally reasonable to limit the nut job things he could do.

The New Bedford police are properly trained and are pretty hard nosed city cops. If there is a civil order problem in New Bedford, that’s the right people to handle it. You don’t want armed county prison guards out there near polling places. They can barely handle a county jail.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

This isn’t “police”. It’s a poorly untrained sheriff and his poorly trained minions. They start as county prison guards at the jail on Faunce Corner Road in North Dartmouth. They’re generally the rejects who can’t get police jobs. Military civil service jobs. No college needed. While working at the jail, you “study” to be a sheriff on the taxpayer dime.

Of course, Hodgson is a COVID is a hoax guy so there are a bunch of job openings at the county jail since everyone at the jail ended up with COVID-19.

There are a bunch of jurisdiction issues in New Bedford. Hodgson somehow got money to buy a boat for joy rides. There’s already city police and environmental police boats in the harbor. New Bedford kicked him out. The guy is a wing nut and empire builder. It’s totally reasonable to limit the nut job things he could do.

The New Bedford police are properly trained and are pretty hard nosed city cops. If there is a civil order problem in New Bedford, that’s the right people to handle it. You don’t want armed county prison guards out there near polling places. They can barely handle a county jail.

Whatever your political opinion is of the sheriff, the malicious generalizations about the corrections officers is both uncalled for and weak on facts. First of all, no college is generally needed to be a municipal police officer, either. It depends on the agency. Second of all, corrections officers are trained after being hired, just as police officers are. Third, any sheriff's officer being deployed to activities outside the jail has received the same Mass Police Training Council training as the police officer. And fourth, being the law in a congregate facility which houses criminals doesn't get much more "hard-nosed." Your post reeks of bitterness and resentment. One can only wonder why. There are legitimate points that can be debated on the topic, including jurisdictional issues, but your attacks on the men and women who work there aren't. A lot of those people working for the sheriff's office are pursuing a career in corrections, or getting experience for other jobs in the criminal justice system. Takes a true hero to come to a board and trash strangers, most of whom are earning an honest and often tough living. You should be proud. By the way, no such thing as a military civil service job.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

Takes a true hero to come to a board and trash strangers, most of whom are earning an honest and often tough living. You should be proud. By the way, no such thing as a military civil service job.

I'd like to see these keyboard warriors spend one day as a correctional officer.

[Cape Cod Todd]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

Please expound upon what "tough job" they are going to be doing around polling places? When was the last time anyone heard of violence around election time? In fact that's one of the things that has stood out about US democracy over decades. Peaceful elections, peaceful transition of power. I'm sensing a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy going on here.

UGH. The Police are members of the community they work in. They are working a "tough job" everyday for the betterment and safety of their communities. They are doing this in the face of ever increasing hatred for them driven by politics and social justice PC misguided notions held by the brainwashed public.



The vast majority of Police are not the enemy of the People but with this Bill that bans certain members of law enforcement from polling places it is trying to separate the Police from the People that they serve. The Bill is trying to head off intimidation some people may feel when a PO is near a polling place but I think it does more to promote a fear that Police are the enemy.





Police are not the enemy of the People but some out there like to push the narrative that they are and this Bill shows that.