Thursday night, Wonkette's not-so-secret nerdcrush object Rachel Maddow -- a fan of Yr Wonkette , of course -- compared the post-shooting communications strategies of two police departments. First, the story of Kajiene Powell, shot to death by police in St. Louis on Tuesday in what some are calling a suicide by cop. In a bystander's video, Powell can be seen approaching the officers who arrived on the scene after he allegedly walked out of a store with two energy drinks. Within 30 seconds, the police have shot him dead. Police later said that Powell was carrying a knife. A lot of people are calling the shooting unjustified; others say that deadly force is SOP when someone approaches with a weapon, but the point, said Maddow, is that the St. Louis Police Department released the amateur cellphone video within 24 hours. The chief of the St. Louis PD showed up at the scene within 90 minutes and took questions, and the department has been scrupulously open about the information in their officers' reports since, down to the number of shots fired. They even answer emailed questions from news organizations, quickly. There's plenty of debate about the killing of Kajime Powell, but no wild speculation, and notably, no demonstrations or riots.
There are good cops out there. There are also far too many who are bullies or corrupt. My main beef is with the whole culture of closing ranks and not weeding out the bad ones. Too many of those good cops won't do the right thing about those bad cops out of a misplaced sense of loyalty so the problems continue.
What I'd like to see is both some sort wearable cameras, with no option to turn them off and mandatory drug tests, including testing for steroids.
I can't help but think this man wouldn't have been shot if he were older and white. Do urban police shoot drunk white twenty somethings without greater provocation? Why is that fat fuck tree weasel from a month ago still alive? The one waving a gun around and clutching his crotch?
While I believe that there needs to be a serious national conversation about police policy when dealing with the mentally ill and a thorough review of when to use lethal vs. non lethal methods, it's pretty obvious that this was a case of suicide by cop. I truly think they could have approached this situation differently and handled it in a way that the dead guy would still be alive and getting a pysch eval, but this was pretty textbook based on the way cops nationwide are taught to handle this sort of situation. Rather than blame these two officers specifically, what we really need to do is reexamine that textbook.
Thank Gawd- impossibly high bars and all that. Dick jokes I can do:
A giant talking dick walks into a bar. The bartender says "hi, Rush" (See? That was easy, I'll be here all week. Tip the waitresses)
It's part of the overall problem we have in America- somewhere along the way the police have changed from being trained to deescalate and defuse to win and control through superior firepower. The sad part is that, given that the only thing causing this guy to get aggressive was the presence of the cops, the simplest way to defuse would have been for them to just get back in their car and call in reinforcements to deploy non lethal solutions. The trouble is, that's not what they're taught and in fact if something had gone wrong at that point they'd be legally liable for it
You know what stops a belligerent guy with a knife? A shot to the leg. A shot to the arm. A shot -- one shot -- anywhere else.
Twelve shots? Really?
white punks on derp
There are good cops out there. There are also far too many who are bullies or corrupt. My main beef is with the whole culture of closing ranks and not weeding out the bad ones. Too many of those good cops won't do the right thing about those bad cops out of a misplaced sense of loyalty so the problems continue.
What I'd like to see is both some sort wearable cameras, with no option to turn them off and mandatory drug tests, including testing for steroids.
No, at the point you have to shoot, you shoot to kill. The trick is to not get to that point.
I can't help but think this man wouldn't have been shot if he were older and white. Do urban police shoot drunk white twenty somethings without greater provocation? Why is that fat fuck tree weasel from a month ago still alive? The one waving a gun around and clutching his crotch?
Tasers? We don't need no stinkin' tasers!
He probably was saying that Wonkette allowed comments. (Or mentioned one of those A*bl*cking services
Wait, WUT? We're supposed to have a point?
While I believe that there needs to be a serious national conversation about police policy when dealing with the mentally ill and a thorough review of when to use lethal vs. non lethal methods, it's pretty obvious that this was a case of suicide by cop. I truly think they could have approached this situation differently and handled it in a way that the dead guy would still be alive and getting a pysch eval, but this was pretty textbook based on the way cops nationwide are taught to handle this sort of situation. Rather than blame these two officers specifically, what we really need to do is reexamine that textbook.
everything he did seemed to indicate that he fully intended suicide by cop- unfortunately, they obliged him
They don't catch up to people who've already run 30' away from you.
Thank Gawd- impossibly high bars and all that. Dick jokes I can do:
A giant talking dick walks into a bar. The bartender says "hi, Rush" (See? That was easy, I'll be here all week. Tip the waitresses)
Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine
In those days, you had to take a comment test, remember?
It's part of the overall problem we have in America- somewhere along the way the police have changed from being trained to deescalate and defuse to win and control through superior firepower. The sad part is that, given that the only thing causing this guy to get aggressive was the presence of the cops, the simplest way to defuse would have been for them to just get back in their car and call in reinforcements to deploy non lethal solutions. The trouble is, that's not what they're taught and in fact if something had gone wrong at that point they'd be legally liable for it