This is an absolutely horrifying article.
Is there a worse, more thuggish police department in a major US city than in Portland?
…LOL.
When you’ve got the LASD that literally have their own gangs, and the NYPD which arrest people at the end of their shifts for overtime, the competition for this one is fierce. The NYPD’s kettling of protestors (that resulted in a HRW report) shows just how bad they are.
Portland doesn’t even make the Top 20.
Not for lack of trying. They still refuse to wear bodycams.
Wonder if this dude is one of those “Constitutional sheriffs”…
There was a sort of watershed moment in the spring of 1991. Before that, the widespread perception of the police was primarily that they were the good guys. Since then, the increasing prevalence of video cameras has steadily eroded their overall reputation.
It might be a sort of wernerheisenberg effect, where they actually were better before they were constantly being observed, that now they are feeling pressure to uphold the bully reputation that the videos reveal. I have my doubts. The assholery has basically always been there.
It seems like some sort of hold-my-beer competition, or maybe there is a well-if-they-can-get-away-with-that attitude. Every police department clearly has their unique dark side. One is in some way not less bad than another. The reason Portland’s police look so awful is because Portland appears to be such a nice little city that it looks particularly bad there.
And of course, you may have another effect. In that seeing the corruption and violence perpetuated by the police turns good people away from seeking a career in law enforcement.
This happened a few miles from where I live: an officer punched a woman three times in the head in the parking lot of a McDonald’s. Here is a news story, and here are some videos.
The officer is being criminally charged, thankfully.
There’s also the problem that when people expect police violence they tend to find it. Somebody who believes the police are violent and dangerous is more likely to run away or fight back, leading to more police violence. This does not in any way absolve the police of responsibility for their actions, they are the professionals with training after all, just another way that more awareness of problems can actually lead to more problems.
Wow. First rate victim blaming! The fact that police use violence again a certain class of person makes that class of person the cause of police violence.
I’m gonna bet that this perception wasn’t widespread among people who looked like Rodney King. They knew exactly what the police were like, but were powerless to do anything about it because complaining about getting beat up was a Criminal vs. Cops situation, and everyone believed the Cops.
The watershed moment for them was that it didn’t even matter if the cops were caught on camera beating on someone who was helpless. Society figured it was OK for cops to beat a black man half to death while he was lying prone on the pavement.
According to the Oklahoma Sheriff that made these terrible, violent and racist remarks… the real problem is that he was recorded without his permission. This is the statement from the Sheriff’s office. Notice not one word of apology or explanation, just finger pointing.
"The last 72 hours have been amongst the most difficult and disruptive in recent memory. This is a very complex situation and one we regret having to address.
There is and has been an ongoing investigation into multiple, significant violation of the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act, Title 13, Chapters 176.3 and 176.4 which states that it is illegal to secretly record a conversation in which you are not involved and do not have the consent of at least one of the involved parties. There is a significant number of victims of this criminal activity and it has taken significant effort and time to identify them and corroborate evidence.
Many of these recordings, like the one published by media outlets on Friday, have yet to be duly authenticated or validated. Our preliminary information indicates that the media released audio recording has, in fact, been altered. The motivation for doing so remains unclear at this point. That matter is actively being investigated.
In addition to being illegally obtained, the audio does not match the “transcription” of that audio, and is not precisely consistent with what has been put into print.
Multiple agencies are assisting in this ongoing investigation.
As a result of the press release that went out on Friday, a large number of threats of violence including death threats have been made against county employees and officials, their families and friends.
There will be continued press releases from this agency as the investigation comes to a close and findings are forwarded to the appropriate authorities for felony charges to be filed on those involved."
Can you understand how some minorities are justifiably and understandably scared in the presence of the police? They’re very fearful they are going to be killed if arrested. Who can blame them for wanting to run away or even fight back?
You are both imagining judgement or blame in my statement where there is none. Are you suggesting that running away or fighting back leads to fewer incidents of police brutality?
No. I am suggesting running away or fighting back - even if it’s irrational to do so - would be an understandable reaction for some people.
I never said otherwise.
Are you suggesting that people running away and fighting back aren’t a result of a level of police violence that results in legitimate fear?
I certainly don’t see much judgement or blame directed at police. You grudgingly admit that police could do better with all their training and shit but the real problem is that we can’t hide the fact that people are victims.
No, I am not. I said no such thing.
Judgement and blame are orthogonal to the point I was trying to make.
Again, I said no such thing.
But I was …
Whatever.
Why bother with charges? Obviously the Sheriff’s office has made it plain that they should be able to find the person responsible for making these recordings and lynch them.