This Is Getting Ridiculous

Radley Balko | 5.27.2010 11:22 AM

Houston Community College not only has its own police department, it has its own SWAT team.

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sage 15 years ago

I'm guessing "Bring your Dog to School" day is not real popular.
1. rac 15 years ago
  
  Yes, and neither is "Take Your Daughter to School Day".
2. wayne 15 years ago
  
  Actually, you can bring your dog but he never comes home.
Chris 15 years ago

Yes, ridiculous. But have you ever been to Houston? It's not such a stretch of the imagination.
1. Old Mexican 15 years ago
  
  I am now living in Houston, and I don't see why they need a police force - they could just allow students to pack a piece.
2. Spoonman. 15 years ago
  
  I live in Houston. What are you talking about?
  1. Chris 15 years ago
    
    Must have turned around in the last decade. My experiences weren't great.
Jun Joo 15 years ago

ROTFL, thats too funny. Do they have their own donut shop as well?

Lou
http://www.online-privacy.de.tc
1. sage 15 years ago
  
  Has the bot ever won a thread?
  1. capitol l 15 years ago
    
    I think it just did.
    1. ev 15 years ago
      
      I concur.
      
      anonbot--- you are a sexy, ethereal creature.
      
      Lust. Caution.
  2. Ken Shultz 15 years ago
    
    Winna!
2. alan 15 years ago
  
  Lou is the man.
John 15 years ago

In fairness, the guy seems to be in trouble for actually having the gall to fire cops who need firing. The tactical squad is over the top. But actually firing people for misconduct is not.
Nick 15 years ago

They see me rollin.
They hatin.
Patrolling, they tryin' to catch me ridin dirty.
The Libertarian Guy 15 years ago

Next step:

SWAT teams for kindergarteners.
1. Rich 15 years ago
  
  SSWAT teams for intellectually disabled students.
2. Corduroy 15 years ago
  
  SWAT for Tots!
3. Aresen 15 years ago
  
  Next step:
  
  SWAT teams for kindergarteners
  
  Check with Balko. It may have already been done.
4. heller 15 years ago
  
  I heard the Governator is making a new movie: Kindergarten SWAT.
  1. The Libertarian Guy 15 years ago
    
    Y'never know when some five-year-old is gonna bust out an AK and start gunning down Little Timmy on the playground!
    1. Aresen 15 years ago
      
      If it is the "Timmy" of the "Crippled Children's Fund", I'll help pay for the five-year-old's bail.
CoyoteBlue 15 years ago

Guys, it's only defensive... against roving biker gangs and stuff.
SugarFree 15 years ago

It's a community college. How much trouble can single moms, girls getting a nursing degree to find a doctor husband, and losers who drank their way through the last year of high school really be?
1. John 15 years ago
  
  They might be smoking dope. And they might have a welsh corgi that is a threat to the officers' safety.
  
  If you read the article, it seems he formed the squad to respond to Virginia Tech type shootings, which is completely stupid granted. But, I don't think he was having them out kicking down doors picking up parking violators.
  1. Chris 15 years ago
    
    Yet. Just wait til they get bored or need to start justifying the existence of their department.
  2. SugarFree 15 years ago
    
    But Houston Community College? The University of Kentucky has three cops, and one of them is always in the office to monitor calls. We haven't had a riot since desegregation.
    1. Golden Flashes 15 years ago
      
      Lazy ass hillbillies.
    2. Chris 15 years ago
      
      I've been to Houston a few times, and at least back then it was the asshole of America (just on the other side of the ballsac that is New Orleans that dangles below phallic Florida). And if their community colleges are anything like Chicago's (Harold Washington downtown always has real cops parked within a block), I can see the justification. Not that I agree with forming a SWAT team.
      1. Spoonman. 15 years ago
        
        When did you visit Houston? It has poor neighborhoods, yes, but it really isn't particularly scary.
        
        Chris 15 years ago
        
        About 8 years ago.
    3. Jason 15 years ago
      
      Well, you know if Rand Paul is elected, they might need that SWAT team...
  3. Joey Buttafuco 15 years ago
    
    Here's a wacky idea, let the students carry on campus. But then, you don't get to wear all your mallninja bullshit around, either.
2. Chris 15 years ago
  
  I don't know, those ladies get pretty crazy when going for that MRS degree.
  1. SugarFree 15 years ago
    
    Well, they do get pretty crazed from the chain-smoking to keep their weight in check for those next few precious months until they can hide in voluminous scrubs.
3. Old Mexican 15 years ago
  
  Re: SugarFree,
  
  It's a community college. How much trouble can single moms, girls getting a nursing degree to find a doctor husband, and losers who drank their way through the last year of high school really be?
  
