A thought on law enforcement and hospitals

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You frequently hear stories about homeless shelters and mental hospitals abusing patients. It seems like this would be a very, very simple matter for an undercover police officer to investigate - moreso, just the fact that undercover police officers COULD pose as inmates would act as a huge deterrent to most forms of abuse.

I have never heard of a police bust of a homeles shelter or mental hospital where an undercover officer was used to investigate allegations of abuse. Does this just not happen? If not, why not?

? 1. Maybe nobody wants the job. If you weren't crasy before checking into one of those places, you will be by the time you check out.
? 2. Maybe nobody cares enough to pay the undercover agents to sit around and drool.
Abuse of power is the norm for humans. There's nothing new under the sun.

Surveillance cameras are cheaper and serve a similar purpose.

Correct; but if a patient complains; there's proof that the abuse happened and staff know that. It's not foolproof, but it's a deterrent.
I work in a pharmacy with 4 cameras on us. Any time I put anything in my pocket (lip gloss, hand cream, notebook) I make sure it's right in front of one the cameras. We're sure where we can be seen on camera and we don't know if or where the cameras can't see.

There are mental health and hospital police departments, believe it or not. For instance:



The Cook County Hospital Police Department

There's no money to be made. In the US, a lot of police departments are no longer interested in protecting the public and more interested in filling arrest quotas. More arrests means more funding for that department. It's just easier to go out and arrest some poor kid smoking pot than it is to do an undercover investigation. Plus the kid is easier to convict.

im sure they do if they get substancial complaints.but the problem being people who cant complain for themselves.its a good idea

[quote="ialdabaoth"] just the fact that undercover police officers COULD pose as inmates would act as a huge deterrent to most forms of abuse.[/quote]
Posing as an inmate can have its problems... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment

Homeless people and patients in mental hospitals don't pay many taxes and most rarely vote. Politicians are not likely to go after the "Homeless Vote" or openly claim mental patients as their main constituents. This is true no matter which of the four leading political parties you examine - the Democrats, the Greens, the Libertarians, and the Republicans all behave as if homeless people and mental patients don't even exist (except as problems to be cured, of course...).

My point is that you're not likely to see any politician interested in sponsoring or running an undercover "sting" operation to catch abuse of homeless people and mental patients, because these people just don't seem to matter to any politician or political party.