- Thread starter
- #26
Excellent Mully.
Off Topic: Shoot Or Don't Shoot
- Thread starter RM_guy
- Start date
- Jun 5, 2001
- 7,538
- 18
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep.
If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath: a wolf
But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath: a wolf
But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
Well then.... kinda reflects whats going on out there. The way I see it;
1) The vast majority of the population is good. Generally asleep, but good. Too many prescribed drugs, too much tv and too much work trying to keep food on the table (and feed all those with their hands out)
2) The vast majority of cops are good. How the hell they remain so living in their world, I have no idea. They experience the worst of us, 24/7.
3) The level and seriousness of violence has gone through the roof over the last couple of decades
4) The level of response required to deal with it has also gone up. What choice is there?
5) There will always be a portion of the population that thinks they have it "figured-out", but don't have a clue. A fundamental misunderstanding of human nature.
That's how we end up in discussions like this one.
Someone who shows intellect, yet makes statements that infer that cops just blow people away for sport? Ridiculous. How can someone with what appears to be brain matter make such silly statements? It's mind boggling.
Bad cops. Yup, there are some. I'd guess the dickhead ratio is substantially lower than the general population though. "Bad Cop" stories make good/popular news and youtube channel hits. The media is all too happy to chase ratings at the expense of law enforcement. Impressionable, authority dodging youngin's are all too happy to jump on board. Example ... last week I was searching the web for "Good Cop" stories. They are hard to find. On the other hand, there are MANY websites dedicated ONLY to "Bad Cop" stories. Why is that? Shitty news sells.
What DOESN'T help ?
1) Cops in camo, jumping out of evil looking MRAPs. Right or wrong, the impression is not great. No one would question these things in the big cities ... but when Barney Fife rolls up in a tank in downtown Mayberry.... well, you know.
2) What appears to be the federalization of police departments. See 1 Above. See military/leo joint "training" in American cities. See Jade Helm. Then see Homeland Security's published list of "potential home grown terrorists". Just about all my friends make that list. Easily. Several times over. Can't blame people for questioning this stuff.
3) The over-reaching federal gov / Justice Dept (Holder, for example) , pouring gas on the racial situation. Pour unarmed "boy" get's put down and cities burn. Holder/Obama with the smell of fuel on their hands.
Yet, there never seems a hate crime charge against "minorities" ... perfect example was the recent beating on the subway, where the bad guy asks "what about Michael Brown", just before he starts pummeling the (seated) white guy. I would have "feared for my life" in that situation, but likely would end up in jail, even with my "approval" by the state to defend myself.
4) The "Tolerance", the "Diversity" and the PC bullshit is out of control and a whole discussion on it's own. Christians stomped on and driven out of society, while Muslims are coddled? WTF?
How about they tolerate my diverse options for taking care of my friends and family and not pigeon-hole me with some DHS list? Seems the only folks that are NOT a threat to "National Security" are those reliant on them for their day to day survival. Those that don't rely on the gov are obviously dangerous self-motived "thinkers". Can't have that.
With all that seems to be piling-up against the average, working class American these days, it's not surprising there are a lot of haters out there. Law Enforcement is seen by many as the enforcers of a Gov seemingly intent on destroying our country. What's not understood by these folks is that cops are people with the same concerns ... most of them anyway. Oath Keepers are Oath Keepers.
At the end of the day, the vast majority of LEO's are in it for the right reason and serve us well. Those that would generalize and proclaim "Cops are bad", are idiots.
1) The vast majority of the population is good. Generally asleep, but good. Too many prescribed drugs, too much tv and too much work trying to keep food on the table (and feed all those with their hands out)
2) The vast majority of cops are good. How the hell they remain so living in their world, I have no idea. They experience the worst of us, 24/7.
3) The level and seriousness of violence has gone through the roof over the last couple of decades
4) The level of response required to deal with it has also gone up. What choice is there?
5) There will always be a portion of the population that thinks they have it "figured-out", but don't have a clue. A fundamental misunderstanding of human nature.
That's how we end up in discussions like this one.
