Ferguson: too much or not enough?

[professor]

It is reported the case against the policeman is being dropped for the very reasons
poster Brakeman cited.
You guys are always touting "Evidence", and yet when it is shown to you about this shooting - you ignore it.

[Ryantology]

[Elskidor]

There are way to many shifty cops given jobs, and that makes us question even the good ones when bad things happen. I don't really have an opinion on this matter yet, but I really wish they'd make it harder for just anyone to become officers of the law, and make it much easier to fire the bad ones.

Wife is a about a month in as a corrections officer at the prison near us, and she's told me some stories about some shitty officers tearing up cells and shoving their hands in inmates toilets and then searching there food afterward. Just plain assholes and dicks being assholes and dicks because they can.

[Thumpalumpacus]

That misses the point, Jay. This isn't about one cop. It is about a system in which any cop thinks he is judge, jury, and executioner whenever the fuck he wants to be secure in the knowledge that the whole system will back him to the hilt.

The cop is the symptom of the problem. The problem is that the fucking cops are out of control and armed to the teeth by the Pentagon.

... and armored by a blue wall of silence.

It's been bad enough in SoCal for decades that despite having a couple LEOs in my family, I think that every death in police custody/interview ought to be reviewed by a grand jury. IA departments have no sway inside any city dept, and are treated as the Enemy by beat cops and detectives.

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Why isn't the question whether or not he did indeed commit the crime that was recorded?

Probably because robbery is not a capital offense, and even if it were, he hadn't had a trial with a seated jury and impartial judge.

Or are you suggesting that you think it's fine to kill someone for matching an APB description?

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Oh, dear. This is embarrassing.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael...on-n183776

Egypt on Tuesday urged U.S. authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri - echoing language Washington used to caution Egypt as it cracked down on Islamist protesters last year. It is unusual for Egypt to criticize such a major donor. Ties between Washington and Cairo were strained after Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the army's ousting of freely elected President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

At least it wasn't the Dutch!

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The press release of the middle east.
What does this ferguson stuff have to do with rick?

ME is "Medical Examiner".

Attempt at re-railment: Ferguson has long been far too much. Cops overreacting, the local government overreacting, and the federal government overreacting now with the National Fucking Guard.

Just FYI, the state's governor calls out the state's National Guard units for domestic duty, and not the Federal government, which can only activate them for duty out of the home state.

[Brian37]

It is reported the case against the policeman is being dropped for the very reasons
poster Brakeman cited.
You guys are always touting "Evidence", and yet when it is shown to you about this shooting - you ignore it.

FACT, not one witness, outside the cop is saying Brown rushed him after running away.

FACT, Brown was shot while running away.

FACT, he stopped and turned around, 20 to 25 feet away, and was shot multiple times again, once in the crown of the head.

There was no self defense in this. This was simply a pissed off cop who couldn't control his emotions.

[Esquilax]

That's funny, I didn't know you Yanks had the death penalty for robbery.

The death penalty can be carried out by citizen in a position to stop a felony crime, intentional death or seriously bodily harm. (That is why george Zimmerman was not even initially detained after killing treyvon.)
In some states one can add the crime of tresspassing or even property damage.

So beating up a cop is indeed a crime the officer has the right to be judge jury and executioner.

That it is why people/smart people do not start fights with people whos jobs require them to be armed.

Interesting. Does your country always escalate immediately to lethal force? Because in my country there's a little thing you can do where you don't shoot to kill immediately, least of all- what was it?- six times in succession. If you have to shoot at all, put one out there, or better yet, use a taser!

You can't say "oh, he attacked a cop so his immediate execution was appropriate," because that's not actually the only option available, nor even the easiest option, or the most morally acceptable option. If the cops where I am can manage not to gun down every guy who rushes them, there's no excuse for anyone else to.

[Brakeman]

"Bors Cartoon"

Don't you feel a little wrong about posting the Bor's cartoon where it claims that the kid was shot by a cop for "no discernible reason?" (Obviously caricaturing Michael Brown) There was certainly a discernible reason, he attacked a cop that was trained to protect himself with a gun. It is a lie that Bors is using as propaganda to steal some of the racist stirred outrage to push his views that white people are always racist, which is a racist view itself.

If the cop's gun had jammed and Michael had killed the cop, would all of you be screaming that it was a racial attack and that anyone who said anything about how Michael used to be a good kid would be trying to "belittle" his crime with racial motivation?

Why does your racist view only go one way?

Personally I don't see why the concept is so hard. Racism is not black, or white, red or yellow, it is an attitude anyone can have.

Ask yourself, if the cop had been black and Michael Brown white, and the lying witnesses white, how would your feelings about the incident and the aftermath differ? Would you be so quick to railroad the black cop who was doing his job as trained?

On another note,

It is necessary for fairness reasons to try a person in court without any reference to previous crimes, but in public opinion, repeated offenses do indicate a trend and only idiots don't recognize obvious trends. Why must society be blind and ignore statistics? As long as one remembers that correlation does not equal causation, then you're good.

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You can't say "oh, he attacked a cop so his immediate execution was appropriate," because that's not actually the only option available, nor even the easiest option, or the most morally acceptable option. If the cops where I am can manage not to gun down every guy who rushes them, there's no excuse for anyone else to.

That's a fine argument, but our police are trained to the standard that if the assailant is trying to take control of you and your weapon, then you are to use deadly force with the weapon, not a less effective taser.
We as American society have made the balance and said that someone who violently attacks our police officers are not equally valuable to us as our policemen and we condone the use of deadly force quickly to protect our officers. This can easily bee seen in the laws of almost every state in that the shooting of a police officer carries more punishment than the shooting of a congressman or mayor. Fastest way to the electric chair was often to kill a cop.

[popeyespappy]

If you have to shoot at all, put one out there,

There isn't a police force in the US that trains its officers to fire a single shot. I bet they don't train that way in Australia either. The reason cops don't train to fire a single shot is handguns are not reliable fight stoppers. The only way a single shot from a handgun is going to stop a determined person immediately is if it does a large amount of damage to brain, spine or breaks a large bone like a thigh.

Take for example the video of the shooting in Saint Louis. When the police shot that guy he was about 10 feet away coming towards them. 10 feet. That's about three steps or 2ish seconds away. Lets assume for a minute that the guy that got shot did have a knife in his hand. The video showed something long and slender in his hand, and the cop yelling to drop the knife apparently thought he had a knife. Do you really think it would have been a good idea to fire a single shot at someone coming at you with a knife? Shoot once, stop to access the situation, get a butcher knife and throat and die. That doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

[Jaysyn]

Popeyespappy is right, Police (at least in FL) are instructed to empty the whole clip if they have to shoot someone. Source: my step brother was a cop for a while & he lived with me while he was going thru training.

[Brian37]

Popeyespappy is right, Police (at least in FL) are instructed to empty the whole clip if they have to shoot someone. Source: my step brother was a cop for a while & he lived with me while he was going thru training.

This is the problem with our society, this stems from long term mentality of presumption of guilt, fear the worst.

And even with the other shooting in that same city caught on video, while you could claim that guy had a knife, he was around several civilians prior to the cops showing up and they didn't seem that concerned. So the presence of cops alone causes tension. And you also have to take into account how many other people caught on video with weapons that get confronted that do not end up dead. So funding would also cause a cop not to have any other option.