Reply #101: I have a sad feeling that if this were Firefighters [View All]

everyone would be jumping to defend them, saying it was harmless, lame but harmless and well within their rights if it wasn't done on the company dime...

why? Because everyone likes Firefighters. If Firefighters want to laugh at themselves then everyone's willing to support them.

But a lot of people are angry with the police (many rightly, some wrongly) so they look for reasons to be ourtraged. I saw the MSNBC replay on Countdown at from what I saw the tape seemed a lame, rediculous, but pretty direct attempt to mimic Reno911. Each scene seemed to make the police the parody as much as anyone else. And this was, as far as I could tell from the presentation, a private effort for a private party. Was it lame? Sure. Was it actionable? I think not because I honestly believe that an equal effort by any group that we liked would be protected. If anything I think it's a good thing that police can poke at themselves and point out some of their own stereotypes...it humanizes them a bit.

I also strongly suspect there is more to this story than is known yet...between the police department, the chief of police, and the mayor...showing this at a news conference the way it was seemed odd. I suspect there's another shoe to drop out there and when that happens perhaps we'll have a better understanding.