Ferguson: too much or not enough?

[Brakeman]

No, it is not irrelevant to the judgment of the veracity of the cop's claim. It is only irrelevant to the cop's decision to shoot. Before we get to discussing whether or not the cop's actions are justified, we first have to decide what actions actually took place.

That's for a trial to determine. I did say "alleged" and "allegations".

We are the court of public opinion. We members of a "rationalist" forum debate our own public opinion. The cops fate, however, rests on the MO circuit/state court.

But the situation has escalated to the point where even this incident is almost a moot issue. If it turned out that the shooting was completely justified, the problems that have since been revealed by what's happening in Ferguson dwarf that issue to near irrelevance.

My characterization of the police as acting like a bunch of drunken frat boys playing with their shiny new toys is, I think, fairly descriptive. They went on a power trip with no apparent boundaries. They not only ordered people off the streets but swept into nearby restaurants, ordering people to clear out and arresting them if they didn't move fast enough. Their treatment of the press is even more alarming. What first amendment?

..

We've escalated way past "was the shooting justified"? We're in the territory of "are there any boundaries for the new military police or can the local police chief suspend the constitution and impose martial law at any time with no accountability?"

Totally in agreement, however, I personally wish that the protesting public would mature their arguments to exclude impeached claims and to focus on true racial inequality incidents that obviously happen regularly in Ferguson. I wish that people understood the importance of standing up for their rights every day when there aren't big mitigating circumstances. I think the outrage should be of a unwarranted search or of abusive treatment when there is no crime involved where one could claim that they were just doing their duty. There doesn't have to be a dead body.

I am alarmed that we have gone from the local, Andy Griffith's type local police force to a military occupation type force.

I would support a federal law that prohibits police departments to cover more than 200,000 residents. Larger cities would have to split their departments into chunks, and hiring preferential should be local. This would prevent a sheriff from having a standing army at their disposal.

What ideas to improve the situation do you have?