Fucking Cops

[FlyingNarwhal]

When can we start putting video cameras on police officers? Won't be anymore tough guy cops after that.

[Minimalist]

You're kidding, right? It doesn't even slow them down. Consider these 3.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...olled.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90dEzXxWUiM


http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Man-c...=video&c=y

They rely on the pals in blue to make excuses for their aberrant behavior and sadly they are usually rewarded for that reliance.

[Minimalist]

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201307200048

The trailer, along Maysel Laurel Ridge Road, was draped in plastic last week. Danny Hicks, Kohler's son-in-law, pulled back the plastic for a reporter, showing several bullet holes in the door. He said he believes those holes contradict the State Police version of events.

"This door was never opened. If it was opened, there would be no bullet holes on the outside," Danny Hicks said. "They shot Richard dead through the door."

Perhaps the cops closed the door and then shot him? Nah. Doesn't pass the smell test.

[Minimalist]

Not the cops so much but, it could explain the apparent push to arrest everyone in sight.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/19...isons-full

For-profit prison companies like Corrections Corporation of American and GEO Group are no strangers to controversy. Their business model rests on incarceration, and their profits soared throughout the 1990s and 2000s as harsh sentencing laws, the War on Drugs, and tough immigration enforcement led to a dramatic rise in detention and incarceration.

But with crime rates dropping for more than a decade and a new push for sentencing reform and cost-effective alternatives to incarceration, for-profit prison operators have found a new way to keep beds full and profits high. They call them "bed guarantees."

[Minimalist]

This fellow says it better than I ever could.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/License...6-302.html

Licensed to Kill: The Growing Phenomenon of Police Shooting Unarmed Citizens

The problem, notes Jerome Skolnick and former New York City police officer/Temple University criminal justice professor James Fyfe in their book Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force, is that

police work is often viewed by those in the force as an us-versus-them war rather than a chance for community-oriented engagement and problem solving. The authors also point to a lack of accountability as one of the reasons why police violence persists. They acknowledge that, yes, police officers are placed in dangerous situations that at times require immediate responses. But they maintain that that doesn't excuse using more force than is needed to subdue someone, the lack of professional training that leads to such fear-based responses, or treating citizens as enemy combatants.

[FlyingNarwhal]

Another problem may be that you generally need less than 2 years of training to become a police officer, which is pretty fucking weak if you ask me. The role of an officer is WAY too important for there to be only be a 20 month course before becoming one. They are in charge of the lives and liberties of the people, they are the gatekeepers.

[Minimalist]

You know, I was just going to kudos your post but I decided to see what I could come up with on police qualifications just for the hell of it.

It is even worse than you suggest.

Requirements:
High School Diploma or GED (non-certified candidates holding a GED must have 12 hours of college per TCLEOSE guidelines)

Wylie, Texas

Education

Applicants must have a high school diploma or a GED Certificate. Applicants with some college, an Associate Degree, or higher, are preferred.

Newport News, Va

EDUCATION
Proof of high school graduation or a certified GED.

Seattle, Wa

But then, the topper....

Education

Graduation from a U.S. high school, G.E.D. or equivalent from a U.S. institution, or a California High School Proficiency Examination (CHSPE) certificate is required.

A two-year or a four-year college degree from an accredited U.S. or foreign institution may be substituted for the high school requirement.

Los Angeles, CA

Sigh. Kudos seems so minor.

[FlyingNarwhal]

Oh yeah, the 20 months is not actual schooling its for the police academy. I can literally become a police officer faster than it takes to get certification for HVAC.

[Minimalist]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01...23161.html

A 32-year-old Illinois woman filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that LaSalle County officers illegally strip-searched her and left her nude in a jail cell.

According to ABC Chicago, Dana Holmes was arrested in May on a DUI charge and brought into a county jail where a security camera captured four sheriff's officers -- three men and one women -- stripping off her clothes before leaving her naked and alone in the padded cell.

[Minimalist]

Mas.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/10/justice/la...?hpt=hp_t2

(CNN) -- A Los Angeles police officer has been charged with assaulting a woman under arrest, Alesia Thomas, who lost consciousness in a patrol car and was declared dead soon thereafter, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Mary O'Callaghan, 48, was charged a day earlier in a felony assault case, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Sounds fairly straightforward at first. A cop is actually charged when a suspect ends up dead. But look at the rationale of the D.A. for the charge.

Prosecutors said they didn't file involuntary manslaughter charges against O'Callaghan because it couldn't be proven that she directly caused Thomas' death.

So this cop stomps and beats a handcuffed suspect who dies shortly thereafter and the D.A. can't figure it out?

Look what happens when the shoe is on the other foot.

http://www.allvoices.com/news/5476447/s/...e-officer/

Charges have been filed against a man in connection with the death of an officer killed in a police chase earlier this week in St...Sheldon Beckham was charged with felony murder,

So when a cop gets killed chasing a suspect its felony murder but when a cop kicks someone to death its just fucking assault?

Fuck that.