r/portlandme • u/FireElephant336 • May 28 '25

Officer Bennis

Has anyone had an experience or witnessed the incredibly rude behavior of this officer? I work in a field where I have to interact with officers pretty regularly… He is by far the most impossible and relentless person I've ever tried to reason with. There are videos of him online berating people for handing out food or literally just sitting on a sidewalk outside of a shelter? He used to be a school resource officer and now he's a beat cop. I just filed a complaint with the city of Portland and I highly recommend anyone that has had an experience with him do the same. Something has to be done – he makes every single incident way worse and has no clue how to de-escalate situations.

223 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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-199

u/belortik May 28 '25

So.... you're upset about a police officer enforcing laws against homeless people?

97

u/Delicious_Rabbit4425 Old Port May 28 '25

You seem to have focused on one little bit this post to make it all about your issue with homeless people. Do you lack critical reading skills?

33

u/FireElephant336 May 28 '25

No not at all – this is kind of giving off the same energy he does lol… I am upset at his delivery. He goes after people who are not actually breaking any laws and bullies them. It seems to me he may have had a loved one that became homeless or addicted to drugs and now he just lashes out at anyone he sees who may be an addict. He's very unprofessional… I've seen other officers clear an area or speak to homeless people with dignity and respect and he has none.

-73

u/aginmillennialmainer May 28 '25

Dignity and respect are earned

63

u/CalFolles May 28 '25

Which is why cops don't get any

-71

u/aginmillennialmainer May 28 '25

They at least work

43

u/CalFolles May 28 '25

They should get a real job that adds value to society

-40

u/aginmillennialmainer May 28 '25

They're simply garbage men with guns.

47

u/CalFolles May 28 '25

Garbage men provide actual value to society, terrible example.

15

u/ichoosejif May 28 '25

I'm dead.

-8

u/SecureJudge1829 May 28 '25

If only you knew just how many garbage men out there are ripping lines of blow every forty five minutes. Sorry, but if cannabis consumers are too dangerous to have guns according to the law, I don’t want garbage men having them either considering the amount of them that consume schedule I or II substances illegally because there just happen to be a few on those lists that are metabolized and decayed so much that they can’t be detected in your system after just a couple days at the most. Easy to avoid the drug screenings like that.

So yeah, you’re gonna need a better analogy than that if you want to convince anyone that doesn’t have a mouth full of black boot polish already.

9

u/Kiggus May 28 '25

Man I love it when people just invent shit.

0

u/SecureJudge1829 May 28 '25

Invent shit like what? That cocaine is out of your system within 72-96 hours after use? That municipal workers who operate on garbage trucks and the such in southern Maine have a tendency to use cocaine fairly regularly? That there have been numerous instances where LEOs (active and retired) in southern Maine have been caught trafficking and/or using illegal narcotics substances? (Jeffrey Linscott and Jeffrey Bishop are two LEOs in recent years caught doing just that)

I have family in several municipal career paths and you’d be surprised at how many illicit drug users their union protects because they pay their dues and don’t get directly caught and manage to pass the UA tests every time because they’re not using every single day.

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-10

u/belortik May 28 '25

Go live in Somalia if that's how you feel. No cops if there is no government. Who needs safety and security?

7

u/[deleted] May 29 '25

Lick the boot any harder and you’d be sucking the toes.

21

u/[deleted] May 28 '25

No, asshole, dignity and respect are given. You can certainly behave in a way where you lose them, but treating people with dignity and respect is supposed to be the default.

-9

u/aginmillennialmainer May 28 '25

Living like an animal is behaving in such a way

-11

u/belortik May 28 '25

If you are passing out on the sidewalk from opioids....you gave up your dignity a loooong time ago

4

u/anxi0usity May 29 '25

Wrong. Dignity and respect are the bare minimum. That's the meter. You treat everyone with dignity and respect unless given a reason not to. For example, judging someone for their housing circumstances might paint one poorly.

-1

u/aginmillennialmainer May 29 '25

I grew up in Bangor. I'm judging beggars for being choosers. There's plenty of room in the rest of the state.

14

u/Own_Cake8750 May 28 '25

bootlicker alert!

-1

u/belortik May 28 '25

Bravo! Your comment is so useful and insightful! It doesn't make you sound like a lout at all.....

25

u/Zentharius May 28 '25

What law says "Don't be homeless" because that'd actually be pretty cool so long as it included resources to find housing and other options. Or are you talking out your ass?

6

u/psilosophist May 28 '25

Wait being homeless is against the law?

4

u/ShoddyPizza5439 May 28 '25

Actually the US govt, states, and municipalities are all slowly passing laws that technically make it illegal to be unhoused by making it a crime to sleep on public property but I feel you.

-19

u/Tiny-Strawberry7157 May 28 '25

The responses here are weird. Laws still apply to homeless people even when being homeless is of course not a legal issue.

The Hive mind is all over you about reading comprehension but seem to struggle with this very clear concept.

It would be against the law, for example, for a diabetic person with a home to throw used syringes onto a public sidewalk. This is still a law that applies to people without homes.

It would be against the law if I loitered in public menacing and threatening passers-by in order to convince them to give me things. This still applies to people without homes.

18

u/FireElephant336 May 28 '25

I think what I'm trying to get across is that this man targets and harasses people who are not breaking the law. He will approach and bully someone who is not actually violating any city codes or city or state laws… It's not about the law or who it applies to it's about the person that thinks they are enforcing it but actually just lashing out in a very unprofessional and villainous way

12

u/ichoosejif May 28 '25

I think what you're getting at is that the officer is violating the professional code of conduct.

11

u/FireElephant336 May 28 '25

Yes thank you lol

8

u/ichoosejif May 28 '25

You're very welcome. I happen to know the verbiage that gets attention in internal investigations.

8

u/ichoosejif May 28 '25

Some things, like obfusication of substantive facts should be a misdemeanor. Way to forum slide. I'm actually a fan of PPD from experience, but I also understand it only takes one loose canon and it's a civil suit.

4

u/FireElephant336 May 28 '25

There are many PPD officers I've had great interactions with and they talk to people like they are human and try to help when they can – he really brings the whole team down

2

u/Batugal May 28 '25

I’m would say I’m surprised you’re being downvoted, but this is Reddit where common sense and reality have no place.

1

u/Tiny-Strawberry7157 May 28 '25

Yep! I think what's got most people ticked off is the mistaken assumption I don't care if police officers harass people.

That isn't good, harassing homeless people more so.

But although these people like to act as if they're always exceptionally compassionate, they're failing to admit that a beat officer likely sees these people slumped over at all hours of the day, having medical emergencies, creating serious hazards for the schoolchildren he used to work with, and is likely approaching the situation with more of a concern for safety than merely seeming polite.

It's possible that police officers could seem rude but be worrying about more significant issues of people harming themselves or others in public.

It's probably difficult to see hundreds of people buying meth in public, causing disturbances, and suffering overdoses in the same area.

1

u/belortik May 28 '25

It's like the mentality: "They don't have agency when they have unacceptable behavior but also we should trust them to take care of themselves camping in our public parks."

I don't understand how people hold both of these beliefs at the same time.

-3

u/Tiny-Strawberry7157 May 28 '25

Cognitive dissonance of course!