We all know what happens. The police tazer some guy five times then beat him to death for "not complying" when he is unable to comply. Some cops murder a man for "illegally camping". They shoot a man in the back of the head who is cuffed and lying on his stomach. Etc., etc., etc. And every single time, the Police Chief, acting in the "cops protect cops and (*)(*)(*)(*) everybody else" culture, says their actions were "justified" or "they were acting within regulations". The most that ever happens is that these thugs will get a paid vacation while an "investigation" clears them of wrongdoing. So what can we, the public, do about it? Any suggestions?
I probably should have called this thread "out of control cops", because this is not just about beatings, but a total lawlessness among police. Two more examples: http://www.thewire.com/national/201...nnocent-women-103-times-wont-be-fired/357771/ So, what's it gonna take, people? I can see only one solution to these murderous street gangs: armed flash mobs. Words obviously ain't gonna cut it with people like this. They only understand one thing.
The best way to lower police brutality is apparently to force them to have complete accountability for their actions. For example, California has mounted body cameras on police officers which has greatly reduced the amount of police brutality we have seen by them by 60%. Amazing isn't it what happens when you know what you're doing is in fact being recorded and everything from start to finish will be on record. It's good for belligerent citizens dealing with the police too it seems as they calm down once they realize they're also being filmed. http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-body-cameras-cuts-violence-complaints-rialto
Body cams are good for the officers as well. Can be used as defense when the typical loser bemoans his/her treatment by the police by pretending he/she did nothing wrong. A good example is the dumbf__ks who get pulled over, and storm out of the car, belligerant and gesturing, while ignoring lawful commands. They get tazed, and the authority hating children pretend they did not have it coming, bringing into play completely irrelevant things such as the person being a woman or elderly or having the children with them.
But you are still at the mercy of the police. You assume the police will cooperate and release the video in a timely manner, if at all. Or perhaps the video gets "lost", as happens often with dash cam video or video from fixed cameras at checkpoints. During public incidents filmed by witnesses using their cell phones, police frequently try to confiscate the phones as "evidence" in an attempt to harass and intimidate witnesses and cover up their misdeeds. Remember, police review themselves, and exonerate themselves even in the most extreme cases of abuse, unless the event comes to national attention. Even then, the repercussions to the cops are slight.
This is not one of my major concerns. Just be a law abiding citizen and you'll seldom experience the wrath of pissed off cops...if ever.
How many times do cops shoot an innocent person or raid the wrong address? Maybe you are one of these people: http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/jerry-waller/ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/aiyana-stanley-jones-detroit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/09/dekalb-sheriff-brutality_n_3733854.html (and here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QsmGWy4Xh0) In this case, the police showed up in force with guns drawn, but were at the wrong address, the residents were on the phone with the police explaining the problem. You can say they should have just let the police in and all would be well, but this is DeKalb County, Georgia, where the cops have a history of abuse. The residents were terrified. The bizarre thing is that if the cops do what they normally do - just smash in the door, shoot all the dogs, put a gun to everyones head, handcuff everyone, throw them around - then this would never have been recorded and the cops would have once again gotten away with their abuse. At the end of the video, the cops even say it. Watch what happens when they let the police in. The cops yelled at them, manhandled them, threatened to tase the kids, slapped people (you can hear the slaps in the video), tried to get someone to fight back so they could arrest them for "resisting", threatened to "cane" the boys. Turns out, even after the cops searched (trashed) the house, the cops found nothing they could use to charge the people with in order to justify their illegal raid. The victims in that case were calm, respectful, and handled it wonderfully. These "mistakes" happen every day. Since 9/11, more innocent Americans have been killed by cops than Americans killed by terrorists, including in Afghanistan and Iraq.
What can we do about it? A good start would be to immediately cease appointing and/or electing authoritarian judges who have no respect for individual liberty.
"Police Brutality: What can be done about it?" to start with we can start convicting police caught on video committing such brutality..
Like these guys: [video=youtube;L7WxkKGwGNM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7WxkKGwGNM[/video] The reporter at the end says the best and really the only thing we can do is to catch these things on video, but even when we do, nothing happens.
Man with both hands on hood of car(i.e not resisting) is tased: [video=youtube;6b1QLR5LfjE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b1QLR5LfjE[/video] How about this one? If you want to dispute it, I can show case after case all day long.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/05/25/68182.htm More despicable behavior from the Blue Boys street gang. Don't the police make you feel safe?
The problem with the violent police state is two fold. First we have way too many laws on the books. It is virtually impossible for any citizen to go about their day to day lives without breaking the law in some way shape or form. Secondly we hire the wrong people to be peace officers. The vast majority of cops are attracted to the job because it allows them to bully people and to act above the law themselves. The fact is that most people who are attracted to positions of power are psychopaths. This is true of law enforcement, the military, government offices both elected and bureaucratic, religious leaders, and any other position that gives people power over others. Psychopaths are very dangerous people because they feel no compassion for their fellow human beings. They simply enjoy the rush they get from using that power over others and create situations in which they can use violence or other means to "win" in confrontations with other people.
Reducing police brutality can more readily be done by, 1) recording all activity - laws which forbid recording need to be expunged 2) when police confiscate or attempt to confiscate recorders they are to be charged with felonies 3) when juries award people for injuries suffered at the hands of police, the police unions pay rather than the city taxpayers 4) when police cause injuries they forfeit all pension rights and suffer long prison sentences 5) certain judicial rulings which allow police to stop and frisk innocent drivers or persons at home need to be reversed by legislation 6) police to be forbidden to use "anonymous tip" as an excuse to invade a home as those "tips" often turn out to be self created 7) police convicted of planting/manufacturing evidence suffer further punishment for their crimes - same for their supervisors Cops have gone off too easy for their crimes. While we can never fully stop these (as well as all other) crimes, we can reduce the amount of violations significantly. Make the cops pay, not society.
