# Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942 "2014-10-10T07:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 42
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/821 "2015-03-02T22:09:49Z")
Because cops are honest and don’t lie > [@tellyworth](#): > > Police officers lied and [arrested a man on fabricated charges](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/02/27/but-for-the-video/) that could have sent him to prison for decades. 7 witnesses lied, including police and two prosecutors. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/822 "2015-03-02T22:20:51Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > Why do you default to believing a cop? Why do you default to not believing a cop? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/823 "2015-03-02T22:32:54Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Why do you default to not believing a cop? Because a homicide was committed. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/824 "2015-03-02T23:00:11Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Because a homicide was committed. So any time a cop shoots someone, the cop is in the wrong by default? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/825 "2015-03-02T23:23:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > So any time a cop shoots someone, the cop is in the wrong by default? So anytime a cop shoots someone, the victim is in the wrong by default? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/826 "2015-03-02T23:50:34Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > So anytime a cop shoots someone, the victim is in the wrong by default? To use your own term “homicide” can be justifiable. Personally I will very rarely be shocked when someone who is figting with the cops as strenuously as this guy ends up shot. I have 2 teenage boys, I have repeatedly told them when stuff like this comes up in the news. DO NOT FIGHT WITH COPS. Do not try to run, do not resist being cuffed, shut up, play along and we will sort it out later. Better a weekend in county than putting mom through burying you. Hundreds of millions of americans get through their day with zero interaction with law enforcement and thousands of people get arrested every day without getting shot, this in my mind does not make cops automatically right, but it does get them some benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/827 "2015-03-03T00:02:24Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Makes you wonder what the point of being so menacing is, since it never seems to result in any additional compliance. All it does is escalate non-violent situations into violent ones. Presenting overwhelming force is the point. Submit to the authority of our legal system under the implied (or real) threat of lethal force. This situation with LAPD was not a non violent situation escalated by presentation of lethal force, he was already violent This guy was fighting hard with the cops, his best case scenario was going to be getting tasered to the point of medium well. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/828 "2015-03-03T00:04:17Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > To use your own term “homicide” can be justifiable. > > Personally I will very rarely be shocked when someone who is figting with the cops as strenuously as this guy ends up shot. > > I have 2 teenage boys, I have repeatedly told them when stuff like this comes up in the news. DO NOT FIGHT WITH COPS. Do not try to run, do not resist being cuffed, shut up, play along and we will sort it out later. Better a weekend in county than putting mom through burying you. > > Hundreds of millions of americans get through their day with zero interaction with law enforcement and thousands of people get arrested every day without getting shot, this in my mind does not make cops automatically right, but it does get them some benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. Would you like to guess how many people got shot by the cops in the UK last year, or Germany, or France, or Denmark, or Sweden, etc., versus the US? American cops shoot more humans in a week than all of Western Europe in a year. Even if you restricted it to just white people, American cops shoot many times more WHITE people than Western European cops. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/829 "2015-03-03T00:07:52Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Presenting overwhelming force is the point. Submit to the authority of our legal system under the implied (or real) threat of lethal force. This situation with LAPD was not a non violent situation escalated by presentation of lethal force, he was already violent This guy was fighting hard with the cops, his best case scenario was going to be getting tasered to the point of medium well. Did you just defend the LAPD? LOL ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/830 "2015-03-03T00:19:18Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > A lot of them simply don’t have anywhere NEAR the emotional stability or maturity to handle the job. Very few people are cut out to be good cops, unfortunately they are a needed part of our society. PArt of this is statistics of large numbers. There are something like 750,000 law enforcement officers in this country. a few % of them are going to be perfect captain america supercops who can handle every situation perfectly, the vast majority of them are decent cops who will do the right thing the vast majority of the time. Some of them are shady and end up getting in trouble in ways we never even hear about that gets them fired, and a few percent are the predators disguised as housepets that some folks would like to have us think is the norm. If the bottom 1% of all cops are the real problem children we are still talking about 7500 really bad cops walking the streets. We still only see a couple hundred incidents a year of particularly egregious behavior by a police officer. In the grand scheme of things, thats actually pretty good, but yes…still more than enough to put something on the news damn near every night. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/831 "2015-03-03T00:25:30Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > Would you like to guess how many people got shot by the cops in the UK last year, or Germany, or France, or Denmark, or Sweden, etc., versus the US? > > American cops shoot more humans in a week than all of Western Europe in a year. Even if you restricted it to just white people, American cops shoot many times more WHITE people than Western European cops. So? Those are different countries with different cultures and different legal systems. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/832 "2015-03-03T00:28:12Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > Did you just defend the LAPD? LOL Based on the assumption that the victim of this particular shooting managed to strip an officers firearm, yes I am defending their actions. IF they just shot an unarmed guy laying on the ground, no I would not defend that. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/833 "2015-03-03T00:54:16Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Based on the assumption that the victim of this particular shooting managed to strip an officers firearm, yes I am defending their actions. IF they just shot an unarmed guy laying on the ground, no I would not defend that. Unfortunately we have to take their word for the claim that he was going for a gun. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/834 "2015-03-03T00:54:18Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > So? Those are different countries with different cultures and different legal systems. Do I have to move there to remove the chance of being shot in a no-knock raid, or by a nutjob cop at a routine traffic stop? Because unarmed people, even infants, get hurt and killed here in no-knock raids pretty regularly. Unarmed people lying in BED get killed in no-knock raids pretty regularly. Some of these raids are WARRANTLESS. Do those cops get fired? Rarely. Indiana recently passed a law allowing citizens to shoot cops if they believe cops to be violating their rights. Is that what it takes to back these thugs up off the citizenry? ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/835 "2015-03-03T00:58:14Z")
Does it take an engraved invitation to wake up to actually wake you people up? Visit [copblock.org](http://copblock.org). spend a few hours surfing the site. Keep doing this until you’ve learned a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/836 "2015-03-03T03:02:39Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Unfortunately we have to take their word for the claim that he was going for a gun. Well unlike many other instances of recent history, we have dozens of witnesses in close proximity, 2 bystander videos, 2 officers body cam videos, and 5+ cops present. This is not 1 cops word against a dead body that isn’t talking. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/837 "2015-03-03T03:09:55Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Well unlike many other instances of recent history, we have dozens of witnesses in close proximity, 2 bystander videos, 2 officers body cam videos, and 5+ cops present. This is not 1 cops word against a dead body that isn’t talking. That’s not the problem. The problem is that the situation got there in the first place. Some of the cops have no business carrying guns, because they don’t WANT conflict to deescalate. Others could learn to deescalate, if they were properly trained. Deescalation. Say it with me, kids. You can do it. I believe in you. They have plenty of mentally ill people in Western Europe, just like the US, yet somehow, the cops THERE manage to not severely beat, shoot, and kill them on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/838 "2015-03-03T03:10:56Z")
Wake up. [Copblock.org](http://Copblock.org) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/839 "2015-03-03T03:43:01Z")
> [@get\_lives](#): > > Do I have to move there to remove the chance of being shot in a no-knock raid, or by a nutjob cop at a routine traffic stop? Because unarmed people, even infants, get hurt and killed here in no-knock raids pretty regularly. Unarmed people lying in BED get killed in no-knock raids pretty regularly. Some of these raids are WARRANTLESS. Do those cops get fired? Rarely. Define ‘pretty regularly’. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/840 "2015-03-03T04:10:16Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Define ‘pretty regularly’. [Copblock.org](http://Copblock.org). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=41) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=43)