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[NullForceOmega]

I generally agree with that sentiment.  The war on drugs is probably the single worst policy decision the US has ever made in terms of cost (human and fiscal).  I would be overjoyed if we could just end it and legalize and regulate the garbage.  I still wouldn't use it or support its use, but I'd be happy that it would be dramatically safer for people to use.  But the police state of America goes substantially deeper than the drug war, and a great many very powerful people have a vested interest in the continuation of said police state.

[SalmonGod]

So... two police officers shot lastnight at a protest in Ferguson.  I don't know anything besides the headlines at the moment.  Don't have time to read into it.  Whatever the details, this isn't likely to result in anything desirable.

[Levi]

So... two police officers shot lastnight at a protest in Ferguson.  I don't know anything besides the headlines at the moment.  Don't have time to read into it.  Whatever the details, this isn't likely to result in anything desirable.

Maybe all the police will just quit.  That might be desirable.

[SalmonGod]

So... two police officers shot lastnight at a protest in Ferguson.  I don't know anything besides the headlines at the moment.  Don't have time to read into it.  Whatever the details, this isn't likely to result in anything desirable.

Maybe all the police will just quit.  That might be desirable.

I haven't had time to read into all the details, but the justice department report following the death of Michael Brown contained shitloads of horrible corruption.  There's since been talk that the Ferguson PD may soon be disbanded by federal mandate anyway.

[penguinofhonor]

.

[nenjin]

Missouri State Police and St. Louis County Police are also now in control of the security situation in Ferguson....again. Whether that's due to the protests and the recent shootings, or because the chain of command in the Ferguson PD is basically being dismantled in the middle of all this....it's probably a mix of both.

[misko27]

So... two police officers shot lastnight at a protest in Ferguson.  I don't know anything besides the headlines at the moment.  Don't have time to read into it.  Whatever the details, this isn't likely to result in anything desirable.

Maybe all the police will just quit.  That might be desirable.

I haven't had time to read into all the details, but the justice department report following the death of Michael Brown contained shitloads of horrible corruption.  There's since been talk that the Ferguson PD may soon be disbanded by federal mandate anyway.

My impression of the report (along with another one on Michael Brown's shooter) is "Darren Wilson is probably innocent, but every single other thing in Ferguson is FUBAR". It's so bad, what usually constitutes hyperbole actually understates the issue.

[BFEL]

So, first time I've been in this thread, is it safe to say that I'm the only person here who thinks that most of the "abusive policing" cases in recent memory were caused not by the police but by the jerkasses who decided it was a good idea to ATTACK THEM?

Rule of thumb: if you decide to beat on someone who has a gun, what happens next is your own damn fault.

[Xantalos]

When that's the case, sure assaulting a guy who has a gun and is trained to use it is stupid as shit, but that still leaves all those cases where the police killed nonviolent people for no good reason.

[Frumple]

... there's also the whole thing where several other countries manage to deal with stuff like that without, y'know, racking up a significant kill count.

Or the bits where, even when the police are attacked, they could have (and failed, often to even attempt to) dealt with the situation in such a way it didn't come to that, or in a way that doesn't, y'know, end up with a civilian dead on the ground.

You do, from time to time, have situations where cops are legitimately attacked and lethal force is the only reasonable reaction. That... doesn't actually happen very often, and is something training and equipment is supposed to significantly reduce. Which something the cops in the US, at the very least, seem to have somehow missed the memo about.

[BFEL]

When that's the case, sure assaulting a guy who has a gun and is trained to use it is stupid as shit, but that still leaves all those cases where the police killed nonviolent people for no good reason.

Well, some background. Basically ever since the Michael Brown thing my mom has been neck deep in the whole thing and ranting and raving constantly about it around the house. Which, admittedly, second hand information, but she's fairly intelligent and from what she's been reading/watching/generallyobsessingover basically NONE of those cases involved "nonviolent people"

Yes, including Michael Brown. She apparently read the notes from the actual trial and the witnesses who claimed to have seen him being nonviolent made a full 180 and testified that he was fighting the officers.

There was one that she agrees was full on the police' fault and that was the one where it was a kid pointing their toy gun around the neighborhood, then the police rode up, jumped out and shot him in the space of about 2 seconds. She watched the video for that one, and had me watch it too.

Hilariously that one is the one that the protesters and such pretty much went "yup, that was fair" and then went back to defending the career criminals strangling police officers.

Once again, this is pretty much all second hand, but my mom is a pretty intelligent person, so I trust her research enough to let it affect my opinions.

[Frumple]

... the point isn't whether they involved non-violent people or not. It's whether police reaction was appropriate or not -- it's their bloody job to deal with violent people, and "deal with" does not equate "kill". The testimony regarding brown is fairly well available at this point (check the thread, there's been bucketloads of discussion on it), and wilson acted in a way that was pretty much explicitly calculated to escalate the situation, instead of de-escalate -- he acted more or less the polar opposite of how a police officer should act, and lo and behold, dead person. The burden of responsibility for the situation that happened is not equal -- it can't be equal when one participant is a civilian and the other is an armed and trained officer of the law. And even if it was, most of the evidence we have points pretty strongly to wilson being the disproportionate cause of the situation that happened

And nah, the one where the cops gunned down the kid hasn't been something folks just went, "Yeah, that's fair". There's been fairly notable reaction against it. The only reason there hasn't been more is because the situation got spun to hell and back, last I checked in on it.

There's plenty of cases of cops killing or brutalizing non-violent people, though, if you're looking for it. It's been relatively common for a while now. That's honestly part of the reason it doesn't get more news -- because to a sad extent, it's not news.

[Leafsnail]

Hilariously that one is the one that the protesters and such pretty much went "yup, that was fair" and then went back to defending the career criminals strangling police officers.

Eric Garner wasn't a police officer

[XXXXYYYY]

PTW, because I need more sads in my day and I have no self-control.

[Xantalos]

Hilariously that one is the one that the protesters and such pretty much went "yup, that was fair" and then went back to defending the career criminals strangling police officers.

Eric Garner wasn't a police officer

...plus it was the other way around.