Posted on 01/07/2018 9:32:36 AM PST by JP1201
It’s when police officers mistakenly harm their fellow officers that we really see the problems with law enforcement narratives. Last September, St. Louis police reportedly beat and arrested a fellow police officer who had gone undercover during a series of protests. The police claimed that their fellow officer, who was black, was resisting arrest. That seems implausible. By the time the officer is getting arrested, there would be little reason for him to resist to maintain his cover. He undoubtedly knew how the police operate. He undoubtedly knew that resisting would bring a beating and an arrest. That both happened anyway strongly suggests that the police account of the incident was false.
The city of Albuquerque recently paid more than $6 million to a police officer who was shot eight times by a fellow officer while working undercover during a drug sting. The shooting officer claimed that the undercover officer put him in fear of his life. This again seems unlikely.
Albuquerque has a long history of questionable police shootings. Its officers are taught at the state academy, which was recently put under the command of a law enforcement official who teaches a much more aggressive style of policing, thinks we live in “a more dangerous world” (we don’t)....
The common denominator in these stories is that the police perceived a threat and used potentially lethal force against someone who we can safely say was innocent — someone who either had no gun, was wrongly suspected due to police error, or was himself a police officer. The police saw danger where there was none. We have scared the police into seeing threats that don’t exist, then given them near carte blanche to use lethal force whenever a threat is perceived. The threat needn’t be real. Only perceived.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
We don’t live in a more dangerous world, and evil hasn’t come to the United States (or, I guess, it hasn’t come in any greater quantities than it always has). By early counts, last year was the second-safest year for police officers since 1959. Crime remains at near-historic lows. Yet there’s an ongoing belief in law enforcement that the police are constantly under attack. You see it in the exaggeration and hyping up of the threat of ambushes and targeted killings (both of which do occur, but are vanishingly infrequent when compared with the number of cops on the street). And you see it in the menacing movement within law enforcement that sees the world in apocalyptic hues and that urges police to shoot more people more often — to dispense with hesitation and critical thinking and rely more on primordial instinct and muscle memory.
The increasing militarization of police departments with the support of the Federal government selling them military-grade weapons surplus, is not helping the situation. That, and the long term move from foot patrols to patrol cars by most police departments in major cities.
Any cop, and I emphasize ANY cop, who does something stupid like tell a person to take their hands out of their pockets and then, when the person complies, kills said compliant individual because the cop was frightened by the act of the individual taking their hand out SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A COP. And said stupid cop should be tried, convicted and imprisoned for his act of homicide.
First, slash cop wages. Cap government employee wages at twice the median household income for the area they serve. Use the massive savings to drastically increase the police force. Sure, you'd have fewer ‘qualified’ cops on the street, but you'd also have a heck of a lot more bodies and a reduction in the impression that they're some elite bastion against the criminal element.
Second, apply the law equally. No special rules for any public employee; no exemptions from gun restrictions, no immunity from prosecution, no immunity from civil litigation. If a citizen would be arrested and tossed into jail for shooting someone, so too should the cop. Maybe a lot of insanity in persecuting those who exercise their rights to self defense would go quickly out the window.
Since this would also immediately take away a lot of the toys (is that automatic rifle permitted to everyone else? No? Time to sell it off, SWAT team...) I don't think a lot of further action would have to take place.
I have thought that beat cops need to return. I have talked to some small business owners and it is rare for a police officer to stop in just to check up on things, or get to know the local community.
That is the truth, and when even the WaPo gets it, all cops are going to have to take a step back and reconsider their World View...
So you just like ignoring data then.... ok, very open minded of you.
That is the truth, and when even the WaPo gets it, all cops are going to have to take a step back and reconsider their World View...
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I agree with you but... if past history is any indication of future actions the cops will simply double down on full retard and it’ll get worse.
I have thought that beat cops need to return. I have talked to some small business owners and it is rare for a police officer to stop in just to check up on things, or get to know the local community.
Incredibly important to good policing is knowing the neighborhood. No better way to do that than walking around day to day and chatting with the locals. Much the same can be said for a good office manager.
I don’t care what cherry-picked data say: we live in a dangerous world.
The US is incredibly safe... Somalia not so much...
But despite the idea that the boogie man is lurking around every corner, he simply isn’t.
From Forbes:
The 10 Deadliest Jobs:
1. Logging workers
2. Fishers and related fishing workers
3. Aircraft pilot and flight engineers
4. Roofers
5. Structural iron and steel workers
6. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
7. Electrical power-line installers and repairers
8. Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers
9. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers
10. Construction laborers
... You'll notice "police officer" isn't on the list.
They give them military style equipment but not military style ROEs—Soldiers or Marines in combat can’t do what the police to do us every day. If Black and White would realize we both have the same problem with the Cop and it’s not about race, we could make some headway.
Cops come in and want free stuff, ‘on the cuff.’
Provide data to the contrary then. Also, the data is provided about the dangers of being a cop not "we".
If history demonstrates one Constant, it's that there is ALWAYS a Breaking Point.
I can only hope the cops reach it before ambushing cops becomes the new normal. Various neighborhoods in Chicago are already there. What if it spreads?
Jesus, they can’t even trust or be honest with each other! What chance do normal civilians have?
Law enforcement should be heavily automated with non-lethal robots. Machines do not have a life to lose so have no legal basis for preemptively killing people. They also work for the price of electricity and do not treat minorities differently. Automate jails so we can afford to keep criminals off the streets longer. 80% of crime occurs because we let career criminals out of prison early.
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