Cops can beat, arrest, and even kill innocent people and remain on the force - show some humanity and have some fun and you are OUTTA HERE!
Sanford, FL -- A cop in Florida was fired immediately this week, not because he beat an old woman on the side of the road, or killing an innocent mentally ill man, but for singing.
Officer Andrew Ricks of the Sanford police department was relieved of his duties after he went on stage with a local band and helped them to kick off one of their most popular tracks.
The band, Vital Remains, asked to officer to come on stage and introduce "Let The Killing Begin/Dechristianize," so he did.
has been relieved of his duties as an officer after appearing on-stage in uniform at a Vital Remains show. Andrew Ricks can be seen in this video at about 0:50 seconds joining along to kick off one of the band's most notable tracks, "Let The Killing Begin/Dechristianize."
A short video of the introduction was passed around online and made it back to the police chief.
Police chief Cecil Smith offered the following statement after watching the video:
“An incident of this nature erodes the thin fibers of trust which already exist between the community and the police, and it will not be tolerated within the Sanford Police Department."
"It is imperative that we have no misrepresentations of the immediate actions taken by the police department in situations of this nature and that we will continue to provide professional service to all citizens of Sanford."
Ricks has been a police officer for six years and this is the first time he's ever been "in trouble." The irony here is that chief Smith thinks that a cop, in good spirits, taking to the stage and having fun, "erodes the thin fibers of trust which already exist between the community and the police."
Chief Smith couldn't be farther from the target. It's not fun-loving cops who interact with their community who erode the trust. It's cops like Lt. Mark Tiller of South Carolina who kill innocent teenagers on their first date and never get in trouble for it who erode trust.
Being nice and reaching out to your community is what policing should be. Instead, this behavior is punished and we find ourselves in this Orwellian police state.
Vital Remains frontman, Brian Werner summed up the matter perfectly by saying "This is exactly what's wrong with the world today."
