I would like to think that convicting them would reduce their violence, however, sending people to prison has a nonexistent to negligible effect for regular people, non police, committing murders, so I don't see why it would stop police. They are still people.
Those police who commit murders do need to suffer the same penalty as a civilian, but don't harbor any illusions that will reduce the numbers doing it. It does nothing to address the root causes.

Look people assumed body cams and dash cams and civilians with phones would cause a decrease, but it hasn't. Not because they lack punishment, but because the causes, plural, of the excess police viol6nce remain utterly ignored.

(July 19, 2016 at 2:31 pm)PaulMaul Wrote: Taking a very close look at why a person wants to be a cop in the first place could go a long way.

I wanted to be a cop, when I first got out of the service.  I even flirted with it in mass as a transit officer.  I thought I could help people, that I;d be one of the "good cops". Didn't work out. Pays shit, hours are shit, jobs shit...and ultimately...they didn't want people like me, who thought that there might be something wrong with the rest of them as jack booted thugs. Rekindled that desire when I went back home, to FL, with the state troopers. Took their exams, took their field trials..passed the whole bit with flying colors. Never entered the program. Decided I'd rather install solar heating panels...at the time.

Mentioned it to the wife again, last night (we're binging true detective)...she reminded me that I would be happier doing what I do now....and that she didn't want to be married to a cop anyway. I sold kirby vacuums, door to door...for a time, and I rememnber something one of my reps told me, after I demo'd a cops wife....he says to me "you're not going to make that sale, cops are shitty people with shitty credit" - stuck with me...IDK why, I guess it was the last bit of mythology to cling to for me...couldn't even count on a door to door salesman to be excited about a sale to cop.

I would have gone with Human extinction (working on it) - though I guess the original idea would be a start...

There are 34 people killed with guns by non-cops for every one shot by a cop. Can we see where the problem is?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk...eople-die/

(July 19, 2016 at 1:31 pm)Rhythm Wrote: So long as armed people are sent, frightened, into a dangerous situation.. they're inevitably going to pop off a few rounds at a little girl for loudly chewing bubble gum out of the corner of their eye.  

Shooting unarmed people running away - vids document it - or a 12 year old wielding a toy gun being shot within 2 seconds - video documents it - it doesn't really qualify as frightening. Hell, that 12 year old could have been me. I often carried a toy gun in the streets when I was young. If our police was as trigger happy, that is. Might have several reasons. Maybe a country armed to it's teeth, or police officers actually doing racial profiling, since there are also videos of Cliven Bundy and fellow idiots aiming at police without anything happening. Or some other white guy standing in front of a mall, wielding a rifle and taunting police, again without anything happening.

It does, actually.  People do weird shit when they're scared. When that''s the context of their entire life. Cops weren't scared of Cliven Bundy (or his cohort), and yes that invites racial questions but those questions are fairly humdrum, in the us, today.

Years since, I recall seeing a retired police sergeant being interviewed about carrying weapons, like police forces in a lot of other countries. His reply - if I recall correctly - went something like, 'I see someone climb out the window of a house. He see me and starts running. Maybe he's nicked a radio, maybe he nicked 50 quid. You want me to shoot someone for THAT?'

Boru

(July 19, 2016 at 1:13 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Why It’s Impossible to Indict a Cop

It’s not just Ferguson—here’s how the system protects police.

"Some observers see hope for police reform in the ubiquity of smartphone video recorders. It’s true that the ever-growing supply of police misconduct videos fuels the anger needed to sustain reform efforts, and even occasionally leads to police officers being disciplined or prosecuted. "

Why did it take smartphones for us to get to this point? The indifference of citizens to responsible governing is absolutely sickening.

Decent training would be a good start...

How many police/civilian interfaces on an average day? How many of those end up with someone being shot?