The mentality of cops in too many places in the US is that of an occupying army. The events and images of cops with serious military hardware in Ferguson should have shaken people up but it seems like it just gave right-wingers more license to be violent, and the cops have stayed the same. They're not sworn in to eliminate terrorists, but they seem to think they are.
I was in Atlanta this past weekend and saw the aftermath of an apartment fire, and a woman who was possibly a minority got out of a car in front of me and hugged a cop. No idea of the exact reason, but that is the public interaction they should strive for, not killing civilians in an eyeblink.
Half of the people shot by police officers have mental health problems. This is why defund the police ended up meaning the creation of trained non-police mental health teams for incident response. People who work in mental health are usually trained with some version of how to handle aggressive behavior psychologically and how to restrain people passively and without injury. When I read about these incidents, I am astounded at how little of this training police officers have. Of course, in this incident, no violence was threatened by the victim.
Some people lack the ability to read others' emotions and feelings and should not ever be in law enforcement, like this guy.
There seems to be far too close a link between military service and police work in the USA. Being a soldier, even a very good one, requires a different skill set than protecting/policing a civilian population does. And there is certainly no way in the world that someone who was a poor or mediocre soldier should ever be handed a gun and set loose on an unsuspecting society.
While I wouldn't expect 911 operators to know whether or not the person calling about a possible intruder is just off her meds or whatever, obviously you don't want problem cops answering the call. On the other hand, you don't know.
This particular incident might have been semi-unavoidable, but in the medium run, maybe instead of every little town hiring more cops, they need to hire social workers or set up a "public safety" force to handle the kinds of things cops are called for that don't require someone with a gun. If this latest victim was off her meds, maybe if someone had been checking up on her relatively regularly, the whole incident might never have happened.
Then we have the situation where four or five cops surround an unarmed Black guy for a broken tail light. With one of them screaming put your hands behind your head, another saying drop on the ground, and another saying if you move an inch I will shoot you. If you are lucky all they will do is beat the shit out of you and arrest you.
There's a podcast called "Running from "Cops"" which I encourage everyone to listen to. It looks at the cultural impact of the show "Cops", and how it changed American policing to be much worse. Disturbing stuff.
If you can, watch some of the equivalent shows showing police interactions from other countries. The cops doing traffic stops are calm and respectful. If the motorist gets aggressive, they work to de-escalate the situation. It’s extremely rare anyone gets shot.
I appreciate that you are highlighting the injustice of this case, but a lack of training is the tip of the ice berg--what about the racism in law enforcement? What about the lack of understanding of how to treat mentally ill people with respect and not automatically assume they are dangerous? What about the family left behind--how can the community help them heal and provide restitution for the murder of their mother? This is not "just" a rogue officer, this is not just a poorly trained officer, this is a killer aided by racism, misogynoir, fear of people who are mentally ill, and a man with a gun in a country that promotes white men in power through using violence.
If you are white and spouting Bible verses, the authorities will let you alone in your compound for months before they even get around to shooting at you. If you are black, your life expectancy shifts to a matter of minutes.
The reason that law-enforcement officers don’t need very many hours of training is because they are armed with weapons that will compensate for their ignorance and their lack of skills. Plus, they have powerful unions and (un) qualified immunity.
And where I live the city police union, the county sheriff's union and the local NY State Police are all supporting a vile white Republican criminal against our current great black woman state Represenative.
I genuinely believe that all policing has to be under Federal guidelines, with accountability and transparency as its mission statement. First cop that walks into a scene with his body camera off should be suspended from duty and given a re assessment and remediation training. Second time he’s dismissed. It’s going to require European levels of training and administration to ensure we aren’t letting psychopaths with guns loose in our communities.
I also think cops need a lot more resources. Let’s stop having them interact with mental health issues without a mental health professional in tow. Let’s stop having cops be societies catch all when they get sent to situations that call for a social worker.
If he was actually nervous about the hot water in the pot or kettle, why didn't he just ask the woman to stand aside at a good distance so he could turn the burner off himself? I saw and heard absolutely nothing in the video that indicated a serious risk to the police. It looks like another incident in which the police explicitly tell someone to do something and then shoot them for it when they try to comply.
"Just as every cop is a criminal,
And all the sinners, saints.
As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer,
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint."
-- Jagger/Richards
If you look at records Sean Grayson's service record reads like Lawrence Hecker’s of The Catholic Church.
The mentality of cops in too many places in the US is that of an occupying army. The events and images of cops with serious military hardware in Ferguson should have shaken people up but it seems like it just gave right-wingers more license to be violent, and the cops have stayed the same. They're not sworn in to eliminate terrorists, but they seem to think they are.
