The United Police States of America

[Scooter]

So much for the "good" cops. How many just passed that man on by? Why didn't any of the cops who witnessed that assault IMMEDIATELY slam the perpetrators to the pavement and put them in cuffs, which is what would have happened to any civilian who had done the same?
'
I have come around to the view that all cops deserve to be called pigs, unless they prove otherwise by their actions.

It won't take many more incidents like that to make me believe that the only good cop is a dead cop.

[dales]

Would your above pronouncement include LBTQ law enforcement officers?

[Econoline]

Is there such a thing as a "good cop"? Sure, but there aren't many.

For starters, any "good cop" who does nothing to stop the "minority" of "bad apples" is by definition *NOT* a "good cop".

[dales]

Agreed

In the case of what happened in the George Floyd case, the rookie cops did speak out. Obviously it didn't matter.

I try to give LEO's the benefit of the doubt.

[Scooter]

Would your above pronouncement include LBTQ law enforcement officers?

Why wouldn't it? The fact that they are LGBTQ doesn't absolve them from their choice to be part of and be complicit in the corrrupt, racist and yes, homophobic, institution that policing continues to be, unless they explicitly prove otherwise by their own conduct and by their reaction to the conduct of their fellow officers. Being LGBTQ doesn't give them a pass with me unless they are willing to stand up against the injustices perpetrated by other cops. I have heard LGBTQ cops here in Toronto try to excuse themselves for not doing what is right, by whining that their lives as cops are hard enough without being seen to buck the system. To which I say, tough shit, you knew the cesspool you were entering when you signed up, and if you have chosen to stay without trying to change it, you are just as steeped in pig shit as all the other pigs around you.

[BoSoxGal]

Two stories I just saw on the news, a 59 year old black grandmother in La Mesa (San Diego) California participating in a peaceful protest who was shot between the eyes with a bean bag bullet, is hospitalized and may lose her eye - despite police manual training clearly indicating that headshots with this equipment are potentially lethal and thus VERBOTEN;

A young black man, hospital worker, leaving his shift saw an altercation happening with police attacking a protester, started filming it with his phone and was attacked himself by police - ended up with 7 staples in his head from a baton assault, his only crime being that he stood on the sidewalk filming police brutality.


I think that we need 100% video coverage of every single police/citizen interaction. It needs to upload continuously to a secure cloud server that is accessible to an independent civilian citizen review board. This could be bodycams, but shutting off the bodycam for any reason should be a fireable offense, no exceptions. Another suggestion would be that we embed citizens with police - every single squad car, every time, a citizen along for the ride with a video camera. If folks saw how often and how casually too many police treat citizens of all colors and genders and walks of life with utter contempt and violence, they’d DEMAND police reform.

[Econoline]

[datsunaholic]

https://buffalonews.com/2020/06/05/57-m ... am-resign/

From The Buffalo News:

Buffalo, NY

All 57 of the members of the Buffalo Police Department's Emergency Response Team resigned Friday from the unit which responds to riots and other crowd control situations, the president of the union that represents Buffalo police officers told The Buffalo News.

The union representing Buffalo police officers told its rank-and-file members Friday that the union would no longer pay for legal fees to defend police officers related to the protests which began Saturday in downtown Buffalo and have continued on and off, according to one source. The union is upset with the treatment of the two officers who were suspended Thursday.

"Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square," said Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans. "It doesn't specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don't know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards."

Want to know where the bad cops are? That's 57 of them. Resigned, not because of the orders and violence, but because 2 were suspended for excessive violence. Otherwords, resigned in support of 2 bad cops.

From CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/us/buffa ... index.html

"Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders," Buffalo Police Benevolent Association president John Evans told WGRZ on Friday. WKBW also reported news of the resignations.

'Simply executing orders" has never been a valid defense. Even when I was in the Military, you were told that you would be charged if you followed an unlawful order. Of course, they also didn't give you a way to protest the unlawful order either.

[Jarlaxle]

So much for the "good" cops. How many just passed that man on by? Why didn't any of the cops who witnessed that assault IMMEDIATELY slam the perpetrators to the pavement and put them in cuffs, which is what would have happened to any civilian who had done the same?
'
I have come around to the view that all cops deserve to be called pigs, unless they prove otherwise by their actions.

It won't take many more incidents like that to make me believe that the only good cop is a dead cop.

