Why can't Cops seem to be doing the right thing?

[hush]

Here's an interesting article that just came out today about militarization of police forces in the U.S... Interesting timing with this thread!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...ngerous-militarization-of-u-s-law-enforcement

U.S. law enforcement at all levels has undergone a dangerous militarization in recent years, with heavily armed SWAT teams being deployed to serve warrants and for drug searches, but rarely for the hostage situations they were designed for, the American Civil Liberties Union says in a new report.

In "War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing," the ACLU says its investigation corroborates the unnecessary use of a proliferation of Special Weapons and Tactics teams made possible by federal programs that incentivize aggressive weapons and battlefield tactics at the local level.

The study looked at 800 SWAT deployments among 20 local, state and federal police agencies in 2011-2012.

"Using these federal funds, state and local law enforcement agencies have amassed military arsenals purportedly to wage the failed War on Drugs, the battlegrounds of which have disproportionately been in communities of color. But these arsenals are by no means free of cost for communities," says Kara Dansky, senior counsel with the ACLU's Center for Justice.

The ACLU's report highlights a number of cases where it says the use of SWAT teams led to unnecessary deaths and injuries, and echoes in some ways a much earlier report (in 2006) put out by the libertarian Cato Institute that showed much the same trend.

A few of the incidents highlighted in the report:

— "In 2010, 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed when, just after midnight, a SWAT team threw a flashbang grenade through the window into the living room where she was asleep. The flashbang burned her blanket and a member of the SWAT team burst into the house, firing a single shot, which killed her."

— Jose Guerena, a 26-year-old Iraq War veteran, whose wife heard a noise that turned out to be a SWAT team. Guerena "picked up his rifle, with the safety on, and went to investigate. A SWAT team fired 71 shots at Guerena, 22 of which entered his body and killed him."

Among the ACLU's findings:

— 62 percent of SWAT raids were for the purpose of conducting drug searches.

— Just 7 percent of SWAT raids were "for hostages, barricade, or active shooter scenarios."

— SWAT raids are directed disproportionately against people of color — 30 percent of the time the "race of individual people impacted" was black, 11 percent of the time Latino, 20 percent white and 30 percent unknown.

— Armored personnel vehicles that local law enforcement agencies have received through grants from the Department of Homeland Security are most commonly used for drug raids and not school shootings and terrorist situations.

— In cases in which police cited the possible presence of a weapon in the home as a reason for utilizing a SWAT team, weapons were found only 35 percent of the time.

 

[amannamedtruth]

This has been a thing in the US...Your IQ too high? No cop job...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95836&page=1#.Tv-OZSNWplw

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”

He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.

Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.

Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.

But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.

Jordan has worked as a prison guard since he took the test.

Here in my city though, they have one thing that is priority, and thats breaking up the MLD, GDs, BPS, and whole other host of violent, thieving and POS street gangs. You're not robbin or stabbin or causing some type of miserable disturbance, you're good to go. Just don't be a white guy on the south of 42nd or SW of kedzie and Lake past 10 pm, otherwise its assumed you're a drug purchaser...Out in the burbs and sticks, they need to learn and be grateful for the general peace and comfort there exists, even with kids going around smoking weed driving through country roads.

 

[BOMBAYCAT]

One of my friends from TKD class became a cop. LEO gets burned out from dealing with bad people and situations all day long. No excuse for LEO but pretty soon they treat ALL people like they are bad people instead of being professional with people.

 

[RoadRash]

The culture of LEO changes vastly from region to region, from state to state.

e.g. Norcal/ Humboldt & Mendo. vs. Southern Oregon.


The cops in Southern Oregon remind me of the pig sentry characters in 2 movies, "Return of the Jedi" (when Luke goes to Jabba's fort to rescue Han), and "Fifth Sense" (pig sentries on the luxury cruise liner).


Double-digit IQ and possibly an OD of steroids or testerone-ego.