Someone who shows intellect, yet makes statements that infer that cops just blow people away for sport? Ridiculous. How can someone with what appears to be brain matter make such silly statements? It's mind boggling.
Bad cops. Yup, there are some. I'd guess the dickhead ratio is substantially lower than the general population though. "Bad Cop" stories make good/popular news and youtube channel hits. The media is all too happy to chase ratings at the expense of law enforcement. Impressionable, authority dodging youngin's are all too happy to jump on board. Example ... last week I was searching the web for "Good Cop" stories. They are hard to find. On the other hand, there are MANY websites dedicated ONLY to "Bad Cop" stories. Why is that? Shitty news sells.
What DOESN'T help ?
1) Cops in camo, jumping out of evil looking MRAPs. Right or wrong, the impression is not great. No one would question these things in the big cities ... but when Barney Fife rolls up in a tank in downtown Mayberry.... well, you know.
2) What appears to be the federalization of police departments. See 1 Above. See military/leo joint "training" in American cities. See Jade Helm. Then see Homeland Security's published list of "potential home grown terrorists". Just about all my friends make that list. Easily. Several times over. Can't blame people for questioning this stuff.
3) The over-reaching federal gov / Justice Dept (Holder, for example) , pouring gas on the racial situation. Pour unarmed "boy" get's put down and cities burn. Holder/Obama with the smell of fuel on their hands.
Yet, there never seems a hate crime charge against "minorities" ... perfect example was the recent beating on the subway, where the bad guy asks "what about Michael Brown", just before he starts pummeling the (seated) white guy. I would have "feared for my life" in that situation, but likely would end up in jail, even with my "approval" by the state to defend myself.
4) The "Tolerance", the "Diversity" and the PC bullshit is out of control and a whole discussion on it's own. Christians stomped on and driven out of society, while Muslims are coddled? WTF?
How about they tolerate my diverse options for taking care of my friends and family and not pigeon-hole me with some DHS list? Seems the only folks that are NOT a threat to "National Security" are those reliant on them for their day to day survival. Those that don't rely on the gov are obviously dangerous self-motived "thinkers". Can't have that.
With all that seems to be piling-up against the average, working class American these days, it's not surprising there are a lot of haters out there. Law Enforcement is seen by many as the enforcers of a Gov seemingly intent on destroying our country. What's not understood by these folks is that cops are people with the same concerns ... most of them anyway. Oath Keepers are Oath Keepers.
At the end of the day, the vast majority of LEO's are in it for the right reason and serve us well. Those that would generalize and proclaim "Cops are bad", are idiots.
- Jun 5, 2001
- 7,538
- 18
Yes Okie, the only way to battle violence is with violence. Most don't want to know what has to be done to keep order, they just expect order. Bad humans come in all colors, and occupations. Yes, law enforcement is scrutinized because they scrutinize everything you do. People look for them to screw up, imagine the stress and pressure to not screw up? No excuse though.
Picture this, you put on your clothes to go to work one day and someone you've never met, hates you? Why you ask? It's because of what you wear. You run around, 100 mph, all day, from call to call. Your calls range from stopping at a special needs school to show the children how your furry partner catches a bad guy, then they line up and pet the furry beast as he passes by. Then, you roll hot to a bipolar over medicated man that locked his family in a house he's trying to burn down. Well that was close, showed up before he lit the house up. Talk to him nicely and trying to reason with an insane person, won't go well. As you talk, he's holding a hatchet, now you're expected to diagnose and treat him in a fraction of a second. Shoot or don't shoot?
Get back in your car and drive down the street, now an old couple has blown a tire in the fast lane of the 6 lane freeway. They are so scared they stop right there, in the lane. Traffic rolling in at 75 mph. Calmly explain this really isn't a great place to stop and convince the driver to move right as you hope a Tahoe don't run right up your ass.
End your shift hours later, go home, hug your kids and kiss your wife. She asks, "how'd your day go?" You laugh, all good honey, made it home, right?
