How many riots does it take...

[Timsup2nothin]

Well, Malcolm would possibly acknowledge that problem as solved today. The cops will attack a white person and then accuse the white person of attacking them with just as much ferocity, facility, and duplicity as used to be reserved for blacks.

 

[Recon Rover]

Well, Malcolm would possibly acknowledge that problem as solved today. The cops will attack a white person and then accuse the white person of attacking them with just as much ferocity, facility, and duplicity as used to be reserved for blacks.

It's what we don't get to see that probably really matters the most.

We all know now just how comfortable the police were in South Carolina before the video got out of Walter Scott.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It's what we don't get to see that probably really matters the most.

We all know now just how comfortable the police were in South Carolina before the video got out of Walter Scott.

The glaringly flawed concept of police policing themselves may have had an exclamation mark applied in South Carolina, but anyone who thought the "brotherhood of blue" was a myth needs to build a big nest, because they are an ostrich.

 

[caketastydelish]

Well, Malcolm would possibly acknowledge that problem as solved today. The cops will attack a white person and then accuse the white person of attacking them with just as much ferocity, facility, and duplicity as used to be reserved for blacks.

I made a thread about cops beating a mentally ill homeless white man to death, and the cops were found guilty of absolutely nothing (not even excessive force)

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I made a thread about cops beating a mentally ill homeless white man to death, and the cops were found guilty of absolutely nothing (not even excessive force)

I routinely mention the eighty year old shot in his bed for failing to follow orders during a no knock warrant search...while reaching for his glasses and hearing aid. He was white. Shooting was justified. Apology for the misunderstanding, but the officers feared for their lives and did what they had to do.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I made a thread about cops beating a mentally ill homeless white man to death, and the cops were found guilty of absolutely nothing (not even excessive force)

Was that Kelly Thomas? The photos of him in the hospital before he died are horrifying. I don't even want to post them here.

I just saw a vid on YouTube of a 52-year-old man getting tased and beaten by 8 cops last Summer in Venice Beach. His "crime" was that he had a beach umbrella that was too big, and refused to sign the citation. In the video, you can hear bystanders asking the cops to stop. The article I read said the guy had bipolar disorder, although I'm not sure how relevant that is.

And I was actually looking for the name of the kid with Down's Syndrome who was beaten to death by off-duty cops because he was trying to sneak into a movie without paying, but I just got sick to my stomach scrolling through page after page and gave up. There have been so many.

 

[Traitorfish]

I remember that one. He wasn't even trying to sneak in without playing, he just refused to leave after his showing because he wanted to see the film again. The staff said he could sit through an other showing if it would save the trouble, but Officer Rejected-Marine-Corps-Application wasn't having any of that, no matter how many mentally ill civilians he had to strangle to make his point.

It's not necessarily the case that all cops are, as proverb dictates, bastards, but it stretches credibility that this many of them, being this big a shower of bastards, could be a simple coincidence.

 

[Borachio]

Remember those kids in the playground that no other kids would play with?

Those kids grew up to become policemen.

(It is said. Tongue-in-cheek. Almost.)

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Even I don't say they are all actively bad...however the number willing to take a stand against the bad ones in defiance of blue unity is, I believe, somewhere within spitting distance of zero.

 

[Traitorfish]

I suppose if the state spends a century or more using the police as an occupying force in poor and minority neighbourhoods, it's only a matter of time before they begin to think that way about themselves.

 

[EgonSpengler]

It's not necessarily the case that all cops are, as proverb dictates, bastards, but it stretches credibility that this many of them, being this big a shower of bastards, could be a simple coincidence.

I agree. I think police departments have accreted a population of bullies and psychopaths in the same way the Catholic Church accreted a population of pedophiles, simply by protecting them and not weeding them out. Over time, people with an interest in exercising violence on others begin to recognize it as a career opportunity and are drawn to the job. Add to this the natural, creeping, negative influence of authority and entitlement on otherwise normal people; the relationship between the races and the classes and the overall criminal justice system; the value placed on property rights over human rights; the romanticization of violence; the devaluation of the treatment of mental illness and of the rehabilitation of people with criminal records; financial rewards for issuing citations, making arrests and incarcerating people; and the poor training of and support for police officers.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I agree. I think police departments have accreted a population of bullies and psychopaths in the same way the Catholic Church accreted a population of pedophiles, simply by protecting them and not weeding them out. Over time, people with an interest in exercising violence on others begin to recognize it as a career opportunity and are drawn to the job. Add to this the natural, creeping, negative influence of authority and entitlement on otherwise normal people; the relationship between the races and the classes and the overall criminal justice system; the value placed on property rights over human rights; the romanticization of violence; the devaluation of the treatment of mental illness and of the rehabilitation of people with criminal records; financial rewards for issuing citations, making arrests and incarcerating people; and the poor training of and support for police officers.