  Those single moms and nursing students can be tough. I guess.
Pro Libertate 15 years ago

I think Reason should have its own heavily armed tactical unit.
1. CoyoteBlue 15 years ago
  
  OMG citizens militia!
  Call Janet!
2. Aresen 15 years ago
  
  Considering the weaponry that has been claimed by various posters on this site over the years, I believe Reason already does.
3. Contrarian P 15 years ago
  
  It'd debut on the SPLC hate group list at number one!
  1. alan 15 years ago
    
    Hell yeahzz!
Chris 15 years ago

Good point. But if they don't quite make it that long there's always teaching: where fat single women go to take their sexual frustration out on kids they'll never have.
1. Chris 15 years ago
  
  this was to SF @ 11:57
ev 15 years ago

My friend was caught smoking weed in our dorm. Actually, every pothead except me was caught. (Get prepared for a book on the awesomeness that was Smith 3.) He was with his girlfriend and they had just had sex, so she was naked. The cops made them open the door and she got behind the door with a blanket to cover herself. They got a possession rap because of some stems and seeds.

Upon leaving, the cop menacingly told the girlfriend: If you hide behind the door when police come in, you WILL be shot."

Indiana University Police Department. Motherfuckers. I had a friend get a ticket for walking home (above age) drunk . He asked "What, would you prefer that I was driving?" He was responded with nonplussed eyes.

I was also stopped by police biking the wrong way on a bike lane. I was biking the three houses over from my place so I could turn onto 1st. He refused to understand the situation and proceeded to yell at me about bike safety.
1. AlmightyJB 15 years ago
  
  You're a regular Al Capone
2. John 15 years ago
  
  I have a friend who was a university cop at IU if I am not mistaken. I never heard of him writing a ticket to someone that was drunk. But he did arrest people for being drunk. And the reason why he did was the Department's lawyers made a big stink out of letting drunk people walk home because if they later stumbled in front of a car or came to some other harm, the university would be sued for not arresting them.
  
  Not defending the cops on the ticket. But I think it is a good example of the flip side of being able to sue everyone for anything bad that happens to you.
3. alan 15 years ago
  
  If you hide behind the door when police come in, you WILL be shot."
  
  To which, the appropriate response would be, 'if anything happens to me, pig, my family would kill you and yours.'
  1. alan 15 years ago
    
    Now, THAT'S a social contract!
4. Pope Jimbo 15 years ago
  
  There is a plus side to campus incompetence. When I was going to Memphis State, the local university cops were such a-holes that the real cops wouldn't run plates for them.
  
  The result was that I could pretty much park with impunity at any meter on campus. I'd get back from classes with a few tickets on the windshield and just laugh. Since the city cops wouldn't run the plates I was the ghost Dodge Omni that couldn't be brought to justice.
  
  I did once get semi-roughed up for being real drunk in the front yard of the frat house. I was 23 or something and when the cops rolled up every underage brother gave me his beer to hold. My drunken giggling as I insisted they were all mine pushed one of the campus cops over the edge. Luckily his partner was giggling too and pulled the guy off me before too much damage was done.
AlmightyJB 15 years ago

They have to have a SWAT team to get all of that free government anti-terror and anti-drug money. Plus what cops don't want to have military surplus weapons donated to them by the DOD.
T 15 years ago

Well, it does make a warped amount of sense. I mean, yeah, Houston PD has a SWAT team, but they're out serving warrants on pot somkers. You just can't rely on them if something goes wrong, so HCC has to cover their bases. Plus, I'm sure HCC's SWAT is trained to the exacting standards we've come to expect from the HCC system in general.
Michael 15 years ago

Off topic, but worth noting for anyone interested in how the most recent chapters of Chicago's firearm ban saga have unfolded. First, the reporter that received a shamefully crude answer to a question he posed at a press conference with Mayor Daley shares his thoughts in this week's Chicago Reader...

http://www.chicagoreader.com/c.....id=1888277

His article had probably already gone to press by the time this happened...

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.....ident.html

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