People are mostly all good. Cops, for the most part, are all good. Please feel free to take a ride along some day, see what's expected of you. You wear many hats, hats you didn't know existed. One of the most thankless jobs on earth, but worth every bead of sweat and beat of my heart. Knowing you are hated for what you wear and called upon by the same people to protect.
Not asking for sympathy, just some human understanding. Respect is earned, not expected. That goes for lawmen too.
Picture this, you put on your clothes to go to work one day and someone you've never met, hates you? Why you ask? It's because of what you wear. You run around, 100 mph, all day, from call to call. Your calls range from stopping at a special needs school to show the children how your furry partner catches a bad guy, then they line up and pet the furry beast as he passes by. Then, you roll hot to a bipolar over medicated man that locked his family in a house he's trying to burn down. Well that was close, showed up before he lit the house up. Talk to him nicely and trying to reason with an insane person, won't go well. As you talk, he's holding a hatchet, now you're expected to diagnose and treat him in a fraction of a second. Shoot or don't shoot?
Get back in your car and drive down the street, now an old couple has blown a tire in the fast lane of the 6 lane freeway. They are so scared they stop right there, in the lane. Traffic rolling in at 75 mph. Calmly explain this really isn't a great place to stop and convince the driver to move right as you hope a Tahoe don't run right up your ass.
End your shift hours later, go home, hug your kids and kiss your wife. She asks, "how'd your day go?" You laugh, all good honey, made it home, right?
People are mostly all good. Cops, for the most part, are all good. Please feel free to take a ride along some day, see what's expected of you. You wear many hats, hats you didn't know existed. One of the most thankless jobs on earth, but worth every bead of sweat and beat of my heart. Knowing you are hated for what you wear and called upon by the same people to protect.
Not asking for sympathy, just some human understanding. Respect is earned, not expected. That goes for lawmen too.
Ol'89r
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Jan 27, 2000
- 6,961
- 45
And you don't even live in the United States. Why don't you work on improving your own shit-hole country before trying to tell us how to run ours. If the United States was so screwed up, why would all these illegals from South America be flooding our borders?
Nicely said Elky ! Thanks for all the service, thankless as it may be at times. We real live American "taxpayers" are truly grateful for the job you and your fellow officers do every day.
jaguar
~SPONSOR~
I'm an American but left when I was 39 so I'm not a foreigner devoid of any true knowledge of the American system.
Cops are not mostly good and things are not getting better, they are getting worse. People that thinks things are ok mostly live in small towns.
American police killed more people in March (111) than the entire UK police have killed since 1900
A total of 111 people were killed by police in the United States in March of 2015. Since 1900, in the entire United Kingdom, 52 people have been killed by police.
Don't bother adjusting for population differences, or poverty, or mental illness, or anything else. The sheer fact that American police kill TWICE as many people per month as police have killed in the modern history of the United Kingdom is sick, preposterous, and alarming.
In March:
Police beat Phillip White to death in New Jersey. He was unarmed.
Police shot and killed Meagan Hockaday, a 26-year-old mother of three.
Police shot and killed Nicholas Thomas, an unarmed man on his job at Goodyear in metro Atlanta.
Police shot and killed Anthony Hill, an unarmed war veteran fighting through mental illness, in metro Atlanta.
I could tell 107 more of those stories.
This has to end.
Cops are not mostly good and things are not getting better, they are getting worse. People that thinks things are ok mostly live in small towns.
American police killed more people in March (111) than the entire UK police have killed since 1900
A total of 111 people were killed by police in the United States in March of 2015. Since 1900, in the entire United Kingdom, 52 people have been killed by police.
Don't bother adjusting for population differences, or poverty, or mental illness, or anything else. The sheer fact that American police kill TWICE as many people per month as police have killed in the modern history of the United Kingdom is sick, preposterous, and alarming.
In March:
Police beat Phillip White to death in New Jersey. He was unarmed.
Police shot and killed Meagan Hockaday, a 26-year-old mother of three.
Police shot and killed Nicholas Thomas, an unarmed man on his job at Goodyear in metro Atlanta.
Police shot and killed Anthony Hill, an unarmed war veteran fighting through mental illness, in metro Atlanta.
