State Trooper Paul Butterfield Honorred on Memorial Day

[Jasper]

Seriously Paul Butterfield was killed on American soil as an employee of the Michigan State Police. He was not killed while defending our Country. It was a job he chose. Yes, it indeed was a sad and senseless murder.

But to honor him on Memorial Day? Seriously, many people not only cops die while performing their job. Whether a firefighter, a commercial fisherman, a log cutter, a farmer, etc.

Paul Butterfield chose to be a MI State Police Officer. He did not die defending our freedoms. Shame to the VFW for honoring Paul Butterfield.

As a side did the tax paying citizens of Mason County Eastern pay for the bus that was used to transport people to this Memorial Service that has nothing whatsoever to do with this special day which is to honor those who died while protecting our Constitutional Freedoms.

[AQUAMAN]

Yup, it's easy to identify the fact that Butterfield's honor at Memorial Day was truly misplaced, and misguided. Such is the VFW these days in looking for something to reflect well on their intent. I would also call to everyone's attentions, as someone else did earlier, that Law Enforcement week was about mid-May, not the end of May. THIS was the TIME to identify Butterfield in a hero worship light, if needed. Imho, he was already honored with a huge traffic jamming funeral procession, then had M-116 named in his honor. That was already over-the-top for me. So, when does this all end for Butterfield around here? Do we need to erect bronze statues next? Have a special Holiday in his honor? Name another street after him? Perhaps a museum for him? I mean really, enough is enough, let it go, and deal with others of more importance FROM THIS COMMUNITY!

[Real Talk]

Good example from Texas Protocol, this is Michigan, which makes that irrelevant.

Also, in that manual "protocol", nowhere does it say let their dispatch know the reason for the stop.  I am not 100% sure on how traffic stops work, but I highly doubt every police officer says, I am making a stop on a car for speeding or a headlight or or whatever.  That seems pointless to let them know.

Is stopping a car for speeding or faulty equipment fall under. something dispatch "may need to know"?  I highly doubt it.

Lots of finger pointing and assuming going on once again from you.  I also don't see how pulling someone over in a car or on a bike is violating their rights.  Driving is a privilege, not a right.  Nowhere in the constitution does is reference driving an automobile or a bike.  I guess stop signs, stop lights and yield signs are violating your rights to for telling you what to do.

[Willy]

Berberian v. Lussier (1958) 139 A2d 869, 872, See also: Schecter v. Killingsworth, 380 P.2d 136, 140; 93 Ariz. 273 (1963). “The right to operate a motor vehicle [an automobile] upon the public streets and highways is not a mere privilege. It is a right of liberty, the enjoyment of which is protected by the guarantees of the federal and state constitutions.”

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-supreme-court-says-license-necess...

[XLFD]

The right to travel (without trespassing) is one of those inalienable rights of people not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, a precedent regularly affirmed by the courts at all levels, and implicitly given in the often underestimated Ninth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. 

Thanks for the legal assistance, Willy.

[XLFD]

I fail to understand the rationale of presumably pro-police people who look at the Trooper Butterfield shooting and conclude that a change in protocol would not have only helped in this situation but in future situations. 

According to the MSP, Butterfield did not have an in-car camera on his state-issued vehicle.  That is totally irresponsible on their part in this day and age.  Why aren't those who say "Cops Lives Matter" working for this officer safety goal of putting in dash cams for all vehicles used for road patrol?  It's also a great way for good cops to show that they acted appropriately in situations, as well. 

Likewise, saying "Stopping a red Toyota Camry, license number MC1244" could easily be appended with a "for a 707" (noisy muffler MCL 257.707).  As you know, a traffic stop cannot be made just on a whim of a police officer, they must have an articulable reason to do so.  This dispatch reporting protocol preserves that cause for the record, and allows for better apprehension of a suspect later on, as indicated.

Get a clue, Real Talk; I'm all about protecting the lives of good cops as well as keeping them good and accountable.  They are not contradicting goals.

[Real Talk]

I believe the disgrace is Jasper........must have been in trouble in his rough life.  Not agreeing with the VFW's ceremony for a Trooper who was murdered and who also served our Country, unlike you, is very disrespectful.  Of course these comments would be made by a person hiding behind a clown name on a website by a cop hater. 

Let me go on a site where people will agree with me so I feel better about myself.

Secondly, by saying he was killed on American soil shouldn't even be an argument.  Tell that to all our serviceman killed at Pearl Harbor.  Just a little history lesson Jasper, that also was on American Soil.  Also, you say its the job he chose....don't the ones who fight for our Country CHOOSE to do so?  

[Jasper]

Real Talk
The elevator did not reach the top floor. Just sayin'.

[Willy]

For Real Talk to admit that he only has a half a brain is a good thing. It helps others understand why he is so grumpy and why he is so wrong about most of the information he posts.

[XLFD]

I am thinking he's giving himself too much credit on his skull-noodles, but fractions are tough for even some people with full mental capacity. 

[John Doe Jr]

Although I did like Paul, he tried that good ole boy stuff one day. He quickly apologized after meeting a real war hero, my Grandfather. Of course, he was courteous to him. The fact that he came over to deliver another cops bs message became clear to him after speaking with us, that he was being used. He never confronted the MCSO to my knowledge who set him up but, he did say thanks for clearing up the issue. I thanked him for his service as he seemed respectable. The issue continued and a great family friend I called my Aunt was robbed by her own family and then she was taken away to a rest home where she was so devastated that she stopped taking her medications and died., so I wish he had gotten more involved and followed up to protect a person's interest, possessions and her life, instead of waving it off because he didn't want to step on the toes of another cop and, his family.  You might see me driving Paul's old car every once in a while,lol. It gets good gas mileage! I think Paul would have done more to help if there was actual accountability in LE and he knew he could help.

[shinblind]

 This is a no win issue.

I hope next year the Custer VFW takes a different route and stops here on the return trip to the Post, instead of on the way to Freesoil.  But they can do as they please.

And I hope the Daily snooze doesn't give Butterfield more press than it gives to those in the local cemeteries.

This is more pandering by the local media.

I refuse to get involved.

[XLFD]

I can't fault people that use Memorial Day to remember their fallen friends and relatives even if they had no military experience before they died.  Hey, you're at the cemetery already anyway.

I would have felt better, however, if they could have arranged the Lancour dedication on the Memorial Day holiday, rather than today, a regular Friday, when many people couldn't attend the ceremony, and the Butterfield tribute on a day with some meaning to Paul Butterfield, like his birthday.  But our other two media outlets like lionizing him ad infinitum and beyond.