Reub wrote:Could it be because you a__holes have created a hostile environment for them to work in? One where they are being killed and fear for their lives?
All of this fanfair and yet thousands more blacks are being killed in their own neighborhoods by other blacks. Not a peep. Hypocrites!
In many ways this is a viscous cycle. The police are so scared they shoot at boogie men that aren't dangerous in the least. The public is so furious/scared they don't know how to react when approached by police. And the evil of this world is emboldened to take action and actually kill public defenders.
A cops job is always a hostile environment, period. Cops don't get called to an address because someone stubbed a toe, or needs help getting up. They are called because criminals are committing crimes, people are being killed, acts of violence are being perpetrated. They train to deal with that, and they should train, and they should also understand that they are held to a darn high standard!
As a cop your taught to always approach a situation as though everyone involved is armed (cause they could be). But even still you better have a darn good reason when you pull that trigger because someone's life might just end. When an unarmed civilian begging for the police to show restraint is laying on the ground with his hands in the air you shouldn't even have your weapon drawn! I expect better of my police, not because they are aren't human, but because we train them day in and day out to understand the difference between a life and death situation, and one that isn't. They carry a gun openly where most of us can't even carry one (at least in my state). They wield the power of life and death on their hip, and that requires a heck of a justification to pull it out, and even more of a justification to use it.
This thread isn't just about cops shooting other people though. What about the police officers in NH who decided that after a suspect surrendered and was handcuffed on the ground they would just beat on him for a while?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.2717576 What about the policemen who decide that someone filming them in public is a crime worthy of pulling their weapon?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016 ... lming-him/
It's easy to be on the side of the police until you make one mad. Until the one dealing with you has a bad day. Then they make a mistake. If you're lucky you just end up with a broken/confiscated iphone, or some bruising. If your unlucky you end up in prison for a few hours then released without charge, if your really unlucky you end up dead.
Police wield the power of the state, they are an instrument of justice and I'm darn glad they exist. It is a thin blue line between the order we enjoy and chaos. But that line needs to stay in line, and there should be VERY SWIFT AND STRONG retribution when they step out of line. Police are not above the law and it's up to the citizenry to remind them of that. If I make a mistake at my job, I get a reprimand, maybe if it's a really bad one I'm fired. If an officer makes a mistake, someone gets hurt, if it's a really bad one someone gets killed.
People can understand if a cop honestly felt threatened by someone, but police need to cut beyond the paranoia and understand that of the 300+ million people in this country, only around 1-2% of them would ever even try to kill someone (let alone a cop). The rest of us are just praying we can make it through any encounter we have with a police officer with our freedom, collerbone, and life still intact. That's not how it should be. I shouldn't see a cop and think "Jeeze, I hope I don't make him angry."
Lately when I encounter police I still feel pride in what they do, but I also have a small nagging voice of fear in the back of my head. "What if he thinks I'm up to something when I'm not?" "What would happen if he decides to detain me without cause and I tick him off accidentally?" "What would happen if he misinterprets me pulling out my wallet to pay for my happy meal, as me pulling out a weapon?"
I'm tired of police officers having to wield M16 assault rifles, and full body armor just to pull over grandma. The world is rife with fear, and that fear isn't helping anything. It's not helping the police do their job without over-reacting, and it's not helping the citizenry feel friendly to the man in the blue suit and badge. When I saw a cop I used to look at their badge and feel pride. Lately, I look at their gun and feel fear. This is not the way it was meant to be.