Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

yeah I mean details get miscommunicated to the cops all the time, either by a dispatcher or a civilian. it's like they're suggesting that the onus was on the civilian to positively ascertain the threat level....

I get that cops have to protect the general public but I really don't see what they saw upon arrival at the team that told them they had to basically exit the vehicle shooting.

Not sure if best thread (sorry if it's already on another one) but
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/the-nypd-is-using-mobile-x-rays-to-spy-on-unknown-targets/411181/?single_page=true

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-palm-beach-gardens-officer-shooting-20151019-story.html

Church musician's car breaks down on the exit ramp, he flags down cars for help, gets shot by a plainclothes police officer. Of course the local PD is saying the officer was "suddenly confronted by an armed subject," etc.

no cameras or witnesses, this one will end well :(.

officer will say he identified himself, nobody to refute. ugh...I probably wouldn't react much differently than the victim if, at 3 am, already on edge due to vehicular breakdown, I saw some stranger looking into my car.

This past Friday in Columbus, Mississippi: http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=45604

Three Columbus Police Department officers are on administrative leave after a shooting Friday resulted in the death of a 26-year-old Columbus man.

Chief Tony Carleton said the officers -- who he declined to identify -- are on indefinite leave pending the results of investigations into the shooting death of Ricky Javonta Ball.

Ball was a passenger in a car police officers attempted to stop about 10 p.m. Friday near the intersection of 14th Avenue North and 21st Street North. A woman driving the car did not stop immediately and Ball jumped from the car and ran, according to Warren Strain, spokesperson with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities have not said what happened next, whether Ball was armed or how many times he was shot. An autopsy is scheduled for this week. MBI is handling the investigation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/us/spring-valley-high-school-sc-officer-arrest.html

The deputy also detained a second student, Niya Kenny, who told a local television station that her only offense was objecting to his treatment of the other girl.

“I was crying, like literally screaming, crying like a baby,” Ms. Kenny, 18, told WLTX. “I couldn’t believe that was happening. I’d never seen nothing like that in my life, a man use that much force on a little girl.”

As she protested, she said, “He said since you’ve got so much to say, you’re coming, too.”

grrrrr this sounds so fucking familiar from when i was in grade and middle schools: "you got something to say, too?"

https://twitter.com/shiftmsnbc/status/659117014368309248

FALSE ALARM, EVERYONE

whew

"i just want everyone to know that i didn't assault that student because she was african-american. i assaulted her because i am a psychopathic jerk with violent tendencies."

also, lol: https://twitter.com/WilFay33/status/659121227559280640

Wife tried to run a thought experiment of what it would take for white assholes to believe that violence perpetrated on a black child by a police officer might be wrong. I explained to her this is not a useful road to go down because there is none. There will be churches full of white people all across this country where the accepted line of reasoning will be that the cop may have overreacted, and it did look bad from the video, but she must have done something to set him off, she wasn't just sitting there, she's no saint, etc. I believe "she's no saint" is already the line on Fox, actually.

I think the more useful discussion is why are we using cops in social worker roles all the fucking time? The lowest level quality-of-life crime a cop should be expected to deal with is public intoxication, or something to that effect. Cops are equipped with tasers, batons and guns because they are trained and expected to respond to acts of violence. But because a LICSW is some kind of girly liberal bullshit, we have determined as a society that more muscle is what we really need, everywhere. This doesn't even have to be a federal legislative conversation. This could just be a local level hiring practice. But nobody has the imagination anymore for sending anything other than "a bigger dog" into any potentially confrontational situation.

De-escalation takes work; escalation only takes ego.

in the more troubled schools here they've been trying new talk-it-out-with-students discipline techniques and a bunch of people have complained that basically this appears not to be punishment and doesn't do anything more to make the place stop looking lawless and shouldn't we be seeing some CONSEQUENCES etc

despite the CONSEQUENCES regime being the one where tempers flare wildly and teachers get scared and there are cops in the building

I think the more useful discussion is why are we using cops in social worker roles all the fucking time?

that is an excellent question and frankly i didn't even know cops were employed in many schools.

'Sources' say that this particular cop won't be employed there anymore!

I don't see color when I violently assault children for no reason

that child could have been black, white, red, yellow, or whatever, and I still would have suplexed her ass

Outrageusly, the two girls arrested in class will still be charged. One of them for disrupting class after a police officer assaulted one of her classmates...

I mean, sure, he was out of line, but she should not have protested. 1000$ bail.

I hope that the judge looks at this and throws it out immediately

Fields has been fired.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/28/452501995/s-c-sheriff-will-decide-deputy-s-future-with-department

presumably he can wait for the gofundme money to roll in

i hate the world.

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/there-are-no-innocent-black-people-1739019535

As anybody who spends any time in any grammar/jr. high/high school can tell you, there are cops baked into primary education in a way that is almost unrecognizable to those of us who grew up prior to columbine

we had cops assigned to our campuses in jr. high/high school in the late 80s. I saw them all the time. My high school cop once produced a list of the literally hundreds of gangs/gang members that were active on campus, which was total Satanic Panic + racist bullshit. He is, unsurprisingly, a right-wing fundie Xtian nutjob (here's his linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegadfly4u) who plays in a Christian rock band. Worst high school ever.