I could tell 107 more of those stories.
This has to end.
jaguar
~SPONSOR~
http://www.globalresearch.ca/police...the-rate-of-other-first-world-nations/5438391
Police in the US Kill Citizens at Over 70 Times the Rate of Other First-World Nations
In case you’ve been under a rock lately, it is becoming quite clear that police in the US can and will kill people, even unarmed people, even on video, and do so with impunity.
The tallying methods, or rather lack thereof, used by both the FBI and individual police departments to count the amount of people killed by police, have been shown to be staggeringly inaccurate.
However, this inability of the government to count the number of people it kills, has been met with multiple alternative means of calculating just how deadly the state actually is.
One of these citizen run databases, is the website www.killedbypolice.com. The site is basically a spreadsheet that lists every person killed by cops in the years 2013 and 2014. In addition to naming those killed, it also provides a link to media reports for each of the killings, age, sex and race if available.
The tally for 2014? 1,100 people killed by those sworn to protect. That is an average of three people a day.
Do not mistake this as saying that those who were killed were innocent. However, when we look at violent crime in this country, we can see that it is at an all time low.
While violence among citizens has dropped, violence against citizens carried out by police has been rising sharply.
When we look at citizens killed by police over the last two years, deaths have increased 44 percent in this short time; 763 people were killing by police in 2013.
As a comparison, the total number of US troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, in 2014 was 58.
Fewer soldiers were killed in war than citizens back home in “the land of the free” in 2014, by a large margin.
So why is that?
Is this some natural tendency of police in “free societies” to kill their citizens more, in an effort to maintain this freedom? Hardly, and hardly is the US a free country.
According to the 2014 Legatum Prosperity Index released in November, in the measure of personal freedom, the United States has fallen from 9th place in 2010 to 21st worldwide—behind such countries as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Uruguay and Costa Rica.
Other such rankings systems show the US as low as 46.
Let’s look at our immediate neighbors to the north, Canada. The total number of citizens killed by law enforcement officers in the year 2014, was 14; that is 78 times less people than the US.
If we look at the United Kingdom, 1 person was killed by police in 2014 and 0 in 2013. English police reportedly fired guns a total of three times in all of 2013, with zero reported fatalities.
From 2010 through 2014, there were four fatal police shootings in England, which has a population of about 52 million. By contrast, Albuquerque, N.M., with a population 1 percent the size of England’s, had 26 fatal police shootings in that same time period.
China, whose population is 4 and 1/2 times the size of the United States, recorded 12 killings by law enforcement officers in 2014.
Let that sink in. Law enforcement in the US killed 92 times more people than a country with nearly 1.4 billion people.
It doesn’t stop there.
From 2013-2014, German police killed absolutely no one.
In the entire history of Iceland police, they have only killed 1 person ever. After exhausting all non-lethal methods to detain an armed man barricaded in his house who actually shot 2 police officers, police were forced to take the 59-year-old man’s life. The country of Iceland grieved for weeks after having to resort to violence.
So why are police in the US so much more likely to kill than all of these other first world countries?
To better understand the multi-dimensional answer to that question, we can start by looking at the prison population of the US.
America imprisons almost twenty five percent of all people imprisoned in the world, although containing only about 5% of the worlds population, an extremely disproportionate share of people imprisoned globally.
The U.S. houses 2.3 million inmates, while China, a country with four times the population of the U.S., is a distant second with 1.6 million prisoners.
The war on drugs coupled with the military industrial state created by the US playing police of the world, has created a deadly combination.
A constant pursuit of new weaponry by the military has paved the way for the hand-me-down cycle of military gear to police departments.
The idea was that if the U.S. wanted its police to act like drug warriors, it should equip them like warriors, which it has—to the tune of around $4.3 billion in equipment, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union.
What we are calling the militarization of of police has already taken place, on a large scale. We are now seeing a domestic military, pretending to be a police force.
The time for peaceful resistance is now and more and more people are beginning to understand this.
Even retired police chiefs of large cities are watching from the sidelines with anxiety as they see their once, only slightly corrupt cities, turn into occupied militarized zones, ready to pounce on the first instance of civil opposition.
