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[Bauglir]

So the system worked, I guess.

When the officer is convicted or the evidence miraculously actually does substantiate whatever defense is getting pulled, I'll believe it.

[Frumple]

Yeaaah, the not asking to shoot bit was quite possibly the least enraging part of that. The report, as smirk notes, is infuriating. Guy gave every indication of trying his goddamnest to comply. Cop set him up for failure and then killed him when the expected happened.

As for the charges, we'll see about the system working if the cop actually gets hit with time and loses their bloody job. Maybe it's worth holding your breath for, I'unno. I wouldn't exactly be surprised if another cop gets away with murder with a slap on the wrist, if that.

This shit really can't keep happening. So far, so far as I'm aware, we don't actually have particularly increasing numbers insofar as non-compliance due to goddamn fear goes, but if they keep killing people for being late, the desertions are going to start*

*Example of the reference, since it's mildly obscure. Also I couldn't find where I read it the first time, which was much better constructed, bleh.

[RedKing]

Re-railing the thread with a appropriately horrible news story: Even being white and complying with officers won't save you anymore. If they want you dead, you dead. (Yeah, I know; Buzzfeed. The official police report is here; pages 6 and 7 cover the actual shooting. They're an infuriating read.)

Maricopa County. Not surprising, that's Joe Arpaio's neighborhood. Hell, Joe probably bought that cop a beer afterwards.

[smirk]

As for the charges, we'll see about the system working if the cop actually gets hit with time and loses their bloody job.

Note that the cop was fired about a week and a half ago, so that's something. But apparently the prosecutors are considering offering him a plea deal that would knock the charges down from 2nd-degree homicide to negligent homicide. So... the secondary system that metes out justice when the first policing system fails horribly, is itself kinda working? I really hate that that little counts as progress.

[SalmonGod]

If someone starts a thread, I'll join in, but don't expect multiple walls of text a day like ye good ole days.

[Shadowlord]

A new academic study that builds on Washington Post research into fatal shootings by police has found that unarmed black men were shot and killed last year at disproportionate rates and that officers involved may be biased in how they perceive threats.

The study,“Fatal Shootings By US Police Officers in 2015: A Bird’s Eye View,” was conducted by criminal justice researchers from the University of Louisville and the University of South Carolina. It is being reviewed for academic publication and will be shared this week with members of the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, which includes officials from departments in the 50 largest cities and metropolitan areas.

I didn't paste the important parts because I think I would have had to paste pretty much the entire article.

[nenjin]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/us/tulsa-deputy-manslaughter-trial/index.html

Remember this bastard? The jury found him guilty of 2nd degree manslaughter, recommended the max sentence of 4 years. Remains to be seen whether the judge pulls some magic bullshit during sentencing though.

The icing on the cake is this though:

Bates didn't testify in his own defense and only made one comment on the record in court. When the judge asked if he was satisfied with his defense, Bates replied, "I'm absolutely tickled to death."

Poor choice of words to the degree it implies he doesn't feel the slightest bit of guilt about it. I hope he gets sentenced to a real shit hole.

[Rolan7]

You may remember I'm generally arguing for giving police the benefit of the doubt...  Well, I just had to share this.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's a real mural prominently displayed in Charlotte NC, and I couldn't even begin to defend it.  It's just... so...  Like, this is what I would expect a Black Lives Matter artist to make.  But no, they think this is an accurate and positive depiction of police work.

Not trying to make any case here, just thought it was funny and frankly unfortunate...  My friends and I might try to get a look when we visit, just for the lulz.

This was made as the same guy who made those screwy murals in the Bank of America building, by the way.  I posted that in the WTF thread but here:
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53a9f4e0e4b08edefaf53b31/t/53b84b47e4b0c3e2131dc7f6/1404586866445/

[Helgoland]

I don't get it. It may be the alcohol, but I don't get it.

[Frumple]

... y'know, after looking at it a bit, I think the only real question I have is... is that guy in the alley looting a corpse?

Though shortly after that, I did notice the pair hauling what appears to be a TV out the fire escape. And I can't tell if the swat-looking guy is got funky shading going on or is actually wearing facepaint.