There are no good cops. There are occasionally a few, but they turn bad, leave law enforcement, or get harassed and hounded into leaving. (See: Donna Jane Watts.)

It will not change unless and until people start dropping the hammer on bad cops.

[Jarlaxle]

Two stories I just saw on the news, a 59 year old black grandmother in La Mesa (San Diego) California participating in a peaceful protest who was shot between the eyes with a bean bag bullet, is hospitalized and may lose her eye - despite police manual training clearly indicating that headshots with this equipment are potentially lethal and thus VERBOTEN;

A young black man, hospital worker, leaving his shift saw an altercation happening with police attacking a protester, started filming it with his phone and was attacked himself by police - ended up with 7 staples in his head from a baton assault, his only crime being that he stood on the sidewalk filming police brutality.


I think that we need 100% video coverage of every single police/citizen interaction. It needs to upload continuously to a secure cloud server that is accessible to an independent civilian citizen review board. This could be bodycams, but shutting off the bodycam for any reason should be a fireable offense, no exceptions. Another suggestion would be that we embed citizens with police - every single squad car, every time, a citizen along for the ride with a video camera. If folks saw how often and how casually too many police treat citizens of all colors and genders and walks of life with utter contempt and violence, they’d DEMAND police reform.

No...body cameras need to be a Federal mandate...and deactivating or disabling them for any reason should be a Federal crime, with mandatory prison time.

[Gob]

I'd like to see those whining about cops try living in a country without them.

ETA: please try to keep your comments to "American cops", we don't all live in a third world country you know...

[Jarlaxle]

I'd like to see those whining about cops try living in a country without them.

That response is so old is is starting to mildew, just like "They have a dangerous job!"

Both are (for different reasons) total horseshit.

[Gob]

Ok, show evidence to support your assertions...

[Darren]

't

Posting this here as well - just read online that the Buffalo Police Department issued a press release saying a protester had ‘tripped and fallen’ before video was released by those who’d filmed it. DESPICABLE! FERAL COPS AND GUTLESS LEADERS!

Now can we ALL agree there is a problem with police culture?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.syracu ... Type%3Damp

He’s in stable condition, which is lucky. That kind of injury could’ve easily killed him, and might still result in life altering physical and cognitive limitations. Any fucking idiot knows elderly people don’t have the same balance and agility as young people. These fucking cops are despicable. They are FERAL. They are unfit to serve and represent decent people.

eta: He’s in SERIOUS but stable condition, which means he didn’t suffer a minor concussion. And he’s a lifelong peace activist. Way to go BPD, thanks for making the case for police reform!

It looked like Gugino was shoved, backed up and fell. Given the view, I can't tell what else may have happened. One of the cops hesitated and looked like he was going to check on him before he was pushed from behind to keep moving.

Good for Gugino that he was out protesting after curfew. That shows the strength of his convictions. Going up to a police officer like that was not his best idea unless he wanted the publicity. I doubt that too.

I'm filing him with the rest of the dumb asses like the mayor of DC and the fire chief in WV.

"The elderly Buffalo protester knocked to the ground by cops in a viral video that has become an international symbol of police brutality was an “agitator” who was “trying to spark up the crowd of people,” the city’s mayor said.

Explaining why he had yet to fire the officers seen pushing Martin Gugino, 75, to the ground, where he hit his head and bled onto the pavement, Mayor Byron Brown said, “I don’t want to jump ahead of the investigation. It is very important for officers to know they are getting due process,” according to WBEN Radio.

Brown referenced violence, vandalism, looting and fires being set during protests in the city, then described Gugino as “a key and major instigator of people engaging in those activities” in remarks he made Friday.

“He was in the area after the curfew. One of the things that happened before was conflict among protesters and there was a danger of fights breaking out, and police felt it was important to clear that scene for the safety of protesters,” said Brown."

[Darren]

"Six hundred seventy-four protesters were issued "at-large" arrest charges and put in zip-tie handcuffs by Dallas police on June 1 for blocking traffic on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Police Chief Renee Hall said, "We warned them. ... If you break the law, we will arrest you."

The large group was marching to honor George Floyd and to protest the Minneapolis police officers allegedly responsible for his death on May 25."

[Econoline]

I'd like to see those whining about cops try living in a country without them.

We're not whining, we're bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting.

And we're not bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting about cops, we're bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting about *BAD* cops.

Personally, I'd love to try living in a country without bad cops.