I was in Atlanta this past weekend and saw the aftermath of an apartment fire, and a woman who was possibly a minority got out of a car in front of me and hugged a cop. No idea of the exact reason, but that is the public interaction they should strive for, not killing civilians in an eyeblink.
Half of the people shot by police officers have mental health problems. This is why defund the police ended up meaning the creation of trained non-police mental health teams for incident response. People who work in mental health are usually trained with some version of how to handle aggressive behavior psychologically and how to restrain people passively and without injury. When I read about these incidents, I am astounded at how little of this training police officers have. Of course, in this incident, no violence was threatened by the victim.
Some people lack the ability to read others' emotions and feelings and should not ever be in law enforcement, like this guy.
Ta, Robyn. He's a murderer.
There seems to be far too close a link between military service and police work in the USA. Being a soldier, even a very good one, requires a different skill set than protecting/policing a civilian population does. And there is certainly no way in the world that someone who was a poor or mediocre soldier should ever be handed a gun and set loose on an unsuspecting society.
While I wouldn't expect 911 operators to know whether or not the person calling about a possible intruder is just off her meds or whatever, obviously you don't want problem cops answering the call. On the other hand, you don't know.
This particular incident might have been semi-unavoidable, but in the medium run, maybe instead of every little town hiring more cops, they need to hire social workers or set up a "public safety" force to handle the kinds of things cops are called for that don't require someone with a gun. If this latest victim was off her meds, maybe if someone had been checking up on her relatively regularly, the whole incident might never have happened.
Then we have the situation where four or five cops surround an unarmed Black guy for a broken tail light. With one of them screaming put your hands behind your head, another saying drop on the ground, and another saying if you move an inch I will shoot you. If you are lucky all they will do is beat the shit out of you and arrest you.
UPFUND* THE POLICE!
(let's spring for a decent set this time around)
*upfund -
- more education (Bachelors at a minimum)
- deeper psychological profiling
- longer and broader minimum training
- closer and more thorough civilian monitoring, oversight and review
you want better police?
you want better policing?
you get what you pay for
There's a podcast called "Running from "Cops"" which I encourage everyone to listen to. It looks at the cultural impact of the show "Cops", and how it changed American policing to be much worse. Disturbing stuff.
''COPS'' has been resurrected and is now on the Fox Nation online facist channel.
Oh shit.
If you can, watch some of the equivalent shows showing police interactions from other countries. The cops doing traffic stops are calm and respectful. If the motorist gets aggressive, they work to de-escalate the situation. It’s extremely rare anyone gets shot.
Oh, yes, I have seen that. Even in Canada things are much better
And of course in manyy countries they very STRICT ruels about NOT using guns to solve every problem.
I appreciate that you are highlighting the injustice of this case, but a lack of training is the tip of the ice berg--what about the racism in law enforcement? What about the lack of understanding of how to treat mentally ill people with respect and not automatically assume they are dangerous? What about the family left behind--how can the community help them heal and provide restitution for the murder of their mother? This is not "just" a rogue officer, this is not just a poorly trained officer, this is a killer aided by racism, misogynoir, fear of people who are mentally ill, and a man with a gun in a country that promotes white men in power through using violence.
If you are white and spouting Bible verses, the authorities will let you alone in your compound for months before they even get around to shooting at you. If you are black, your life expectancy shifts to a matter of minutes.
The reason that law-enforcement officers don’t need very many hours of training is because they are armed with weapons that will compensate for their ignorance and their lack of skills. Plus, they have powerful unions and (un) qualified immunity.
They have unions that Republicans support: fixed it for you.
And where I live the city police union, the county sheriff's union and the local NY State Police are all supporting a vile white Republican criminal against our current great black woman state Represenative.
I genuinely believe that all policing has to be under Federal guidelines, with accountability and transparency as its mission statement. First cop that walks into a scene with his body camera off should be suspended from duty and given a re assessment and remediation training. Second time he’s dismissed. It’s going to require European levels of training and administration to ensure we aren’t letting psychopaths with guns loose in our communities.
I also think cops need a lot more resources. Let’s stop having them interact with mental health issues without a mental health professional in tow. Let’s stop having cops be societies catch all when they get sent to situations that call for a social worker.
If he was actually nervous about the hot water in the pot or kettle, why didn't he just ask the woman to stand aside at a good distance so he could turn the burner off himself? I saw and heard absolutely nothing in the video that indicated a serious risk to the police. It looks like another incident in which the police explicitly tell someone to do something and then shoot them for it when they try to comply.
dammit