I Am So ANGRY!

[Rev. Powell]

I did read a piece recently on why so many police seem to get away with murder in the US. Apparantly it has much to do with the terms of employment they have, although this seems odd to me. Surely existing law would overwrite any such contract?

Can you link the article you read?

I think a large part of the problem is with the way U.S. policemen are trained. The focus in training is on self-defense and self-protection for the officer rather than de-escalation of conflict. Other countries think our method of police training is "crazy." Of course, citizens in other countries won't be armed, while an American could be legally packing heat.

http://youtu.be/jJkHiWnS5yk

[Alex]

Not sure if this is the exact article (it was a couple of weeks ago I read it), but it seems to cover the same points. Don't forget there are a lot of other countries out there where guns are legal outside the US too, many of them even have less laws governing such items so the not packing heat part isn't exactly a given.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/us/police-killings-prosecution-charges.html

[RCMerchant]

I don't know or care wtf the cops problems are.
We all have issues.

YOU DON'T KILL PEOPLE FOR NO GOOD REASON.

They have a licence to kill and use it.
f**k them.

[Rev. Powell]

Not sure if this is the exact article (it was a couple of weeks ago I read it), but it seems to cover the same points. Don't forget there are a lot of other countries out there where guns are legal outside the US too, many of them even have less laws governing such items so the not packing heat part isn't exactly a given.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/us/police-killings-prosecution-charges.html

That article mainly describes how the law favors police, but there is one point there: "Union protections that shield police officers from timely investigation, legal standards that give them the benefit of the doubt, and a tendency to take officers at their word have added up to few convictions and little prison time for officers who kill."

To take the Breonna Taylor case, which I'm pretty familiar with: what you had is two parties exchanging fire in what turned out to be a misunderstanding. One party, the one who fired first, was immediately arrested, taken into custody, interrogated, and quickly indicted (although charges were dropped). The other party, who fired the fatal shot, wandered around the crime scene (in violation of standard operating procedure) and went home to sleep in his bed. The attorney general had conducted a months-long investigation before they even brought it to a grand jury (where the A.G.--arguably--acted like defense counsel rather than a prosecutor). Guess which party was the policeman?

There's a double standard there, though I do think it's a necessary one. If policemen were treated like common criminals every time they repsonded in self-defense while conducting their official duties, very few people would join law enforcement. It's a difficult balance to maintain.

[RCMerchant]

If they commit a criminal act, they should go to jail.
There is a BIG double standard there.
If I went around just shooting unarmed people I would be locked up for life.
A badge does not give you the right to be judge, jury, and executioner.
The Breonna Taylor death is a open and close case of negligent homicide.
I doubt people will not join law enforcement. There's always folks who want a badge and a uniform and a gun.
Makes them a big man. 

[pennywise37]

i also think it's the way they are trained, there's a podcast i used to listen to and they ran out of funds so that's why they aren't on anymore it was called WTF?

and on it one the hosts always used to say on how that was the problem another problem is how they consider us Civilians instead of people and well as he could not stand that term and honestly i don't like it either but it is what it is i guess.  he'd say they really need to change the way they train these cops

they train them like they are going to war when that's not always something that most cops do, i mean there's plenty of them out there that can spend an entire career never having had to fire their gun. i like a show called Homicide Hunter and the lead a dude named Joe Kenda has been retired from the force since the 90's and even he said he never had to fire his gun at all.  more cops need to learn from cops like that, i mean if you are forced to i get that but if you can prevent yourself from using your gun if you are able to i say go for it but a lot of cops sadly aren't trained to think that way anymore i don't think

[indianasmith]

In the case in Wolfe City, the cop was 22 years old; he barely finished high school, did a turn as a corrections officer, then he underwent about six weeks of training and then got hired on the police force for $13 an hour.
He had no business being given a gun and a badge, to be honest, but small towns don't get the law enforcement they need, they get the law enforcement they can afford.

Now an innocent man is dead, and this young man's life is ruined, all because he never got the training he needed.

[Allhallowsday]

In the case in Wolfe City, the cop was 22 years old; he barely finished high school, did a turn as a corrections officer, then he underwent about six weeks of training and then got hired on the police force for $13 an hour.
He had no business being given a gun and a badge, to be honest, but small towns don't get the law enforcement they need, they get the law enforcement they can afford.

Now an innocent man is dead, and this young man's life is ruined, all because he never got the training he needed.

I keep looking for this story on the TV news... I confused it last night... with a different concurrent story about a police shot dead black man...   

Keep us updated. 

[Jim H]

Not sure if this is the exact article (it was a couple of weeks ago I read it), but it seems to cover the same points. Don't forget there are a lot of other countries out there where guns are legal outside the US too, many of them even have less laws governing such items so the not packing heat part isn't exactly a given.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/us/police-killings-prosecution-charges.html

I'd be curious how Czechian police handle it.  They're the most comparable country I'm aware of where a remotely similar number of people could be legally conceal carrying around 2.5% of the population has a concealed carry permit.  Even still, the ratio of gun owners to not (total gun ownership is around 3% of the population, compared to the USA at something like 40% or so) is still way lower, so it's still not an apples-to-apples comparison.

[RCMerchant]

I don't know or give a flying f**k what's happening in Czechoslovakia.
I care about what the f**k is happening here.
In Michigan. Where morons planned to kidnap and kill Govenor Whitmore.

YOU SHOULD.
Because your next.

This aint a fluke. This is us now. And it's terrifying.

[Allhallowsday]

 

[indianasmith]

I don't know or give a flying f**k what's happening in Czechoslovakia.
I care about what the f**k is happening here.
In Michigan. Where morons planned to kidnap and kill Govenor Whitmore.

YOU SHOULD.
Because your next.

This aint a fluke. This is us now. And it's terrifying.

Something I saw about that on FB today:
"If a group of Muslims had plotted to kidnap a governor, Trump would have called for a new Muslim ban.
If a group of Latinos had plotted to kidnap a governor, Trump would have called for the wall to be completed.
But when a group of white supremacists plotted to kidnap a governor, Trump attacked the governor."

[Leah]

I don't know or give a flying f**k what's happening in Czechoslovakia.
I care about what the f**k is happening here.
In Michigan. Where morons planned to kidnap and kill Govenor Whitmore.

YOU SHOULD.
Because your next.

This aint a fluke. This is us now. And it's terrifying.

Something I saw about that on FB today:
"If a group of Muslims had plotted to kidnap a governor, Trump would have called for a new Muslim ban.
If a group of Latinos had plotted to kidnap a governor, Trump would have called for the wall to be completed.
But when a group of white supremacists plotted to kidnap a governor, Trump attacked the governor."

I mean he did tell a white supremacist group to "Stand back and to stand by" and didn't denounce them.

[RCMerchant]

Why do you find this funny?  
Move to Michigan. Not so funny.

[Allhallowsday]

Why do you find this funny?  
Move to Michigan. Not so funny.

That wasn't funny.  It meant, time for a drink.