“One of the biggest obstacles to fighting crime in predominantly black neighborhoods is not wanting to cooperate with “the man”.....
That this mutual antagonism seems to be getting worse is not a good harbinger.”
The real issue isn’t that FR all of a sudden turned anti-cop but that the internet opened the eyes of so many to what actually happens rather than the whitewashed version you get on the MSM. Kelly Thomas was a good example of that and people are rightly revolted at seeing cops literally get away with murder on a day in, day out basis. But it’s more than that, more and more people are having interactions with cops that are negative (tickets, not even bothering to come out to take a report when people are robbed or car stolen, etc.) so people are starting to realize that cops are not (and really never were) out to “protect and to serve” other than themselves and the politicians that control them. There is a loss of trust that is similar to what you see in the third world, maybe not as bad but it’s getting there. What you see on FR is a reflection of what you see out in the rest of the US and unless the cops clean up their act and drive out the bad eggs rather than standing with them you’ll continue to see the public’s view of cops degrade.
All that said, no matter how bad they are you still need cops to keep the barbarians in check. It’s just that you need to also ensure that someone is watching the watcher and right now no one really is.
Many of us know the deal from growing up in our own neighborhoods and seeing some good & bad eggs with whom we came in contact, and then later on with those we grew up with who became cops themselves.
But I agree, with advances in technologies and materiel, the potential for abuse has ramped. And I’d venture to say the further one gets from the local the more troublesome. And saints preserve us if the national “ceiling” ever breaks and we become subject to the global.