Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

I just feel like the real root cause of so much of this horribleness is that we have made the job of "police officer" into something that ranges far above and beyond what people who want to be cops are capable of. We have made their job impossible because on the one hand, we let everybody and their dog own .50 cal weapons, and on the other hand, we ask them to deal with civil protests, restraining orders, the mentally ill, etc.

Cops are assholes. But they're supposed to be OUR assholes, to deal with less controllable, threatening assholes. When I see a fight break out near my home I want nothing more than to know that there is an NCAA Division III 2nd string linebacker ready to go and break that shit up and put the bad people in the tank for the night, my sidewalk bouncer, the guy so I don't have to be the guy.
I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in asking that person to go to my daughter's school and deal with an unruly kid, or checking on the person sleeping outdoors by the Reeves Center who has been in the same position for five or seven hours of daylight.

I am completely furious at what passes for police work in my country, but I think the real problem is that we have given a complicated job to a bunch of jocks who signed up for something much less so.

good points

yup

From Harris County, Texas to Fox Lake, Ill., officers have died at the hands of those who they swore to protect.

The Fox Lake case is far from settled, the police are investigating it as such but there have also been reports and plenty of speculation that the officer committed suicide.

― ive reddit all your posts and I want a crowdfund (dan m), Wednesday, October 7, 2015 11:36 AM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

welp, not only was it suicide, he was embezzling $ from the PD

http://chicagoist.com/2015/11/04/fox_lake_police_officer.php

that story is insane

Decent job by Tarantino in this interview:

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/quentin-tarantino-responds-to-controversy-559525443775

that story is insane

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, November 4, 2015 11:14 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and just keeps getting more so

An official says Lt. Joe Gliniewicz tried to arrange for a gang member "to put a hit" on a village administrator because he feared she would discover he had been embezzling money.

the way the story is being told it makes it sound like his backup plan was to kill himself, then he'd really get away with it for sure.

scott walker (along with a lot of other turds) used that incident as an example of the so-called "ferguson effect"

i wouldn't count the hours before they walk that back

^^ Radley Balko rounds them all up for you: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/11/05/a-partial-list-of-pundits-politicians-and-media-outlets-who-used-joseph-gliniewiczs-death-to-push-the-war-on-cops-narrative/

(Don't read the comments.)

scott walker (along with a lot of other turds) used that incident as an example of the so-called "ferguson effect"

i wouldn't count the hours before they walk that back

― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, November 5, 2015 1:38 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is why the whole thing is so fascinating to me

A cop in a small town (Hummelstown, PA) was acquitted of shooting an unarmed man dead today. Fucking appalling.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/11/mearkle_verdict.html

xp

there are plenty of people on the son's FB page who are suggesting it was an "inside job" and that gliniewicz is some kind of patsy but then again people have trouble imagining others are amazingly capable of living two lives.

Fucked up:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fraternal-order-police-quentin-tarantino-837394

Boom Box 8 hours ago
+theULTIMATETetris Fuck Tarantino and his BlackLivesMatter and AntiPolice bullshit. I'm boycotting his movies
Reply · 5

Hennimore 7 hours ago
+Boom Box If you stopped using products, watching TV/movies and playing video games because of the personal opinion and views of the creators you would be making all your own stuff. Even then you'd still be using the product of an asshole.
Reply · 20

On the Daniel Holtzclaw trial: www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/11/hate_crime_if_daniel_holtzclaw_s_victims_were_white_everyone_would_know.html

the comments section in that hwood reporter article is a cesspool

http://thebiglead.com/2015/11/08/videos-show-police-beating-and-tasing-alabama-student-after-responding-to-noise-complaint/

http://gawker.com/what-we-are-getting-wrong-about-police-reform-1740865621

In spite of evidence on crime rates and along with union statements and several reports of police pullback in New York and Baltimore, this theory has credence. Over-policing and under-policing are part of the larger whole, a dynamic of inappropriate policing that includes lack of police oversight and lack of community empowerment, among other problems. This view encompasses many of the policing problems in communities of color and marginalized city regions like Walnut Hill in Milwaukee, Southeast Washington, D.C., or East New York: from slow response call times to killings of unarmed citizens. Police in black and brown areas are entirely uncoupled from the demands and oversight of the people they are supposed to serve, and with that uncoupling comes an obvious result: tyranny.

