A police lieutenant in Daytona Beach was fired over accusations that he threatened slower emergency response times if he was not given complimentary specialty Starbucks coffee drinks...So, depending on whether or not you submit to my extortion, you could describe our response time as "tall, grande" or "vente." In other words, I'm the "Only One" who will let you, your employees and your customers (that is, the people who employ me) die as my revenge if you don't allow me to commit armed extortion that we'd arrest anybody else for...
Garvin is accused of saying, "If something happens, either we can respond really fast or we could respond really slow. I've been coming here for years and I've been getting whatever I want. I'm the difference between you getting a two-minute response time, if you needed a little help, or a 15 minutes response time."
[Via Mark G, Ed D, RCB, and Stephen S--gee, I step away from the computer for an hour...]
When seconds count, the police are just minutes away...and now one of them has plainly admitted it.
ReplyDeleteif they're going to fire him for abusing his authoritah, fine, but the article says "But polygraph test results suggested that the officer was lying, Local 6's Tarik Minor reported. Garvin was then fired." and the eloi says, "So, if he is going to fail a polygraph, whether it is about coffee or anything, I don't know how comfortable I feel as a citizen being protected."
ReplyDeletepolygraphs are NOT "lie detector" tests (no such beast exists, except empirical evidence), and life-changing decisions should not be based on their results.
Close enough for government work. I have no problem firing a cop who failed a polygraph.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...an enumerated Right, people shuck and jive over 'militia' and exactly what 'bear' means, but threaten their coffee, and justice is sure and swift!
ReplyDeleteThis is what you get if you depend on "professionals" for a basic bodily function like self defense.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget donations to the FOP, the Police Athletic League, the Police Benevolent Association... though this guy sounds like his in it strictly for himself. The cliche in Hollywood is that one brother becomes a cop, the other becomes a crook. Sometimes there's overlap.
ReplyDeleteI have no trouble believing such TRUE stories any more, and it's THEIR OWN FAULT.
This makes my blood sing ...
ReplyDeleteA related story, a little older and about as bad if not worse:
"no we won't solve the crime problem, but you can hire us to protect your bussiness ... you wouldn't want anything to happen to it, would you?"
http://mglv.blogspot.com/2008/02/nice-mall-ya-got-there-wanna-keep-it.html
I wonder if this behavior has anything to do with 600 Starbucks stores closing. Imagine the shrinkage if hundreds of others are shaking down their local Starbucks 6 times a day.
ReplyDeletenot that i think the coffee is any better or worse or that i want to plug anyone in particular, but up here in mass (Behind Liberal Lines), this lil' chain called dunkin donuts gives all the officers the stale coffee, free of charge, some time after sundown.
ReplyDeletethey do it because the police are the ones who come in (well, drive up to the window) and ask for it. anyone can walk in and get free coffee and stale doughnuts at night, for what it's worth.
starbucks is all image and zero reputation/substance.
just don't go thinking polygraphs reliably discern if someone's telling the truth or lying
ReplyDeleteDunkin has better coffee anyway, and even the donuts have improved (they used to be about one enzyme away from hard plastic, but now they're all the way up to edible).
ReplyDelete