We are currently faced with a quadratic
equation....most social issues are quadratic equations (with variables on both
sides). They're NOT very easy to deal with and don't lend themselves to easy
solutions.
There ARE "bad cops," just as there are
"bad" physicians, attorneys, etc., but like doctors, police deal in
life & death decisions every day and rarely run across people "at
their best."
There HAVE been "bad police
actions/shootings," like the Walter Scott (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEzYcrq3A38&bpctr=1430396547)
killing in South Carolina, the James Boyd killing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tpAZObNZfI)
in New Mexico, the James Crawford shooting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZ-teZsZmo) in Ohio, the
Levon Jones shooting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeT_oSLtI-o) in South
Carolina, and the Akai Gurley killing in Brooklyn, NY.
Unfortunately, these have been overshadowed by
justified police shootings that have been made into "cause celebs" by
virulently anti-police and often anti-white misanthropes.
Mike Brown, like Trayvon Martin attacked the man
who killed him. While Martin attacked someone (George Zimmerman) he believed
was following him (YES, that was an ILLEGAL felony assault on Mr. Martin’s
part), Michael Brown attacked a cop who'd lawfully told him to STOP walking
down the center of a well-travelled street. Mike Brown was killed over his
attempted murder of a police officer.
Even in the Eric Garner case, in which Mr. Garner
was a much more sympathetic character, for merely resisting arrest without
violence, in that case too, a black, female NYPD Sergeant negated the use of a
taser (because of Mr. Garner's well known heart problems), nixed the use of
pepper spray (due to his asthma) and she made the command decision that a
"quick take down" was the safest method to subdue the belligerent and
very large Mr. Garner. THAT decision put police lives at greater jeopardy in
regard for Mr. Garner's personal safety.
It should be noted that Mr. Garner was NOT
"choked to death" at the scene. He died over an hour later at
hospital from a series of health complications.
The support for these high profile negative police
encounters (initiated BY civilian suspects) damage the credibility of those who
call for legitimate police reforms.
And reforms ARE needed.
Body cameras are a good START. EVERY police
interaction should be recorded from start to finish as a basic part of the
routine evidence gathering procedure. In over 98% of the cases, this video
evidence would show that the perpetrator was the aggressor. THAT can't be
tolerated. Violent individuals MUST be excised from our streets.
Police also need and deserve ongoing counseling.
They, like prison guards (Corrections Officers), work among the most dangerous and dysfunctional people in our society every day. That has to have a cumulative
negative impact on a person's mental/emotional health over time. We owe these
people the counseling services they often need.
Moreover, a dirty little (not so) secret is that a
small number of bullies and other anti-social types are drawn to police work
the same way that pedophiles are drawn to summer camps, school bus driving jobs
and the priesthood...it's where the victims are!
That's NOT to say that "most cops are
bullies," any more than most school bus drivers, or priests are
pedophiles, but a FEW ARE...and they NEED to be weeded out.
The misguided and unfounded racial component is one
pushed largely by white anarchists, who've been using poor, uneducated blacks
as weapons to advance their own warped agenda...THAT is the primary
"racial component" in all this.
There've been numerous unarmed whites recently shot
by police, from James Boyd (the homeless man shot by police while illegally
camping) and Robert Earl Lawrence, shot by Alabama police for refusing to show
ID. AND there've also been numerous cases of rogue black cops targeting whites
(http://rt.com/usa/249741-philly-cops-drugs-corruption/)...so
NONE of this is breaks exclusively along racial lines.
It's about scumbags abusing the law...on BOTH sides
of the law.
Mike Brown was a budding career criminal who was
shot after attempting to murder a police officer (struggling over that cop's
gun), just as Sean Groubert (the South Carolina State Trooper who shot unarmed
motorist, Levon Jones, when Jones went back in his car to get his ID) SHOULD
NEVER have been a cop. Mr. Groubert was either too scared (incompetent) to do
his job...or worse.
There ARE and always have been thugs on BOTH sides.
YES, there are far fewer "thug cops," because there are far fewer
cops than there are thugs in the population at large, but somewhere between 1%
and 3% of police are either "bad, or incompetent cops," and they need
to be removed from police forces.
It's critical that BOTH sides of this problem be
addressed.
Yes, we need some basic police reforms, with an
emphasis on removing bad/incompetent cops, BUT we also have to refocus our
criminal justice resources on VIOLENT crime. We can treat crimes against
PROPERTY and drug offenses with treatment programs and boot camps....we NEED to
reserve our prison space for warehousing violent offenders. There's really no reliable
way to rehabilitate violent offenders. Their recidivism rates are up there with
those of pedophiles at well over 90%!
We have to improve our police forces and utilize our
criminal justice resources much more effectively.
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