Main difference: The Catholic church may have protected pedophiles by hushing things up rather than weeding them out, but police culture actively promotes the activities of their miscreants.

 

[nc-1701]

Why not destroy the system itself though? Target police instead of shopkeepers. Is it because the latter is an easier target, like a US embassy compared to a US air force base?

It seems you answered your own question...

If you target the police, the shopkeeper and the mayor will sit back and say "good thing we have police". If you target the shopkeeper he will tell the mayor to fix the police, which is the message the protesters are trying to deliver. Consider the shopkeeper a form of amplifier tuned to the frequency of the local government.

Ditto

 

[Commodore]

Main difference: The Catholic church may have protected pedophiles by hushing things up rather than weeding them out, but police culture actively promotes the activities of their miscreants.

One could say the Catholic Church actively promotes the activities of its miscreants by telling their clergy they must remain celibate their entire lives and forbid them from having any kind of sexual release, even masturbation. I mean, a man can only keep his sexual tension bottled up for so long before he snaps.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

One could say the Catholic Church actively promotes the activities of its miscreants by telling their clergy they must remain celibate their entire lives and forbid them from having any kind of sexual release, even masturbation. I mean, a man can only keep his sexual tension bottled up for so long before he snaps.

While I can't disagree, I don't imagine priests in a locker room somewhere sharing a good laugh about the alter boys they have poked, but I have no doubt that on any given day pretty much anywhere in the US you can find cops in a locker room or a bar or a squad car swapping stories about the various forms of "street justice" they have distributed.

 

[caketastydelish]

Was that Kelly Thomas? The photos of him in the hospital before he died are horrifying. I don't even want to post them here.

Yes it was him, and yes those pictures were horrifying.

I just saw a vid on YouTube of a 52-year-old man getting tased and beaten by 8 cops last Summer in Venice Beach. His "crime" was that he had a beach umbrella that was too big, and refused to sign the citation. In the video, you can hear bystanders asking the cops to stop.

If I saw the cops beating an innocent to death in person, I would intervene myself, and I encourage everyone else to do the same.

The article I read said the guy had bipolar disorder, although I'm not sure how relevant that is.

It proves cops in this country hate the mentally ill.

And I was actually looking for the name of the kid with Down's Syndrome who was beaten to death by off-duty cops because he was trying to sneak into a movie without paying, but I just got sick to my stomach scrolling through page after page and gave up. There have been so many.

I haven't even heard of whatever incident you're talking about, but there have been so many cases of police brutality that I can't put anything past them anymore.

 

[Borachio]

Here it is. Robert Ethan Saylor.

 

[Esperr]

I wonder perhaps if the cops are like the military? When I was in the army if a superior of high enough rank made a "no-no" we basically couldn't mention I or talk about it to anybody, as it might hurt the image of the unit/army/ espirit de corp/blah blah blah. We could have faced disciplinary action for doing so. I wonder if the police are in the same boat and that's why you wont hear them speak out against eachother?

 

[Rashiminos]

We probably ought to start taking bets on armed rebellions, if that would begin to answer the question posed by the OP.

 

[jackelgull]

I wonder perhaps if the cops are like the military? When I was in the army if a superior of high enough rank made a "no-no" we basically couldn't mention I or talk about it to anybody, as it might hurt the image of the unit/army/ espirit de corp/blah blah blah. We could have faced disciplinary action for doing so. I wonder if the police are in the same boat and that's why you wont hear them speak out against eachother?

I heard a story about a police officer who reported his boss for having sex with a prostitute before arresting her which was against the police rules. Rather than the boss getting in trouble, the officer who reported him was punished for insulting a commanding officer.