[News] The USA Police State will never satisfy its lust for beating, gassing, and imprisoning minorities

Sadly it's the lefties doing the aborting.
@PatrThom understood me better, here, I think. I wasn't suggesting aborting the babies of rightwing parents, but presupposing a method to determine a baby's future political leanings, and choosing who's licensed to be born based on that. I mean, we already do the same kind of thing in real police states like China.
 
@PatrThom understood me better, here, I think. I wasn't suggesting aborting the babies of rightwing parents, but presupposing a method to determine a baby's future political leanings, and choosing who's licensed to be born based on that. I mean, we already do the same kind of thing in real police states like China.

We...do?
 
Well, I'm exaggerating for effect, poorly alluding to the one child policy.

So, you did. Sorta kinda. Barely in some somewhat vaguely similar manner.
 
"The difference between proper police action and a criminal act is the ability of the (law enforcement or) correctional professional to justify his or her actions."

- "Principles of Subject Control", Wisconsin Department of Corrections (italics are mine)
 

Dave

Staff member
The video on this one is after the fact so we can't say too much about it, other than the fact that apparently a broken tail light is now a death sentence.

If the girlfriend is correct (and there's no reason to doubt her at this point) he was reaching for his insurance and registration. You know, like you're supposed to.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
It's amazing. People go years without sharing stories about good cops doing nice things on social media. Then, when something like this happens, suddenly everyone is a champion for the poor, underappreciated police officers out there.

And don't get me wrong--I love those sweet stories about officers who go above and beyond for people in need. But do you really need to spam those stories at a time like this?
 

Dave

Staff member
The big problem here (well, another big problem here) is the fact that the same people who use blanket statements - I'm looking at you, Charlie - about "all cops are bad" are the same people who will say you can't judge all X by the actions of a few. For every crappy cop there's a hundred (or more) that are good people, and they hate this shit as much as you or I do. And to say that cops kill more in the US than ISIS...no shit. That's like saying more people are killed by cows than sharks. When you have a bajillion times more interactions with a population there will be more incidents.

I'm not downplaying what happened to either of these men (or any other men that this happens to), but to paint with such wide swathes is problematic on its own. I'm one that thinks that there should be the following:
  • Body cameras that can not be turned off on all officers - for our protection and theirs.
  • Unaffiliated investigators and prosecutors that are impartial and do NOT work at all with the departments they investigate.
  • The equivalent of malpractice insurance. If an officer or precinct is a good one then their premiums would be low. But if they have a history of problems or a bad egg, then they are incentivised to correct the behavior instead of putting up the blue wall.
On the subject of the blue wall, I completely and totally understand it 100%. As a former military person you know what it is that people like you go through and are more empathetic to their plight. This creates an "us against them" kind of mentality that's very difficult to overcome. Officers who do the right thing in bad forces are ostracized and outcast. But if the above steps were to be taken, pressure would be forced inward to correct behavior and prioritize training. Of course, there would be unexpected consequences thanks to humans being dumb, greedy fuckers. Like insurance companies jacking up rates due to small infractions. We'd have to keep a tight rein on these like we try and do with malpractice insurance.

Just my $.02.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
  • Body cameras that can not be turned off on all officers - for our protection and theirs.
  • Unaffiliated investigators and prosecutors that are impartial and do NOT work at all with the departments they investigate.
  • The equivalent of malpractice insurance. If an officer or precinct is a good one then their premiums would be low. But if they have a history of problems or a bad egg, then they are incentivised to correct the behavior instead of putting up the blue wall.
I agree. What bothers me especially about the Baton Rouge case is that both officers' cameras fell off in this altercation. That means one of two things for me:

1) They were dropped on purpose because the two men knew they might have to shoot someone.
2) More likely (I hope), they're affixed very poorly, and this needs to be addressed for the safety of the officers and the people with whom they interact.
 

Dave

Staff member
The 911 call for the one in Baton Rouge stated that it was a large man with a gun. So they went in knowing (correctly or incorrectly - I don't know) that he was armed. That's about all I know about it. But it does seem strange that both cameras were dislodged.
 
If the girlfriend is correct (and there's no reason to doubt her at this point) he was reaching for his insurance and registration. You know, like you're supposed to.
You'd think so, but, let me check the facebook feed to see what other people are....oh dear.

nope.png




People can be farking awful.
 
An interesting viewpoint on graphic videos. How many times have you seen a graphic death video of a black person? How many have you seen of white people? There's videos of both, but the fact that we more willingly share them when it's a black person might actually be a bad thing, and only further desensitise society to the deaths of black people.

We shouldn't even need the videos to galvanize people to action.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...-alton-sterlings-death/?tid=pm_opinions_pop_b
 
So if there aren't videos of black guys getting murdered by cops, there's no proof of misconduct, but if videos are being shared, then it's desensitizing people to the brutal murder of black people at the hands of police.