The most recent of former police chiefs coming to terms with the horrid consequences of their actions is Norm Stamper, former chief of the Seattle Police. Stamper was recently on the Colbert Report and Stephen Colbert asked him what happened during the infamous Seattle WTO protests in 1999 under his leadership. “Well we gassed non-threatening, non-violent protesters,” replied the former Chief of police for Seattle Washington.
Of course while Norm Stamper was a cop, he didn’t realize that his actions, no matter how “justified” by the state, would be contributing to a hellish future police state. Stamper, like myself a 4 year veteran of the USMC, and most of those who serve, or have served the state in some way, are unable to think outside of the paradigm while simultaneously supporting it.
“Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service.” -Two time medal of honor recipient General Smedley Butler, USMC
Because Stamper is out of the paradigm, he can see clearer now. According to his website, he wants to:
End the Drug War… Drive Bigotry and Brutality Out of the Criminal Justice System… Honor the Constitution… Build Respect for Cops…
So far, Stamper has been quite outspoken against the police state of which he was once complicit in creating. In order to affect change more people like Stamper need to come out. If half of the officers that contacted the Free Thought Project spoke publicly about their concerns, we’d be in a much better place.
Unfortunately when officers do speak out against their own department they are met with horrid backlash from their peers.
The Free Thought Project is contacted regularly by police officers who know the system they uphold is completely corrupt, but they find it nearly impossible to call out the corruption.
Most recently an officer in Texas contacted us, who wanted to help prevent brutality and corruption. When we told him that speaking out and refusing to enforce immoral laws is how to change things, he replied by stating that he does refuse to arrest people for marijuana possession, but that he “fear(s) the repercussions by speaking out, simply because I do need a paycheck.”
When police fear the police, it is high time for change.
Police in the US Kill Citizens at Over 70 Times the Rate of Other First-World Nations
In case you’ve been under a rock lately, it is becoming quite clear that police in the US can and will kill people, even unarmed people, even on video, and do so with impunity.
The tallying methods, or rather lack thereof, used by both the FBI and individual police departments to count the amount of people killed by police, have been shown to be staggeringly inaccurate.
However, this inability of the government to count the number of people it kills, has been met with multiple alternative means of calculating just how deadly the state actually is.
One of these citizen run databases, is the website www.killedbypolice.com. The site is basically a spreadsheet that lists every person killed by cops in the years 2013 and 2014. In addition to naming those killed, it also provides a link to media reports for each of the killings, age, sex and race if available.
The tally for 2014? 1,100 people killed by those sworn to protect. That is an average of three people a day.
Do not mistake this as saying that those who were killed were innocent. However, when we look at violent crime in this country, we can see that it is at an all time low.
While violence among citizens has dropped, violence against citizens carried out by police has been rising sharply.
When we look at citizens killed by police over the last two years, deaths have increased 44 percent in this short time; 763 people were killing by police in 2013.
As a comparison, the total number of US troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, in 2014 was 58.
Fewer soldiers were killed in war than citizens back home in “the land of the free” in 2014, by a large margin.
So why is that?
Is this some natural tendency of police in “free societies” to kill their citizens more, in an effort to maintain this freedom? Hardly, and hardly is the US a free country.
According to the 2014 Legatum Prosperity Index released in November, in the measure of personal freedom, the United States has fallen from 9th place in 2010 to 21st worldwide—behind such countries as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Uruguay and Costa Rica.
Other such rankings systems show the US as low as 46.
Let’s look at our immediate neighbors to the north, Canada. The total number of citizens killed by law enforcement officers in the year 2014, was 14; that is 78 times less people than the US.
If we look at the United Kingdom, 1 person was killed by police in 2014 and 0 in 2013. English police reportedly fired guns a total of three times in all of 2013, with zero reported fatalities.
From 2010 through 2014, there were four fatal police shootings in England, which has a population of about 52 million. By contrast, Albuquerque, N.M., with a population 1 percent the size of England’s, had 26 fatal police shootings in that same time period.
