Friday, February 15, 2013

Bent copper for sale

Slightly scuffed but generally in good condition.

A few bad apples, we are a mirror of society.

The two most frequently uttered excuses when someone from law enforcement screws up badly.

What they express is that you'll necessarily find a few bad apples in this big bucket of wholesome goodness. Remove the bad ones, all is well.

Actual factual observation of a bucket of apples: some go bad, that means more will go bad, even if you remove the bad ones. Delay but no remedy.

The mirror of society is more like a funhouse mirror. Distorted enough to give you an idea of the image, way too distorted to show we are just like everybody else.

The worst about the bad apples and the mirror of society statements: those who make them may actually believe them, or they may be at a loss for words.

So, we bring you a few examples of cops for sale. The British "copper" serves the post title well, but we will not give examples for the Brits -- they are reeling under difficult years reputation wise. With those dead kids identity undercovers making babies while embedded with activists, we simply cannot beat that kind of story.

A motel in the United States. A man in a room of the motel.
A stack of money spread out on the bed, the man is counting it.
The door bursts open, two federal agents, guns drawn.
How much money is that?
100 k [we rounded]
You have two minutes to get out. Leave the money here.

An Argentine police officer stops a speeding car.
The driver does not have an Argentinian license.
The driver hands his passport to the officer.
The officer quietly inspects the passport.
And hands it back without the USD 100 that had peeked out.

An Eastern European toll road; a policeman stops a car that has no toll sticker.
He looks at the young family in the car.
He gives the passenger a leaflet that lists the penalties in several languages.
He asks: So, how should be proceed.
He takes back the leaflet and checks that the 50 Euro note now in it looks okay.
Don't forget to get off at the next exit and buy a toll sticker, he says as he leaves.

A German policeman runs off the road and hits a tree.
His insurance does not cover drunk driving but covers wildlife damage.
He reports a small wild boar has hit the car.
The insurance adjuster finds a few hairs, obviously boar.
A few days later, the adjuster calls and asks how a tanned boar hide got into the middle of the road at night.

Spot the urban myth, which one is it?

No comments:

Post a Comment