Once I was bicycling in the SF Bay Area on 92 and passing a traffic jam on the right, apparently breaking some law.

The motorcycle cop who pulled me over confided that he had a PhD in literature.

"Far be it from me to to tell you how to exercise" - the kind of language he used. It was sort of funny.

 

[Captain Ginyu]

"You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist." -Adam Kokesh

 

[RoadRash]

Here's an interesting article that just came out today about militarization of police forces in the U.S... Interesting timing with this thread!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...ngerous-militarization-of-u-s-law-enforcement

Every day, without me trying, I have new articles about excessive use of force by police in the US, coming across my desktop, just in the process of reading a little news.

I've been collecting the articles for a few years.


I don't think it's better reporting & the Internet. I think there's many more incidents.

It's as if the cops declared Civil War on US civilians and just neglected to issue a press release first.


I think this is one of the most important things about Cannabis laws - that they be written, changed, and liberalized so that they can't be used by drunk-on-violence cops, against US citizens.

 

[Preacher]

Read this.
Everything that cops are- enforcing the law with no respect to its intent, the ability to selectively punish people to any degree desirable for practically any reason and get away with it because they have the government backing that power, being seen by most people, themselves, and certainly their fellow cop friends as The Good Guys, and occasionally actually being The Good Guys in cases like child endangerment, drunk driving and domestic disputes- these hit every single note on what appeals to right-wing authoritarians, so that's what police departments are tits-up full of. To offer a dishonorably brief explanation of that personality type as explained in the link, these are the people who take Us vs. Them mentality, groupthink/doublethink, and security over privacy to their absurd logical extremes.

Here's an interesting article that just came out today about militarization of police forces in the U.S... Interesting timing with this thread!

A big reason for this is a lot of police departments have all these cool paramilitary gadgets they rarely ever get to use because they're overfunded. Stupid petty drug-related tip-offs involving SWAT teams (and occasional actual justified use of SWAT teams) are basically the department's version of entertainment for that night.

 

[Gry]

I do believe we have had a problem with integrity here for a long time. Oliver Stone did a quite a job sketching it out. Amazing how much of I grew up thinking was true is not, nor ever was. How does one get good out of what is bad at the core. There were once fine people here. They were murdered and the few left were treated like we treat all of our victims. Very badly. We tell ourselves non stop strings of utter fabrications in order not to go nuts over the BS, and that does not even work in our society - look at the sales of SSRIs . There is no cheap LOL to follow that, just my honest sorrow for our children, none of whom will have the kind of opportunities we had hoped to be able to promise them.

 

[RoadRash]

Yesterday, cops in Southern Oregon took a depressed woman, and turned her into a highly suicidal woman.

Through the cop black magic of pepper spray and flash bang grenades.

Boy they sure helped her ! /sarc

http://www.kajo.com/news/local/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1403971615&ucat=2,4&


Sure looks like a jobs creation program to me.

 

[paper thorn]

"You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist." -Adam Kokesh

Yep, just had some cops kill a guy here because they were pissed that they had to chase his car for 40 minutes. once they stopped him, they said they "thought he had a gun."

Always beware when politicians and cops start asking for 'tools' that they need to fight crime.
'Tools' is code for laws allowing them to violate the bill of rights.

 

[Preacher]

Always beware when politicians and cops start asking for 'tools' that they need to fight crime.
'Tools' is code for laws allowing them to violate the bill of rights.

That, or they could just be saying their department needs more cops.

 

[trichrider]

Fri Jun 27, 2014 at 05:15 AM PDT.