China, whose population is 4 and 1/2 times the size of the United States, recorded 12 killings by law enforcement officers in 2014.
Let that sink in. Law enforcement in the US killed 92 times more people than a country with nearly 1.4 billion people.
It doesn’t stop there.
From 2013-2014, German police killed absolutely no one.
In the entire history of Iceland police, they have only killed 1 person ever. After exhausting all non-lethal methods to detain an armed man barricaded in his house who actually shot 2 police officers, police were forced to take the 59-year-old man’s life. The country of Iceland grieved for weeks after having to resort to violence.
So why are police in the US so much more likely to kill than all of these other first world countries?
To better understand the multi-dimensional answer to that question, we can start by looking at the prison population of the US.
America imprisons almost twenty five percent of all people imprisoned in the world, although containing only about 5% of the worlds population, an extremely disproportionate share of people imprisoned globally.
The U.S. houses 2.3 million inmates, while China, a country with four times the population of the U.S., is a distant second with 1.6 million prisoners.
The war on drugs coupled with the military industrial state created by the US playing police of the world, has created a deadly combination.
A constant pursuit of new weaponry by the military has paved the way for the hand-me-down cycle of military gear to police departments.
The idea was that if the U.S. wanted its police to act like drug warriors, it should equip them like warriors, which it has—to the tune of around $4.3 billion in equipment, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union.
What we are calling the militarization of of police has already taken place, on a large scale. We are now seeing a domestic military, pretending to be a police force.
The time for peaceful resistance is now and more and more people are beginning to understand this.
Even retired police chiefs of large cities are watching from the sidelines with anxiety as they see their once, only slightly corrupt cities, turn into occupied militarized zones, ready to pounce on the first instance of civil opposition.
The most recent of former police chiefs coming to terms with the horrid consequences of their actions is Norm Stamper, former chief of the Seattle Police. Stamper was recently on the Colbert Report and Stephen Colbert asked him what happened during the infamous Seattle WTO protests in 1999 under his leadership. “Well we gassed non-threatening, non-violent protesters,” replied the former Chief of police for Seattle Washington.
Of course while Norm Stamper was a cop, he didn’t realize that his actions, no matter how “justified” by the state, would be contributing to a hellish future police state. Stamper, like myself a 4 year veteran of the USMC, and most of those who serve, or have served the state in some way, are unable to think outside of the paradigm while simultaneously supporting it.
“Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service.” -Two time medal of honor recipient General Smedley Butler, USMC
Because Stamper is out of the paradigm, he can see clearer now. According to his website, he wants to:
End the Drug War… Drive Bigotry and Brutality Out of the Criminal Justice System… Honor the Constitution… Build Respect for Cops…
So far, Stamper has been quite outspoken against the police state of which he was once complicit in creating. In order to affect change more people like Stamper need to come out. If half of the officers that contacted the Free Thought Project spoke publicly about their concerns, we’d be in a much better place.
Unfortunately when officers do speak out against their own department they are met with horrid backlash from their peers.
The Free Thought Project is contacted regularly by police officers who know the system they uphold is completely corrupt, but they find it nearly impossible to call out the corruption.
Most recently an officer in Texas contacted us, who wanted to help prevent brutality and corruption. When we told him that speaking out and refusing to enforce immoral laws is how to change things, he replied by stating that he does refuse to arrest people for marijuana possession, but that he “fear(s) the repercussions by speaking out, simply because I do need a paycheck.”
When police fear the police, it is high time for change.
jaguar
~SPONSOR~
to those of you that think it is a small dwindling problem by just a few bad apple cops please read this.
For the UN to be vocal about this means it is a big problem that is getting worse.
U.N. Torture Watchdog urges U.S. crackdown on police brutality
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/us-usa-un-torture-idUSKCN0JC1BC20141128
11-28-2014
(Reuters) - The U.N. Committee against Torture urged the United States on Friday to fully investigate and prosecute police brutality and shootings of unarmed black youth and ensure that taser weapons are used sparingly.
The panel's first review of the U.S. record on preventing torture since 2006 followed racially-tinged unrest in cities across the country this week sparked by a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury's decision not to charge a white police officer for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager.
The committee decried "excruciating pain and prolonged suffering" for prisoners during "botched executions" as well as frequent rapes of inmates, shackling of pregnant women in some prisons and extensive use of solitary confinement.
Its findings cited deep concern about "numerous reports" of police brutality and excessive use of force against people from minority groups, immigrants, homosexuals and racial profiling.
The panel referred to the "frequent and recurrent police shootings or fatal pursuits of unarmed black individuals."
"We recommend that all instances of police brutality and excessive use of force by law enforcement officers are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially by an independent mechanism," said panel member Alessio Bruni, noting "reported current police violence in Chicago especially against African-Americans and Latino young people".
The U.S. delegation reported that 20 investigations had been opened since 2009 into systematic police abuses and that more than 330 police officers had been prosecuted for brutality.
"We have certain concerns about whether investigations are thoroughly completed and whether punishment of law enforcement (officers) when they have crossed the line are effectively put in place," committee member Jens Modvig told reporters.
Activists welcomed the findings and called for reforms.
"This report – along with the voices of Americans protesting around the country this week – is a wake-up call for police who think they can act with impunity," said Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who attended the review.
The U.N. panel called for ending U.S. custody of migrants including children in "prison-like detention facilities".
It criticized what it called a continued U.S. failure to fully investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment of terrorism suspects held in U.S. custody abroad, "evidenced by the limited number of criminal prosecutions and convictions".
Some 148 inmates are held at the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba amid reports, the committee's report said, of "a draconian system of secrecy surrounding high-value detainees that keeps their torture claims out of the public domain".
For the UN to be vocal about this means it is a big problem that is getting worse.
U.N. Torture Watchdog urges U.S. crackdown on police brutality
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/us-usa-un-torture-idUSKCN0JC1BC20141128
11-28-2014
(Reuters) - The U.N. Committee against Torture urged the United States on Friday to fully investigate and prosecute police brutality and shootings of unarmed black youth and ensure that taser weapons are used sparingly.
The panel's first review of the U.S. record on preventing torture since 2006 followed racially-tinged unrest in cities across the country this week sparked by a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury's decision not to charge a white police officer for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager.
The committee decried "excruciating pain and prolonged suffering" for prisoners during "botched executions" as well as frequent rapes of inmates, shackling of pregnant women in some prisons and extensive use of solitary confinement.
Its findings cited deep concern about "numerous reports" of police brutality and excessive use of force against people from minority groups, immigrants, homosexuals and racial profiling.
The panel referred to the "frequent and recurrent police shootings or fatal pursuits of unarmed black individuals."
"We recommend that all instances of police brutality and excessive use of force by law enforcement officers are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially by an independent mechanism," said panel member Alessio Bruni, noting "reported current police violence in Chicago especially against African-Americans and Latino young people".
The U.S. delegation reported that 20 investigations had been opened since 2009 into systematic police abuses and that more than 330 police officers had been prosecuted for brutality.
"We have certain concerns about whether investigations are thoroughly completed and whether punishment of law enforcement (officers) when they have crossed the line are effectively put in place," committee member Jens Modvig told reporters.
Activists welcomed the findings and called for reforms.
"This report – along with the voices of Americans protesting around the country this week – is a wake-up call for police who think they can act with impunity," said Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who attended the review.
The U.N. panel called for ending U.S. custody of migrants including children in "prison-like detention facilities".
It criticized what it called a continued U.S. failure to fully investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment of terrorism suspects held in U.S. custody abroad, "evidenced by the limited number of criminal prosecutions and convictions".
Some 148 inmates are held at the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba amid reports, the committee's report said, of "a draconian system of secrecy surrounding high-value detainees that keeps their torture claims out of the public domain".
- Jun 5, 2001
- 7,538
- 18
You live in a bubble with your head in the sand, quoting news stories all day. We live in a violent society my friend. If you think the US is the leader in police brutality, you're not getting the real story. You believe that 3rd world countries report police brutality? Please be real, you sound like someone that has been arrested or charged with a crime that you feel was unjust? It's always someone else's fault, it isn't fair, it's not my pants I borrowed them, I'm just using the car it's not mine, Yada Yada Yada.
