September 11, 2007
A corrections officers in Portland, Oregon is under investigation following a report that he bragged about beating and TASERing prisoners on the official message board of the popular City of Heroes MMO.According to the Portland Tribune:
David B. Thompson, 30, recently wrote on an Internet message board that one of the more pleasurable parts of his job is when he gets to use his Taser, thus exposing people to the agonizing sensation of 50,000 volts of electricity pulsing through their bodies.
“Seeing someone get TASER’d is second only to being the guy pulling the trigger,” Thompson wrote on an Internet message board Aug. 25. “That is money. Puts a smile on your face.”
Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto was quick to respond:
I don’t want my profession represented like that. There’s simply no place for it.
The newspaper reports that Thompson posted his City of Heroes messages from a work computer:
On For instance, having described himself as a Taser trainer, Trafalgar wrote that “Big mouth skank = perfect TASER candidate.”
When another player remarked that Trafalgar is lucky to be able to Taser people, he responded, “Yes I am. My job is sweet sometimes.”
GP: If the allegations are proven true, it seems certain that Thompson will lose his job and perhaps even face prosecution. And he should.
The Tribune link has more, including the message board coversations.
Comments
Re: Portland Jailer Under Scrutiny for City of Heroes Forum
Should really take the best of these threads and put them on cd i just finished reading the disc mojo review and think its the perfect software to do that quickly
But yeah, it is wrong to abuse prisoners. Prison is not a place for people to fear going. It is supposed to be a place of reform for the prisoner. If the only thing keeping them from going back to prison is fear for their safety/life, then the prison system has failed.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
that's exactly it.
the study said that the students didn't change into the sadistic prison guards until they put on the uniforms. he could be someone else when he's dressed in civilian attire, but he just sounds like a grade-a douchebag to me.
either way, this guy deserves to lose his job. you don't talk about these sort of things and your definitely not supposed to derive some sick sense of pleasure out of this...
Jack.. have power?
Does not compute
thankfully, that jerkface isn't on my server.
Just kidding... I swear... PUT DOWN THE TASER!
:D
Seriously, I'm not sure if it was the brightest idea to make such comments from a work computer. Many of us post from work, but I think we mostly use common sense.
Should he be fired from his job? Misuse of the computer system might lead to some sort of action. But prosecuted? Depends if it pans out that he really abused his power or not. He could be all bluster and no action.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Too bad it wasn't the OTHER Thompson, though. :(
His last name IS Thompson....
Coincidence? I think SO!
But you never know...
I mean, some of the stuff I say in CS, DoD or even WoW can be pretty stupid/obscene but it doesn't tie back to my self in real life ... its just online douchebaggery which EVERYONE is guilty of ;)
Let's see another certain Thompson place a 'long-term affects' result on THIS case.
if I read a report correct, he's bragged about lying about an encounter with a prisoner whom he hospitalized, and now the prisoner faces extended jail time for what this asshole lied about. I hope he does get prosecuted for it. You're a keeper of the peace, not torturer.
For some professions, be it teacher, police, or some kind of govt. official, you better make sure your past does not contain anything sexual. Polaroid or Porn, it's trouble. The media will have a field day, all over something done 15 years ago at a college party.
But what Thompson did was ultimately worse. He gloated over another's misfortune, publicly said so, & did it at a work computer. He writes like a 10 year old bully.
It sucks that the privacy of who you are and what you do on the side when not at work has become a common place public theater if you slip up once. But if it gets imbalanced people who carry guns & are supposed to protect us a new direction in life, so much the better.
Seems like a guy who thinks he has supreme power when he puts on his uniform and tazer.
It is sad that some people abuse what is given to them.
Maybe he should take up sports?
And it's these who inspire distrust in other of that profession, crooked or not
I never have met a police officer who joined the force for that reason. All the officers that I know are in it to protect and serve.
Additionally, all the prison guards I know are not in it so thye have an excuse to abuse the prisoners. They do it to keep the peace for those prisoners who want to reform.
And yes I do know several police officers and prison guards.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
You might have worked medicine but that's no excuse for that kind of generalization. The vast majority of people join the police in order to protect and serve the people. That is the reason the police exist. I'm sure that there are people who join for the express purpose of beating on others but, as was pointed out, they are in the minority. I'm sure the same can be said of those who become correction's officers.
That being said this guy was a jerk and got what he deserved under the law. I wouldn't be surprised if the victim's family sued him either.
This guy is just another arm of that evil. Society has deemed that this person is below me, so I get to torture him and treat him like an animal. It wouldn't surprise me if this sort of mentality is part of law enforcement education.
Good point. Zimbardo experiment, anyone?
At least we're on different servers...
/He won't be playing much longer by the looks of things
Actually, it isn't a part of police training. Most officers are afraid to ever raise a weapon on a suspect, but this can be dependant upon your area.
Also, if a cop is doing it just to beat ass, they likely had this superiority complex way before they thought of becoming a cop.
"if a cop is doing it just to beat ass, they likely had this superiority complex way before they thought of becoming a cop."
let's just hope that JT never becomes a cop then.
One should taze themselves! Thats what i would do if i had tazer. Eventully id hope to become immune to the electical burns.
..I don't really understand how this relates to games in the slightest though.
Rubbish! FOX News didn't go anywhere near the truth regarding the Legion of Anonymous!
@ xzero87
The message was posted on a City of Heroes forum. Practically you are right though. Then again, is Paris Hilton news at all? *groans*
Although... I find this report rather interesting, as I here now some guy in my own country has admitted to murdering someone last weekend, and has now come forward to the police.
Actually there's a divided opinion on whether prison is supposed to be a place of reform, or a place of punishment. Unfortunately that lets abuses like this guy claims to have done crop up and have little to nothing done to fix them.
So he must have been inspired by the games way of beating down prisoners (villians.)
Next he will construct the fankengun and go on a killing rampage of little people everywhere!
But to me the goal of prison is to keep prisoners from committing crimes again and ending up back in prison. There are many ways to do this, but to me the best way to do it is to give them some constructive skills to use after they are released. If they don't have nay skills to survive in the real world, they will end up doing what they know, breaking the law. From what I have heard of most of our prison system is that too much of the prisoner's time is spent on idle activities. Idle hands are the Devil's play thing, or something like that.
I like movies like Gridiron Gang. These movies show that there are better odds for prisoners in a reform program than there are in a punishment program.
There is also the whole attention aspect of it. As humans we seek recognition and attention. If all we get is negetive attention, then we eventually condition ourselves to seek that negetive attention. This is very apparent in children, but can be seen in adults. Positive reeforcement and positive attention would go a lot further to lowering crime rates and prison population.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary