The Police Brutality Thread

[old_gregg]

some outlets are showing this security footage of michael brown physically assaulting the owner of a convenience store after robbing it. if this is him in the pictures, the dude was a) big and b) obviously had a propensity for violence. why is it so implausible that the shooting was justified?

[Northwestcoug]

BOOM BRITCHES!!! Now go google what GOOD things engineers have done. You can send Lebowski and me gift certificates.

BTW, did you know that even doctors who read the BMJ agree that sanitation engineers have done more for human health than any other medical advancement? http://www.bmj.com/content/334/7585/111.2

YOU ARE WELCOME!

The BMJ??? Puhleaze. Come back when you can find engineers being lauded in a first-tier medical journal.

[byu71]

some outlets are showing this security footage of michael brown physically assaulting the owner of a convenience store after robbing it. if this is him in the pictures, the dude was a) big and b) obviously had a propensity for violence. why is it so implausible that the shooting was justified?

Are they absolutely saying it was Michael Brown?

Even so, if I follow Sooner Cougar's reasoning, the kid was racially profiled and shot because of his skin color. A robbery therefor is irrelevant.

Also, just because I made this point don't anyone be so assinine to say I am OK with this kid being shot. It is a trajedy even if he did rob a store. It just means the cop may not be a cold blooded racist killer as some think.

[old_gregg]

Are they absolutely saying it was Michael Brown?

Even so, if I follow Sooner Cougar's reasoning, the kid was racially profiled and shot because of his skin color. A robbery therefor is irrelevant.

Also, just because I made this point don't anyone be so assinine to say I am OK with this kid being shot. It is a trajedy even if he did rob a store.

i'm not sure if they've confirmed whether it's him or not. seems like there is some question, but i think the pic matches the 911 call description of him.

It just means the cop may not be a cold blooded racist killer as some think.

exactly. it also does away with the narrative that he was a good kid who'd never done anything wrong, murdered in cold blood by a racist white cop while he was going down to the park to play baseball with his buds.

[PaloAltoCougar]

During a radio conversation this morning, the host cited a study that found that nationwide, in the commission of a certain felonies (burglary, armed robbery, etc.) a black perpetrator is more than twice as likely to be shot by police as a white perp. I didn't catch the name of the study's author or publisher.

[kccougar]

some outlets are showing this security footage of michael brown physically assaulting the owner of a convenience store after robbing it. if this is him in the pictures, the dude was a) big and b) obviously had a propensity for violence. why is it so implausible that the shooting was justified?

6'-4" and 292 pounds according to the police report.

[byu71]

During a radio conversation this morning, the host cited a study that found that nationwide, in the commission of a certain felonies (burglary, armed robbery, etc.) a black perpetrator is more than twice as likely to be shot by police as a white perp. I didn't catch the name of the study's author or publisher.

I wonder if police officers are more afraid of going into an armed robbery, shots fired, etc. if the suspects are identified as minorities. Would they have any basis for being more tense or would that be a case of racial profiling?

I wonder if a study has been done and it is found more people are shot by police who have long hair and covered with tatoo's. I wouldn't be a good cop because I would profile. Not on skin color, but based on long hair and tons of tatoo's.

[The_Tick]

Also like to point out that they have identified the Police Officer involved. 6 years veteran without one single complaint or mark on his record.

And...for the record...the accomplice in the robbery is the "witness" to the alleged racially profiled murder. Consider myself completely floored by this plot twist.

That confirms the racist cold blooded killer theory in my mind now.

[ERCougar]

I pretty much find this whole thread offensive. My opinion is that law enforcement should be respected more often than not.

Do they make mistakes? Sure. It happens in all fields and all professions...but the only one we choose to completely vilify here on CS is Law Enforcement...and I think it is bullshit. Lawyers, Doctors and Teachers are doing fucked up shit every day...we don't have thread pointing out how horrible they are.

I looked for something horrible engineers have done...and I couldn't find anything. #SJBH

http://www.cougarstadium.com/showthr...191#post820191

http://www.cougarstadium.com/showthr...l=1#post997136

I tried to say this...twice!
These are typically good people trying to do a really hard job. The exceptions are newsworthy.

[YOhio]

Also like to point out that they have identified the Police Officer involved. 6 years veteran without one single complaint or mark on his record.

And...for the record...the accomplice in the robbery is the "witness" to the alleged racially profiled murder. Consider myself completely floored by this plot twist.

That confirms the racist cold blooded killer theory in my mind now.

A lot of the posters here are just coming straight from the underground and they think that this young brother got it bad because he's brown.

[wuapinmon]

Please note that I've not said word one about the Missouri shooting. That case needs to be investigated. The issue that worries me is the militarization of our police force. Cops have so much authority I feel that they must be held to higher standards than they currently are. The notion that we can't question them about their job (which I hear on facebook all the time) is bunk. Their authority stems directly from the people; what authority they have was given to them by us. It is our right as citizens to question every single decision they make that involves a potential infringement of someone else's civil rights, especially since we surrendered our right to use violence to solve problems to the Leviathan of government. They should welcome questioning and second-guessing of what they do.

I have had police officers help me before. I have also seen flat-out racism, including a white cop asking me to lie and say that a black man didn't use his turn signal (when he did). When I refused to lie, another officer told me they didn't need to take a statement from me (I was the only witness to the wreck). I gave the civilian my contact information and got the hell out of there; I shouldn't have to be fearful of the law for doing the right thing. I've had cops say racist shit right to me before. For example, when looking for something that was stolen in New Orleans, a cop just said "Niggers probably took it; you'll never get it back." His partner, rather than correcting him said something like, "Yep, 9 times out of 10." I'm not some white guy second-guessing things I read about on the internet. I have reason and cause to question every goddamn thing they say or do. Deferring to their better judgment is how we get snipers on rooftops and babies having flashbangs thrown into their cribs in the name of serving no-knock warrants on non-violent crimes. Cops are often faced with tough decisions. It's the job. They get training to know what to do in those decisions. But, cops also self-aggrandize and respond negatively when someone questions their reasoning, correctness, or--god forbid--their authority. I have a colleague who used to be a cop. If you challenge her on something, even if it's innocuous or unimportant, you can see her nostrils flare and her posture change, and she's eight years away from the job. That same mindset, left unchecked, leads to sodomizing immigrants with broom handles and dumping paraplegics to the floor to search them.

Most cops are decent hard-working fair people. I'm not about the individuals; I'm about the institutions. So, go on; get mad at me if you like. Call me out; put words in my mouth; unfriend me. I will continue to collect examples of police brutality and make people aware of them. I'm not a gatekeeper or a person who can change things large-scale. But, grassroots change has to build somewhere.

The country needs a wholesale overhaul of policing. As for this thread being 'tedious,' this is a collection of items that will prove useful when this issue finally comes to a head, which it will.

[Pelado]

Please note that I've not said word one about the Missouri shooting. That case needs to be investigated. The issue that worries me is the militarization of our police force.

Not sure if this has already been posted:

There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.

The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.

Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:

Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force. It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.

The Cato Institute’s Walter Olson observed this week how the rising militarization of law enforcement is currently playing out in Ferguson:

Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?

http://time.com/3111474/rand-paul-fe...medium=twitter

[ERCougar]

Utahdan started an interesting discussion on fb on militarization of police. A police officer gives his take too. Interesting to read.

[woot]

Please note that I've not said word one about the Missouri shooting. That case needs to be investigated. The issue that worries me is the militarization of our police force. Cops have so much authority I feel that they must be held to higher standards than they currently are. The notion that we can't question them about their job (which I hear on facebook all the time) is bunk. Their authority stems directly from the people; what authority they have was given to them by us. It is our right as citizens to question every single decision they make that involves a potential infringement of someone else's civil rights, especially since we surrendered our right to use violence to solve problems to the Leviathan of government. They should welcome questioning and second-guessing of what they do.

I have had police officers help me before. I have also seen flat-out racism, including a white cop asking me to lie and say that a black man didn't use his turn signal (when he did). When I refused to lie, another officer told me they didn't need to take a statement from me (I was the only witness to the wreck). I gave the civilian my contact information and got the hell out of there; I shouldn't have to be fearful of the law for doing the right thing. I've had cops say racist shit right to me before. For example, when looking for something that was stolen in New Orleans, a cop just said "Niggers probably took it; you'll never get it back." His partner, rather than correcting him said something like, "Yep, 9 times out of 10." I'm not some white guy second-guessing things I read about on the internet. I have reason and cause to question every goddamn thing they say or do. Deferring to their better judgment is how we get snipers on rooftops and babies having flashbangs thrown into their cribs in the name of serving no-knock warrants on non-violent crimes. Cops are often faced with tough decisions. It's the job. They get training to know what to do in those decisions. But, cops also self-aggrandize and respond negatively when someone questions their reasoning, correctness, or--god forbid--their authority. I have a colleague who used to be a cop. If you challenge her on something, even if it's innocuous or unimportant, you can see her nostrils flare and her posture change, and she's eight years away from the job. That same mindset, left unchecked, leads to sodomizing immigrants with broom handles and dumping paraplegics to the floor to search them.

Most cops are decent hard-working fair people. I'm not about the individuals; I'm about the institutions. So, go on; get mad at me if you like. Call me out; put words in my mouth; unfriend me. I will continue to collect examples of police brutality and make people aware of them. I'm not a gatekeeper or a person who can change things large-scale. But, grassroots change has to build somewhere.

The country needs a wholesale overhaul of policing. As for this thread being 'tedious,' this is a collection of items that will prove useful when this issue finally comes to a head, which it will.

Well said. Whether the vast majority of cops are perfectly nice people is irrelevant to this issue.

Much of the current issue is due to police administrators in Ferguson not understanding the basics of how to control humans (note that when the State police rolled in they used a completely different strategy and the riots ceased). Treating the civilians you're supposed to be protecting as if they're enemy combatants is not only illegal, it's completely ineffective.

On par with this militarization trend is the lack of accountability that has become standard. Police departments consistently close ranks to protect the criminal actions of police officers, rather than disclosing their actions and allowing the offending officer to be tried according to the law.

It's no wonder there are so many bad apples -- there's little opportunity to weed them out.

[SoCalCoug]

Please note that I've not said word one about the Missouri shooting. That case needs to be investigated. The issue that worries me is the militarization of our police force. Cops have so much authority I feel that they must be held to higher standards than they currently are. The notion that we can't question them about their job (which I hear on facebook all the time) is bunk. Their authority stems directly from the people; what authority they have was given to them by us. It is our right as citizens to question every single decision they make that involves a potential infringement of someone else's civil rights, especially since we surrendered our right to use violence to solve problems to the Leviathan of government. They should welcome questioning and second-guessing of what they do.

I have had police officers help me before. I have also seen flat-out racism, including a white cop asking me to lie and say that a black man didn't use his turn signal (when he did). When I refused to lie, another officer told me they didn't need to take a statement from me (I was the only witness to the wreck). I gave the civilian my contact information and got the hell out of there; I shouldn't have to be fearful of the law for doing the right thing. I've had cops say racist shit right to me before. For example, when looking for something that was stolen in New Orleans, a cop just said "Niggers probably took it; you'll never get it back." His partner, rather than correcting him said something like, "Yep, 9 times out of 10." I'm not some white guy second-guessing things I read about on the internet. I have reason and cause to question every goddamn thing they say or do. Deferring to their better judgment is how we get snipers on rooftops and babies having flashbangs thrown into their cribs in the name of serving no-knock warrants on non-violent crimes. Cops are often faced with tough decisions. It's the job. They get training to know what to do in those decisions. But, cops also self-aggrandize and respond negatively when someone questions their reasoning, correctness, or--god forbid--their authority. I have a colleague who used to be a cop. If you challenge her on something, even if it's innocuous or unimportant, you can see her nostrils flare and her posture change, and she's eight years away from the job. That same mindset, left unchecked, leads to sodomizing immigrants with broom handles and dumping paraplegics to the floor to search them.

Most cops are decent hard-working fair people. I'm not about the individuals; I'm about the institutions. So, go on; get mad at me if you like. Call me out; put words in my mouth; unfriend me. I will continue to collect examples of police brutality and make people aware of them. I'm not a gatekeeper or a person who can change things large-scale. But, grassroots change has to build somewhere.

The country needs a wholesale overhaul of policing. As for this thread being 'tedious,' this is a collection of items that will prove useful when this issue finally comes to a head, which it will.

Very well said. I don't get the blowback whenever cops are questioned. Even the staunchest law enforcement supporters should be vigilant about ensuring bad cops and oppressive police tactics are put down quickly and completely, so that they don't taint the public perception of the police as a whole.

Instead, I see the same people, over and over, supporting even unconstitutional acts of the police. That's just sad.