good article

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/11/15/black-man-shot-by-police-ignites-protests-in-minneapolis/

This could be very, very bad - North Minneapolis has a history of abuse from police, if the handcuff allegation is true, or if the cops don't open all info, this is going to turn quickly.

the kids who occupied the atrium look so young and so hopeful

Protestors have blocked westbound interstate 94, mayor has called for a civil rights investigation by the DOJ

Mass arrest at protest going on right now

Guy who got shot just got taken off life support.

https://gist.github.com/webster/41b32bb45c516e8074d5

running collation of public responses by city leaders at various levels

http://billypenn.com/2015/11/12/why-democrats-republicans-are-pushing-the-bill-to-keep-officers-names-out-of-shooting-reports/

http://www.startribune.com/north-minneapolis-caught-in-the-middle/351540751/

by a n mpls school social worker who is not entirely positive but favorable about their school resource officer cop

Holy shit, reading these quotes is a pretty good primer on how awful the concept of "police union spokesperson" is

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/local/2015/11/19/clark-not-handcuffed-had-control-of-officers-gun-union-says/76071962/

Please note, releasing the available video would hinder the investigation, but this shitheel spouting off is apparently totally ok.

Dude needs a refresher course in Constitution 101: "That's not a place to exercise your First Amendment rights. That's police property."

uh

FUCK EVERYTHING

http://heavy.com/news/2015/11/minneapolis-jamar-clark-4th-police-precinct-protests-shooting-shots-fired-white-supremacists-victims-suspects-injuries-photos-video-black-lives-matter/

holy shit

Statement from Jamar's brother:

Thank you to the community for the incredible support you have shown for our family in this difficult time. We appreciate Black Lives Matter for holding it down and keeping the protests peaceful. But in light of tonight’s shootings, the family feels out of imminent concern for the safety of the occupiers, we must get the occupation of the 4th precinct ended and onto the next step.

: (

This is all so soulcrushing

jesus

yeah holy shit

:(

essential follow: https://twitter.com/BlackLivesMpls

there's plenty of video out there of some of the white "counter-protestors" who may or may not have been the ones involved in the shooting. i'm a too infuriated and creeped out to give them a look. maybe this afternoon.

it's well documented that crews of white supremacists have been patrolling the protest site

bummed that they're telling people to disperse, seems like the more powerful response would be to encourage even more people to show up as a show of support - but I get that everybody's scared

has anybody called this terrorism yet cuz, y'know

yes it's all over twitter

also some are calling for more protestors, others to disperse

elsewhere in the midwest: http://abcnews.go.com/US/chicago-cop-allegedly-shot-teen-laquan-mcdonald-16/story?id=35391346

Patrol car dash cam footage of the incident exists and a judge has ordered for it to be released publicly by the end of day Wednesday.

There has been some speculation in the TC that once this video drops, BLM protesters from out of town might end up going to Chicago. After last night's events, tho, I don't know.

That the midwest is, in many ways, possibly the most frustrating and possibly scariest place to be black in America seems less and less arguable at times like this.

really? what's the broader evidence of that?

i don't know one way or another, but a few individual, high-profile incidents don't necessarily speak to this.

it's true that the city where i live (smallish city of 250,000; college town; state capital) has the widest gulf between black and white in terms of things like graduation rates, incarceration, etc. in part that's because the whites in this town tend to be very affluent and educated (a huge percentage have post-grad degrees), so that even if the black community is no worse off than other cities, that gulf is more pronounced.

but i have no idea if this situation is generalizable behind this city; it's probably not.

er, i mean generalizable BEYOND