Quit whining, get out into the streets and teach these young men and women not to rob, steal and do dope. Come up with a solution instead of Monday morning quarterbacking law enforcement. It's easy for you to sit in your chair and point the finger and give expert opinion from the safety of your home with your doors locked. Please stop acting like you know it all based on news reports. You should be happy, as am I that those that do wrong are held accountable. How about you go into the projects and mentor these fatherless kids? My patience for ignorance has grown slim and you've used up more than your share.
You're a sheep, you love the freedom of the fields to chow on grass without a care, but God forbid you see how violence surounds you as the sheepdog fights the wolves off using violence itself. The only one in control of how much force is used is the wolf himself. I'm going home at the end of the day, bottom line.
You should reread the thread, I don't deny the wrongdoings. Typical though, sorry your brush with law enforcement was so bad, and I'm sure it wasn't your fault.
Quit whining, get out into the streets and teach these young men and women not to rob, steal and do dope. Come up with a solution instead of Monday morning quarterbacking law enforcement. It's easy for you to sit in your chair and point the finger and give expert opinion from the safety of your home with your doors locked. Please stop acting like you know it all based on news reports. You should be happy, as am I that those that do wrong are held accountable. How about you go into the projects and mentor these fatherless kids? My patience for ignorance has grown slim and you've used up more than your share.
You're a sheep, you love the freedom of the fields to chow on grass without a care, but God forbid you see how violence surounds you as the sheepdog fights the wolves off using violence itself. The only one in control of how much force is used is the wolf himself. I'm going home at the end of the day, bottom line.
You should reread the thread, I don't deny the wrongdoings. Typical though, sorry your brush with law enforcement was so bad, and I'm sure it wasn't your fault.
- Nov 25, 1999
- 7,926
- 43
May be a bit of a stretch...I been looking into riding supermoto. The guys locally are always talking about being pulled over for doing wheelies, riding erratically in traffic, general misfit behavior in my opinion. So, I continue to ride the dirt, why? I spent 35 years learning how NOT to "have to" visit with law enforcement because of my "riding habits". On the dirt I don't have to worry about it.
Media reports are more often than not over exaggerated. Statistics are easily manipulated. Reality is far different than it is portrayed. Knowing hundreds of law enforcement officers, I will happily tell you I don't trust all of them. However, I do not fear them in any way. I choose when I deal with law enforcement, I choose to have a pleasant encounter. I choose to take a truer course in life. Amazingly, the harder you work at being honest, the easier it is. I far less worried about police violence than I am worried about a crack head wanting to hurt me over dollars to feed addiction.
In conclusion, if you live in a safe, non violent area and you feel comfortable, good for you. If you live in the real world, you are just one psychopath away from your funeral.
Media reports are more often than not over exaggerated. Statistics are easily manipulated. Reality is far different than it is portrayed. Knowing hundreds of law enforcement officers, I will happily tell you I don't trust all of them. However, I do not fear them in any way. I choose when I deal with law enforcement, I choose to have a pleasant encounter. I choose to take a truer course in life. Amazingly, the harder you work at being honest, the easier it is. I far less worried about police violence than I am worried about a crack head wanting to hurt me over dollars to feed addiction.
In conclusion, if you live in a safe, non violent area and you feel comfortable, good for you. If you live in the real world, you are just one psychopath away from your funeral.
- Nov 25, 1999
- 7,926
- 43
Parting thought. I believe there is a simple solution for the meth problem. Give people the Darwin choice. If you are arrested for meth position or under the influence, you should be sent to a "Meth Center". The Center will be a large tract of land in the middle of the desert with a highly guarded perimeter. Meth addicts will be given a simple choice, one time. Enter into this Center and do all the free Meth you can until you die, you only get this option one time. If the addict chooses not to enter, 120 days a rehab. Offend again, you go to the center with no possibility of coming out alive, period. How they die I don't really care.
