Surveillance Video of Dallas Police Shooting Contradicts Police Report on Incident

[Adieu]

http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/18/surveillance-video-of-dallas-police-shoo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FKZcwwTOk34

 

FYI the video can be hard to watch for some.

 

Cops are getting (have been) out of control in this country?

 

One of my proposed solutions is that you make being a police officer equally as difficult as being a doctor. Lots of schooling on humanities, psychology, etc. Much better pay. That way public servants are true public servants and not just the high school quarterback trying to find a career. I think it can be argued in a lot of places that we don't need as many cops as we have, but we could benefit from having "better" police officers.

 

Of course, this would completely change the landscape for police officers. Having "liberal" intelligent police officers would probably lead to major pressure to get some laws changed that otherwise wouldn't.

 

 

[LimpyLoo]

There's a story like this once a week. It's insanity.

 

I wonder if this is a new phemomenon or if cell phones and surveillance cameras are just showing what's always been going on.

[Adieu]

There's a story like this once a week. It's insanity.

 

I wonder if this is a new phemomenon or if cell phones and surveillance cameras are just showing what's always been going on.

 

I would say the latter. I think that police are being pressured to be more and more militant towards the general population though. I mean the atmosphere is there completely. Look at how many people we put in jail. Look at the environment of our prisons.

 

I had a foreigner recently tell me that they think being in one of our prisons would be like "being thrown into hell".

[olo]

 

I had a foreigner recently tell me that they think being in one of our prisons would be like "being thrown into hell".

 

 

I've been in a few cells back in the day for some night, weekend stays. I can tell you, just being in the county jails, (typically the jail you go to for minor offenses for no more than a year or so), I was counting the minutes til I got the fuck out of there. I do not know how I could cope with some of the people in there for a day, let alone a year. The shit being talked about made my brain short circuit. Fucking dregs of society. (sorry for coming off so pretentious)

 

And that's county. A state prison, you do not want to go there. ever. At least in Michigan. Prisons here are the anti-idm.

[joshuatxuk]

I completely agree about the militarization of the US police force: law enforcement is the one entity of government basically give a blank check regardless of who is in office. The fact that we're so broken up in different levels of local, state, and federal forces is probably making it less obvious to the general public. Not to mention cops are thrown in the same category as the US military/national guard and the firefighters and other public servants, so their hard to criticize without repercussion. Other countries with notorious police brutality incidents but democratic governments, places like Brazil or India, have huge national police forces. The U.S. has the equivalent via a myriad of dozens of different law enforcement entities.

 

Personally, I'm worried things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. There's a huge portion of the conservative voting base, including "Tea Party" types, who are hyper-critical of the government but actually feel that we need MORE law enforcement. That's why I found the Zimmerman shooting of Trayvon so disturbing: the right-wing's solution is we need more people out in the streets armed - whether it's the cops or vigilante citizens. I actually have heard otherwise well-educated and intelligent relatives of mine say that blacks and minorities actually get more passes legally than white people, which is beyond wrong and delusional. And yet that same dishonest rhetoric is literally on repeat via talk radio, online blogs, and outlets like Fox News. On the flipside, liberal cities like Chicago or D.C. have huge problems with crime and no real effort to combat it, because those in office are so apathetic. The gun bans there are actually questionable.

 

It's become evident in some local communities: that's why psychopaths like Joe_Arpaio. Thats why there are sheriffs with fucking military surplus armored vehicles...and not old cold war stuff either but brand new models that were from cancelled DOD orders. Article highlighting some examples: why-do-americas-police-need-an-armored-tank

 

I've been one to defend and apologize for police in general, but it's been a lot harder to in the last few years. It's not been helped by the influx of military veterans: some are merely high school graduates and/or of questionable public service ability and general moral judgement. What I mean is that there's nothing wrong with the idea in general, but there's no oversight right now. You can't simply throw a GI whose spent years in combat overseas into a regular community with a handgun and expect it to be a smooth transition, and yet thousands and thousands have. I will stay it's 50/50 between truly decent cops and ones who are either incompetent or way too overzealous. Sometimes the good ones make mistakes but the fact is the bad apples ruin the whole force. The fact that so few every get prosecuted (it's hard simply to fire them usually) has only made the situation worse.

[eugene]

every cop should have a camera on his person documenting everything he does during the shift. i think it's technologically possible and affordable these days.

[joshuatxuk]

The real kicker is that minorities and the underprivileged in this country have always had reason to fear and be skeptical of the police, but it's quickly becoming something everyone has to grapple with. Too many simply shake their head and go "well, things happen" but that's simply an endorsement for letting law enforcement act reckless without consequence. Hell, I have good reason to worry about a cop coming to my backyard by mistake and shooting my dog to death without repercussions. Or worse, being shot in my own home when cops raid my because they have the wrong address. I never thought I'd have tell my children "you can trust the cops...sorta" but that's the reality. Then again I suppose I was a blissfully ignorant kid myself.

[LimpyLoo]

every cop should have a camera on his person documenting everything he does during the shift. i think it's technologically possible and affordable these days.

 

Yeah seriously if it's good enough for Russian cars it's good enough for murderous police.

[Guest skibby]

decriminalize drugs and halve the prison population, and put that tax money into helping poor people who want to learn, get into college.