@ Helgo, I guess if you were looking for a positive interpretation (as opposed to a sort of "Yeah, this is mostly how helpful they're being" thing), you could look at it like a timeline? Starting on the left, cop comes by attempting what may look like a vaguely pleasant face to someone incredibly poorly socialized, sees the apartment with all the common crimes cops are supposed to help with in the middle, and then on the right you've got the various related services helping people! Or something.

... note that's not so much "looking" as "Digging several miles into the earth and then twisting reality like a pretzel", but... still.

E: Bluh. This was my 17777th post. Jackpot it was not

[Rolan7]

@Helgoland  Maybe it's not as weird as my friends and I thought, I'll try to explain...

Centrally we have the general public:  A (condemned?) apartment literally full of criminals.  My friends and I aren't sure what the kid at bottom-right is guilty of (I think probably abandonment, though we joked napster).  And the top-left is probably the artist.  Meanwhile a single cop prepares to single-handedly deal with this hive of scum and villainy.

On the right we have a line of officers, one which with a long-stock rifle.  They're either offering advice, or holding back, some curious citizens.  We have no idea why mustache officer is holding a kid.

That expression on the police officer to the left, though.  Maybe we read too much into it, but it really looks like a sarcastic "The public, right?  Can you believe this shit?"
Seriously, that expression is... disturbing.

[Frumple]

Not literally full of criminals, mind you. Depression, alcoholism, poor parenting (the latchkey kid you couldn't place, though it could be abandonment, too), whatever's going on in the top left (maybe the artist, maybe just social isolation, possibly elderly? Could be a suicide attempt.), and homelessness aren't crimes, usually (Usually. Sometimes homelessness functionally is. Cops spend a fair amount of time basically harassing homeless people in a lot of places), and those four make up about half the building. Sometimes prostitution (at least for the prostitute) isn't either, for what it's worth, though I'd be rather surprised if it wasn't in NC. The not overtly violent domestic dispute might not be strictly illegal, either (though if it's loud enough, it could be disturbance or whatev'). You could interpret it so the only really criminal things that are happening are diagonal down from the top right (9, 5, and 1, going by the designation noted below).

It's less full of crime (though there's definitely crime as well) and more general social ills police are supposed to be something of a positive influence regarding, with crime thrown in the mix.

E: Though now I'm curious what y'all pegged the 2, 4, and 8 (treating the windows as a numpad) as being guilty of. Mind sharing?

[Rolan7]

... Apparently prostitution is legal in some parts of Nevada, and nowhere else in the USA?  How bizarre
And yeah I jumped to "abandonment" but "latchkey kid" is more what I was thinking.  Didn't know the term, even though I was technically in that situation for a while?  Didn't really see it as a bad thing, but I was in a remote area.  Inner city would be different.

[Frumple]

Want to say there may be some other places in the states where it's not criminalized, at least for the prostitutes themselves, as well. That's occasionally a sort of interim measure when working for better laws on that subject, to at least not punish the people the laws are supposedly intended to protect the most even more. Usually purchasing services or pimping is, but not the immediate provider in particular. It's better than all sides of the equation being criminalized, at least.

E: Though the latchkey thing is honestly kinda' bad even in rural areas. It gets kids killed, kidnapped, raped, and so on, in rural or urban areas, just for the more overt (and rare, to be fair) effects. Even if you're not helicopter parenting it's usually a damn good idea to know where your kid is and have immediate support and/or contact available both from and to them, which is generally the point of failure for latchkey kids.

E2: Basically, it may have worked out alright for you, but what would have happened if, say, the house caught fire while your guardians were out, and you were functionally hours away from contacting them/had no nearby/safe neighbors to seek aid from?

[smirk]

Top left is someone shooting up, I'm pretty sure. If you look close they've got their arm tied off with a black band or something. As for 2, 4 and 8 I'd say they're homelessness/vagrancy, alcoholism and depression/mental illness, in that order. That'd make doors 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9 all crimes (vagrancy is legal grey area in a lot of places so far as I know; loitering, trespassing, etc), not including the mugging and possible drug deal going on in the right alley and the other homeless person with the barrel fire in the left alley.

Watta mural.

Re latchkey kids: I wonder how the ubiquity of cell phones is affecting that type of problem? Makes it at least a little easier for said kids to contact others and check in/be checked on, I would think. Still a bad situation.