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[Sheb]

Can't dig it up now, but there were solid numbers put out a while back showing that police kill white and black people in roughly equal numbers.  But black people suffer non-fatal violent treatment by police at a much higher rate, and iirc it also verified that the circumstances are far more likely to be dubious with black suspects.

Really? Was that after correction for income or weapon or something? Because, well, the raw number have blacks killed at 2.5 time the rate of white, and over 7 time the rate of Asians.

[SalmonGod]

Can't dig it up now, but there were solid numbers put out a while back showing that police kill white and black people in roughly equal numbers.  But black people suffer non-fatal violent treatment by police at a much higher rate, and iirc it also verified that the circumstances are far more likely to be dubious with black suspects.

Really? Was that after correction for income or weapon or something? Because, well, the raw number have blacks killed at 2.5 time the rate of white, and over 7 time the rate of Asians.

That's an interesting link.  But it was a longer term study.  I think this was the one. 

I get the feeling things are going to look different if you single out 2016, because I think the bigots in law enforcement are responding to all this scrutiny by doubling down on their worst behaviors.  This has become the latest front line territory in USA's ongoing culture war.  Law enforcement has long been conservative stronghold, and they're making it clear that they don't intend to budge.

[Reelya]

Cambridge has tested body cameras on police. The result: a 1 year trial saw 113 complaints against the police. The year before saw 1539. That's a 93% drop in police abuse.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/10/04/1519200/police-complaints-drop-93-percent-after-deploying-body-cameras

[BorkBorkGoesTheCode]

Can't dig it up now, but there were solid numbers put out a while back showing that police kill white and black people in roughly equal numbers.  But black people suffer non-fatal violent treatment by police at a much higher rate, and iirc it also verified that the circumstances are far more likely to be dubious with black suspects.

Really? Was that after correction for income or weapon or something? Because, well, the raw number have blacks killed at 2.5 time the rate of white, and over 7 time the rate of Asians.

That's an interesting link.  But it was a longer term study.  I think this was the one. 

I get the feeling things are going to look different if you single out 2016, because I think the bigots in law enforcement are responding to all this scrutiny by doubling down on their worst behaviors.  This has become the latest front line territory in USA's ongoing culture war.  Law enforcement has long been conservative stronghold, and they're making it clear that they don't intend to budge.

I thought the increase in violence had something to do with the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

[Rolan7]

https://reason.com/blog/2016/09/28/cop-issues-warning-if-you-run-around-in
 "If someone sees you dressed like this they have the right to defend themselves," the announcements said. "It is not normal for clowns to be running around like idiots all year long. I will stand behind anyone who feels they need to protect themselves from these so-called clowns. So, to sum it all up, if you run around in a clown suit, you should probably expect for citizens to beat you (for their own protection), then get arrested by police."
- Chief of Police of... of Paw Paw, WV
But still...

[Loud Whispers]

Spoiler: Clown at court hearing (click to show/hide)

The real tragedy is that if an honest clown is killed as a result of this, it will be both tragic and hilarious

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The fire rises. #Honkening

[Flying Dice]

#ClownLivesMatter

It's really an excellent example of how the media machine blows up nothing-stories into hysteria. It all started with a false report, and everything since has been more of the same mixed with dumb teenagers who think it's funny.

Cambridge has tested body cameras on police. The result: a 1 year trial saw 113 complaints against the police. The year before saw 1539. That's a 93% drop in police abuse.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/10/04/1519200/police-complaints-drop-93-percent-after-deploying-body-cameras

To play devil's advocate, one doesn't necessarily follow from the other. It could just as easily mean that knowing cameras were always going to be there heavily reduced frivolous/falsified complaints that could be easily proven to be nonsense with bodycam footage. Remember, proliferation of cameras also all but killed reports of miracles. People are much less inclined to make things up or exaggerate if there's an easy way to prove them wrong. A 93% drop in complaints means that there was a 93% drop in complaints, everything else is speculation.

[SalmonGod]

Good thing for everyone, either way.  If police abuse really wasn't that bad, then reducing frivolous complaints gives police more breathing room to focus on doing their jobs, and makes people like me less worried about them.

[Flying Dice]

Yep, it's a net positive regardless.

Granted, I still have reservations, both in the biased and limited perspective, and in that these measures only go so far -- dashcams sure didn't stop people being chased/dragged off-camera and beaten, and evidence against police wrongdoing has been "lost" since the beginning of law enforcement.

[Reelya]

Though, a huge cut in the amount of stuff they're processing also means that the anomalies are going to really stick out much more than before. If they've dropped from having to investigate and resolve 5 complaints a day down to one every 3 days, that's a lot more time and attention that can be applied to getting the right facts. People with both big and small complaints are therefore better served.

[Sheb]

What's that clown thing anyway?

[itisnotlogical]

I'm guessing it's one of the weirder examples of copycat crime as a result of 24/7 media (and now, social media i.e. memes) exposure.

[Sheb]

But, what crime was actually committed? As far as I can tell, it's just people seeing clown.

[SalmonGod]

The clown thing is triggering a lot of people super bad.  I got to listen to a couple normally mild-mannered co-workers rant together the other day about how they would stab any dumb motherfucker they ever saw out in public in a clown costume.  One of those co-worker's kids had recently seen someone in a car costume driving, and was really freaked out by it.  So they were in enraged mother mode.

I'm in the all this overreacting is dumb camp.