Pushing for arrests

Have you been arrested but honestly believed you shouldn't have been. Now, I don't mean that the "jails are full of innocent people." They aren't. But there definitely are arrests that never should have been.

I love the emails, faxes and letters from folks in the law enforcement business in McHenry County (and elsewhere). Keep 'em coming!

Here's one that I received recently:

"Sergeants (Continued) There is so much to write.... Sergeant P. (Could be several, guess who I'm talking about.) Sgt. P's favorite instruction to deputies is "gotta get your arrests stats up!" IS IT JUST ME OR DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL PRESSURE TO WALK THE GRAY LINE OF POLICE WORK!!! For the life of me I don't know how he expects that to be done.. More self initiated activity..Sure. I bust my ass everyday. More traffic stops? He said arrests, not traffic stops. Okay. Short of that, what is an officer to do. You could look for drugs with the K9 but on midnights he's to busy getting "No Valid's". The afternoon guy is busy trying to get his own stats up. I guess a deputy could go into Wonder Lake and instigate a fight on every service call. Aggravated battery is a good arrestable offense. Easy to get too, when the deputy is the victim. How about obstruction, not speaking English really isn't obstruction. Arresting a man's(DEPUTY'S) wife for telling you her husband isn't home on a CIVIL PAPER attempt really isn't the right thing to do. IT WILL GET YOUR ARREST STATS UP! Or maybe a deputy should work on their psychic abilities and be able to visualize that a driver doesn't have a driver's license. I wish they would teach that class. From what I gather "special" deputies have had that training, look at their arrest numbers. I guess the rest are to busy looking for traffic offenses first and dealing with the driver's license second. I thought a retired Lieutenant was bad about telling deputies to "ruin people's day". This guy just straight out tells you ARRESTS MAKES YOUR CAREER GO ROUND! LIKE A TOILET AFTER YOU FLUSH!

"Personal life...don't throw stones if you live in a glass house and his home is a green house. And I do know he's a regular at the Elk's Lodge in Woodstock, PBPA Thursdays, 1800hrs, drinks are cheap and carrying the badge keeps Woodstock Police Department's arrest numbers down..

"Philpot, my friend, there are so many supervisors and so little time.."