Mass. SWAT Teams Deny Records Request Claiming They Are Private Corporations

Seeking information regarding the militarization of local police forces the ACLU sent open record requests to SWAT teams across Massachusetts. They had an interesting reason to refuse the request:

As it turns out, a number of SWAT teams in the Bay State are operated by what are called law enforcement councils, or LECs. These LECs are funded by several police agencies in a given geographic area and overseen by an executive board, which is usually made up of police chiefs from member police departments. In 2012, for example, the Tewksbury Police Department paid about $4,600 in annual membership dues to the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, or NEMLEC. (See page 36 of linked PDF.) That LEC has about 50 member agencies. In addition to operating a regional SWAT team, the LECs also facilitate technology and information sharing and oversee other specialized units, such as crime scene investigators and computer crime specialists.
Some of these LECs have also apparently incorporated as 501(c)(3) organizations. And it’s here that we run into problems. According to the ACLU, the LECs are claiming that the 501(c)(3) status means that they’re private corporations, not government agencies. And therefore, they say they’re immune from open records requests.....
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/...equest-Claiming-They-Are-Private-Corporations

business as usual...

 

[Captain Ginyu]

I never knew that; nonetheless, that's some super sketchy shit. Where's the accountability in privatization of the goddam police?! This somewhat reminds me of the Federal Reserve, it too, is a private entity.

 

[bentom187]

.....

 

[Preacher]

Read this.
Everything that cops are- enforcing the law with no respect to its intent, the ability to selectively punish people to any degree desirable for practically any reason and get away with it because they have the government backing that power, being seen by most people, themselves, and certainly their fellow cop friends as The Good Guys, and occasionally actually being The Good Guys in cases like child endangerment, drunk driving and domestic disputes- these hit every single note on what appeals to right-wing authoritarians, so that's what police departments are tits-up full of. To offer a dishonorably brief explanation of that personality type as explained in the link, these are the people who take Us vs. Them mentality, groupthink/doublethink, and security over privacy to their absurd logical extremes.

A big reason for this is a lot of police departments have all these cool paramilitary gadgets they rarely ever get to use because they're overfunded. Stupid petty drug-related tip-offs involving SWAT teams (and occasional actual justified use of SWAT teams) are basically the department's version of entertainment for that night.

Shamelessly self-quoting this post and bumping this thread because The Authoritarians is something I truly believe everyone here needs to read. The first and most important step in defeating your enemy is to know him fully.

 

[stoned-trout]

cause if they did the right thing there wouldn't be any left....a shot to the head is the right thing...I absolutely hate cops and they have never done anything for me.. lets think of a few times..once someone tried to car jack me and it didn't go the way they wanted lol .. I ended up in jail till I could sort it all out, another time I got caught caught climbing in my own house window and wasn't allowed to prove who I was and my right to climb in my own damn window...my landlord was on vacation and the cops wouldn't let me get my id and paperwork..took me to jail for the weekend ....those are just a few of their stupidity...the reason theres so many cops is cause theres a lot of pussies out there calling em.. I am more of an oldschool take care of it yourself guy..vigilante violence works...lol

 

[FunkBomb]

I recently read an article that quoted a copper saying, "If you invoke your rights you're probably doing something wrong."

Combine that logical insanity with all the military gear from Iraq/Afganistan that police departments are getting for free and well, you have your answer.

In this Orwellian nightmare we all find ourselves the phrase, "Serve and Protect" is now "Search and Destroy."

And don't forget when they yell at you and say "Stop resisting" it's because it's a psychological trick they are taught to give them "proof" or reason to beat/pepper spray/tase/murder you.

Avoid them when the situation presents itself.

-Funk

 

[stoned-trout]

I like the saying anyone out at 2 am is either a criminal or a drunk.......heard cops say that before..... I bet its more like 50 percent lol.........my new spot I never see the sheriff at 2 am or thereabouts..i come home from catfishing a lot around then.....yeehaw... I don't miss the city and all its police...

 

[Gry]

Recently hard a quote by some CEO of facebook that said almost exactly the same thing. Odd how our corporate masters and the police seem to be on the same page.

 

[resinryder]

Why can't Cops seem to be doing the right thing?

It's the way they are programmed. It's easy to take a group of shallow minded people with a superiority/alpha complex, tell them they're special, train them the way you want, then turn them out in public where everyone is a suspected enemy.