[BoSoxGal]

I'd like to see those whining about cops try living in a country without them.

ETA: please try to keep your comments to "American cops", we don't all live in a third world country you know...

Already established in another thread, the UK has had its own substantial issues with police abuse of force and credible allegations of police murdering citizens.

[Darren]

I'd like to see those whining about cops try living in a country without them.

We're not whining, we're bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting.

And we're not bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting about cops, we're bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting about *BAD* cops.

Personally, I'd love to try living in a country without bad cops.

I've lost count of the number of times cops had a word with me for some reason or other. I've always been responsive to their commands even at a time when three cop cars showed up. I don't BS them. If I screwed up, I screwed up. I don't make excuses.

I've only argued with a cop once. He deserved it. We both went our own ways. I'm not sure why people don't understand that law enforcement lives in a different world.

I did when I was assigned Shore Patrol duty in Gitmo and spent the evening watching a cockroach try to reach the sugar by the coffee machine and I read the tacked up police bulletins out of boredom.

One of the bulletins described a shotgun hidden in a car door so that the barrel aligned with a hole near the door latch. All the driver had to do was align the door with the officer and pull a wire. Mr. officer would be bleeding out from a short range shotgun blast.

Lately a cop was shot in the head from behind in Las Vegas possibly by a "protestor". Numerous cops have been shot and killed while sitting in the car.

I have to respect it's not a safe and comfortable job. Do cops get PTSD? They certainly see enough mayhem, blood and guts.

Do they react instinctively to a perceived threat? The shooter in the theater killing in Florida still hasn't been tried. His comment immediately afterwards, "What have I done?"

Maybe if Zimmerman had held his breath long enough for the cops to show up he wouldn't have killed Trayvon Martin with one shot. Zimmerman was a coward. I suspect those kinds get weeded out quickly in the police ranks.

We have bad doctors, bad lawyers and bad cops. Nothing and no one's perfect.

There's plenty of blame to go around for the people that played a part in George Floyd's murder. The cops will get nailed. The rest, they get to virtue signal and wring their hands pleading that they'll fix the problem.

I don't expect any of them to acknowledge their part in the murder.

[Jarlaxle]

Ok, show evidence to support your assertions...

Off the top of my head: I'm more likely to die on the job than a cop. They are not (and, IIRC, never have been) in the top 10 dangerous jobs...and the most common cause of death or serious injury is a car crash!

[Jarlaxle]

I'd like to see those whining about cops try living in a country without them.

We're not whining, we're bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting.

And we're not bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting about cops, we're bitching and moaning and screaming and yelling and protesting about *BAD* cops.

Personally, I'd love to try living in a country without bad cops.

I've lost count of the number of times cops had a word with me for some reason or other. I've always been responsive to their commands even at a time when three cop cars showed up. I don't BS them. If I screwed up, I screwed up. I don't make excuses.

I've only argued with a cop once. He deserved it. We both went our own ways. I'm not sure why people don't understand that law enforcement lives in a different world.

I did when I was assigned Shore Patrol duty in Gitmo and spent the evening watching a cockroach try to reach the sugar by the coffee machine and I read the tacked up police bulletins out of boredom.

One of the bulletins described a shotgun hidden in a car door so that the barrel aligned with a hole near the door latch. All the driver had to do was align the door with the officer and pull a wire. Mr. officer would be bleeding out from a short range shotgun blast.

Lately a cop was shot in the head from behind in Las Vegas possibly by a "protestor". Numerous cops have been shot and killed while sitting in the car.

I have to respect it's not a safe and comfortable job. Do cops get PTSD? They certainly see enough mayhem, blood and guts.

Do they react instinctively to a perceived threat? The shooter in the theater killing in Florida still hasn't been tried. His comment immediately afterwards, "What have I done?"

Maybe if Zimmerman had held his breath long enough for the cops to show up he wouldn't have killed Trayvon Martin with one shot. Zimmerman was a coward. I suspect those kinds get weeded out quickly in the police ranks.

We have bad doctors, bad lawyers and bad cops. Nothing and no one's perfect.

There's plenty of blame to go around for the people that played a part in George Floyd's murder. The cops will get nailed. The rest, they get to virtue signal and wring their hands pleading that they'll fix the problem.

I don't expect any of them to acknowledge their part in the murder.

Stop licking jackboots. It's pathetic.