Hm.
 

Dave

Staff member
The whole point of putting the videos out is to shine a light at potentially illegal activity that wouldn't see the light of day otherwise. It just doesn't happen to white people with the same unconscionable regularity that it happens to people of color.
 
The whole point of putting the videos out is to shine a light at potentially illegal activity that wouldn't see the light of day otherwise. It just doesn't happen to white people with the same unconscionable regularity that it happens to people of color.
I mean there have literally been cases where a white dude has shot at cops and they take him in uninjured, whereas if a black guy looks like maybe he has a gun somewhere or just if he's big or if he's black, that's a death sentence.
 
Ahem.

"The difference between proper police action and a criminal act is the ability of the (law enforcement or) correctional professional to justify his or her actions."

- "Principles of Subject Control", Wisconsin Department of Corrections (italics mine)
 
If an episode of Law and Order had that happen, I would call it too over the top. I'm not feeling sympathy for the mayor because she seems like she just wants it to go away without caring about the victims, but I honestly don't know what even the best-intentioned person could do about this. You're probably best off firing literally every cop and replacing the department, but I have no idea how that'd be possible.
Okay, you fire everybody. You know how long it takes to hire someone to become a cop? It ain't overnight.

So how do you patrol the city while you're "properly training" your potential replacement LEO's? Have the mayor and the common council go out in police cruisers? Throw up the Bat signal and hope some winged vigilante shows up?

And even if you decide, "oh, we'll do an investigation, and we'll fire the appropriate people," what happens to those who are left? 100 officers to do the job of 150? 200? 300?How safe do you think your city will be then? Think you'll be able to handle all the retribuitions, the #BlackLivesMatter protests, the gang warfare as the bad guys realize there ain't no one patrolling their street anymore?

Oh, and when it comes out how awful and horrible these police officers are in your city, who do you rightfully think is gonna WANT to be a police officer in your little hamlet? Andy Taylor and Barney Fife are both pushing up daisies, kids.

Sorry - sore spot. The exact same damn thing is happening to my workplace. I don't know if it'll ever recover from all the crap we've had to go through over the last eight months.
 
Yes, the "but I have no idea how that'd be possible" portion of that quote was because I don't think it'd actually be a practical solution.
 
Follow commands or die

Reading the article, I can almost see where he's coming from, but at the same time, headlines like these seem shockingly out of touch with how people feel. I lived the greater part of a decade in an honest-to-God Authoritarian country and Chinese cops come off way less jack-booted than how police in the U.S. tend to portray themselves to the public. It just boggles my mind. Although authority should be respected if you want to live in any semblance of society, "Comply or die" is not a mantra I had ever expected to hear in my country.
 
Like the first comment that undermines the entire point the article is trying to make and shows why black people are FUCKING TERRIFIED of police.
 
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From the video I saw... the officer was mere feet on the side of the car where the guy got killed. Did the victim pull out his gun? Did his gun have the safety on when they carried him away in a stretcher? How exactly does a cop shoot a sitting man 3 out of the 4 bullets he fired so quickly? I don't understand how that happened and the video doesn't show what really happened, just that the situation shouldn't have happened.

Didn't this guy notice a small girl in the backseat? Wasn't he worried about about missing and killing her by mistake? Even with specialized bullets that don't exit bodies, this is incredibly dangerous for all 3 people in the vehicle!

If someone has a busted tail light and a toddler in the back seat, is this the guy you put down like a rabid dog? The individual was compliant on a routine stop and advised you that he carried a concealed weapon (as a Canadian, I think this is fucked up, but hey, your shit laws) which he was completely entitled to carried as per state laws. Do you kill him while they're reaching for their wallet to give you the papers you asked him to provide?

I just don't see the need to fire.

There are more police shooting deaths in the US in a given year than mass shooting deaths and this needs to stop. I am quite sure that police work is absolutely terrifying at times - and I can't imagine thinking that every day at work there might be someone out there who could kill you. The silver lining here is that this is a fixable problem.

Better training, better policies, efficient body cameras and better whistle-blowing protection against poor police work, etc.

None of this is just.

None of us should want to live in a society where it's okay for agents of the government to act this way against its own people.

We have some flatfoots here, what is your take on this? Do you feel shooting at a guy in this situation is even remotely warranted?
 
Tragic turn of events. On a related note, I imagine the backlash from the police will exceed that of the one to NY's revenge executions.
 

Dave

Staff member
https://t.co/kRBfP0wJo1

Cops in Alton Sterling shooting investigated five times in seven years
Means nothing. Cops get investigated all the time when people make spurious claims against them. And yes, cops get allegations throw up at them all the time. For some reason, bad guys don't care if their suit is justified or not. And that is something else that helps build the blue wall and obfuscates real issues.

I realize it's problematic to say that we have to look at convictions when historically cops get free passes, but that's what we have to do.
 
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