I think we had a cop by the time I graduated. Obviously Officer Whatever didn't have much to do at my school, and I think the teachers resented his presence (not necessarily him personally) for the most part. Anyway, depressing.

xpost

God is Not an Option
Publish America
2007

God Is Not an Option is a collection of poems, thoughts, songs and short stories centered on the God-shaped vacuum in your soul, custom-built by a loving Creator, long before you were born. Whether you agree or not, no human being can truly live absent a relationship with God. As a Christian father, American, veteran, poet, songwriter and police sergeant, author Greg Doyle brings to life his personal experiences and unshakable faith in God, while sharing intimate insights into the Creator’s heart.

What have you got to lose forever if you don’t know God? You can’t even imagine it. Nothing you know on earth can compare to the wonders of heaven. Why gamble with your eternal future?

From God’s perspective, you are either with Him or you are not. No one knows what that looks like in eternity. Who honestly would decline God’s invitation to join Him in paradise? Could you imagine that what you believe really matters to God?

Realistically, where you and eternity are concerned, God Is Not an Option.

No one knows what that looks like in eternity

and neither will you!

two blocks away from last night, the police shot a guy in the head after he flagged them down and then "extended a towel-wrapped arm towards them". The cops told him to put down the gun and then shot him. Anyway, unarmed OF COURSE.

― nomar, Saturday, June 20, 2015 5:10 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

video showed him with a big head wound and the cops flipping him over and cuffing him. He's still alive somehow.

― nomar, Saturday, June 20, 2015 5:12 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

below is an update about this case, which is to me one of the most egregious crimes committed by police I've ever heard about but still seems to go underreported even in L.A. It's difficult to read and see how this poor gent is now.

http://www.losfelizledger.com/article/federal-lawsuit-to-be-filed-in-walter-deleon-shooting/

that is fucking horrifying

i hope he and his family get $50 million

jesus fucking christ, that is the worst thing i've read in i don't know how long. i'm at work and i'm about to cry.

FBI Director Comey says the "era of viral videos" has put cops "under siege," and that violent crime may be rising because cops can't do their jobs without brutality as an option, essentially. (this is being called a "Ferguson effect" by the likes of Shit Christie)

https://news.vice.com/article/the-fbi-director-says-cops-are-under-siege-from-viral-videos

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2015/10/28/124357/the-myth-of-police-reluctance/

fuck the cops

well, fuck comey, for sure. frankly i think this is firing offense. not only does he not have any evidence to back up his assertion (as he admits himself!) but it's not really his business.

i'm not sure that "cops" in general are the problem, although there are surely plenty of rotten cops just like there are rotten folks in any profession.

generally speaking, folks' behaviors -- especially in a large social category like "law enforcement" -- is conditioned by the structures they're working within. we need to change those structures. certain rules--or the lack of same--breed certain behaviors.

comey is not helping.

What does Comey propose? To ban the filming of cops in public areas? What's his point? What a dipshit

yeah, that's what's so pernicious. he's like, "i dunno, just sayin what i'm hearin'..." but the actual implications of his remarks (which he will never spell out) are so revoltingly reactionary and anti-democratic.

I have to say that he's totally right about it being really hard to just do whatever you want to do however you want to do it when a bunch of killjoys are trying to, like, hold you accountable for your actions or whatever.

apparently Obama called him into the WH for an *unscheduled* meeting after these 2 speeches

didn't can him tho

fwiw the cops in the lil vermont town near me (known for being wealthy-and-progressive) was going to get body cameras until the town gov't struck down the idea citing ~privacy concerns~

for citizens

it was the cops who had asked for them in the first place

vermont, man

well, yeah, those are legit concerns. it's complicated.

they just announced that all cops in this city will wear body cameras while on duty. citizens can request that they turn them off during encounters, but the ultimate decision is made at the cop's discretion.

i understand the call for body cameras, and maybe they are necessary, but they will raise all kinds of complex privacy issues, and we might end up regretting having advocated for them.

maybe they should be required to blur out the faces of civilians in the videos unless there is a prevailing reason why the person should be identified.

The main issue I have with body cameras is that it seems like most people are unwilling to believe the bald evidence video puts in front of them and grope for a context uncaptured by film that supports whatever narrative they want to believe anyway, so it seems like it will be a largely frustrating, expensive empty gesture that will do nothing but generate more ill will towards everyone.

The best alternative I can come up with is to just murder everyone and start over; when weighed against this, body cameras begin to seem like a much more reasonable choice.

idk maybe we should explore this murder option, could all work out

I figured you'd be on board

also fwiw Comey should never have been nominated in the first place, hope Obama's regretting his selection of yet another shitty Dubya appointee

In a US culture where involuntary contact with the police is assumed by many as probably your own damn fault, the potential for blackmail and abuse ("see, we had to talk to this wild out of control thug many times before the justified shooting -- here's video!") seems huge.

i'm sort of not understanding what the privacy issues might be

i mean assuming the cops aren't just allowed to upload whatever they want on youtube

police with body cameras entire a private building
someone unrelated to their reason for entry is there doing something they don't want others in their lives to know about
their presence is now part of the public record tied to a completely unrelated matter