Let me put it to you bluntly: I can either think of you as
You pick.
The idea that it is impossible to disallow the use of violence in apprehending someone is bullshit.
Not only that, but it is a slap in the face to the thousands of law enforcement officers in this country and elsewhere who manage to get through their whole careers without punching someone in the face.
Not only law enforcement officers, but anyone who has to deal with violent and unpredictable persons. Corrections officers would be disciplined and possibly lose their job if they punched an inmate in the face. Medical personnel (ie; EMT’s, nurses and doctors) often have to deal with persons in great pain or highly intoxicated, and have to subdue them. They would , likewise, be disciplined if not fired if they punched a patient in the face. People dealing with the insane or otherwise mentally handicapped. . .Teachers. . .and there are probably others that I can’t think of off hand.
Violence is never necessary in any situation. It is the lazy, brutish way to deal with a situation that you feel you’ve lost control of.
If a law enforcement officer feels that violence is the only way out of a situation then that is a clear indication that he fucked up sometime prior, and deserves at minimum a reprimand and should probably be fired because he is no good at his job and is a danger to not only the suspect, but to himself and his fellow officers.
mc
So Steophan thinks it’s impossible to find enough smart and calm people to do cop work ? Then how every other western country can do it.
And that training them is too expensive ? Then how every other western country can do it.
Here’s an idea for saving money: train the cops so they will not wrongfully kill or beat up people. That can save several millions in compensations every single time - and cops much realize that every punch can cost thousands of dollars to the city. And following riots can be pretty expensive too.
No, I think we don’t need the smartest people in the country to be cops, and that they don’t need to be trained to a military level of discipline. The vast majority of cops are trained so they don’t wrongfully beat up or kill people, although I doubt much training is needed for most of them, as the vast majority of people don’t beat up or kill people.
The problem is that people like you refuse to recognise that the police, by the nature of their job, must use force, and must make snap decisions about how much force to use. If they make a mistake and use too little then they, their colleagues, or the victims of whoever they’re trying to stop gets hurt or killed. If they use too much, the suspect gets hurt or killed.
Then official policy should be to err on side of the side of the safety of the individuals the police interact with, not the safety of the cops. If they have to take a bullet now and then to avoid brutalizing the public, so be it. That is what medals are for.
…in 2016 there were 17,985 different police departments in the United States, ranging from State Police to County Police Units. In some parts of the country Sheriffs are elected, and don’t even need any relevant police qualifications to hold office.
So you seem pretty confident with your assertion that “the vast majority of cops are trained so they don’t wrongfully beat up or kill people.” I don’t actually think you have any fucking clue how the different cops are trained in the United States. I certainly doubt your expertise in “how much training” is required so that they “don’t beat up or kill people.”
But hey, you are playing the role of the expert here. So please, by all means, enlighten us with your knowledge of policing in the United States. Tell us how you reached your conclusions and show us the evidence.
Even if you aren’t shooting unarmed people, even if you aren’t punching them in the face, even if you are not perpetuating unnecessary violence against suspects, you can still be failing in your job that further drives a wedge between the police and the community.
They knew they had the wrong guy. But, they had made so many statements to the press at that point that they didn’t want to back down, and were willing to send an innocent man to jail for life to prevent them from having to admit a mistake.
Well, it doesn’t actually matter, because according to Steophan, every single cop is a criminal anyway, as is everybody else also, and the laws exist only that government can lock you up if it happens to want it for whatever reason.
So there’s not a single innocent person inside prison - or outside.
They should be charged as accessories after the fact.
Two more corrupt Baltimore cops sentenced
Hey Steophan, care to comment? This isn’t one or two bad apples. The entire unit were committing far more serious crimes than the people they arrested.
The city can’t afford to have police officers that aren’t also criminals. They pay out too much money to settle cases where the police acted like criminals. It’s a never-ending cycle.
Yeah, but they only found out about it because someone narced on the petty crime their coworkers did. Real cops don’t do shit like that.
And they’ve been caught, and punished. Where’s the controversy? What should I be commenting on?
Good luck getting that past the unions. Another reason to get rid of them, all these pesky worker safety rules they ensure happen.
How did they get caught?
It was the Feds:
The Baltimore powers-that-be tried to obfuscate:
As far as Baltimore PD was concerned…it was business as usual.
Well, at least they didn’t turn each other in. That’s what makes a great police force - lack of snitches.
Just like asshole said up there, what is the controversy? Thugs will be thugs.
I think you misspoke here. The city cannot afford to have cops who are also criminals.
So now you not only think that good cops, or other workers, will normally turn people in, but that the members of a gang of criminals will do so? You are even worse at understanding human nature than I thought.