St. Louis: White Missouri cop kills armed black 18-year-old

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by icenine

It is very difficult to get statistics on the actual amount of people shot by the police. In our society we should be able to know the total number, circumstances, and a demographic background total deaths.

It is mandated by law but seems not to be strictly adhered to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._United_States

OK. Even if the states did a better job recording these numbers, they probably wouldn't tell the story you want told. For example, Ferguson would have been listed as a justifiable shooting by law enforcement, whereas I surmise you feel otherwise. The only real story told by the number of police shootings is that we live in a violent society. Newsflash!!!

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Wow...

Really? There's no such thing as a "drop piece"???

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Really? There's no such thing as a "drop piece"???

Not since DNA, actual crime scene investigation and laws only holding officers to the standard of a reasonable person.

Why drop an actual gun when all you have to do is believe that they had one? In many ways, the belief protects your actions more than the existence of any actual firearm.

The very idea of a "drop piece" is naivete.

[whell]

Originally Posted by Boreas

You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I find such behavior acceptable under the circumstances. I don't.
John

You seem to want to divorce yourself from the impact of your brand of rhetoric. The "cops are the enemy" crowd and their protests IMHO gave rise to the behavior that these cops were confronted with while doing nothing more than doing their jobs.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by whell

You seem to want to divorce yourself from the impact of your brand of rhetoric. The "cops are the enemy" crowd and their protests IMHO gave rise to the behavior that these cops were confronted with while doing nothing more than doing their jobs.

And, of course, the police are blameless, just as the right wing echo chamber's incessant racially tinged demonization of Mike Brown and "urban" youth in general has nothing to do with it.

Oh, and what is my "brand of rhetoric"?

John

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Not since DNA, actual crime scene investigation and laws only holding officers to the standard of a reasonable person.

Why drop an actual gun when all you have to do is believe that they had one? In many ways, the belief protects your actions more than the existence of any actual firearm.

The very idea of a "drop piece" is naivete.

So is Santa Claus.

[nailer]

Originally Posted by finnbow

All I'm saying is we have expectations of our cops to act like programmed, infallible robots on the mean streets of America. Having lived in northern Europe for 11 years and the reminder of my life in relatively dangerous American cities, it's simply ridiculous to expect our cops to act like their counterparts in (relatively crime-free) northern European countries.

I can assure you that I'd much prefer living in a relatively safe, mostly unarmed society with far fewer social problems and not one where we use legions of armed cops to address our seemingly intractable social ills. Yet, unless and until we solve these problems, armed cops and the attendant fuck-ups associated with them will remain part of the American fabric. Get used to it.

Price of freedom.

[whell]

Originally Posted by Boreas

And, of course, the police are blameless, just as the right wing echo chamber's incessant racially tinged demonization of Mike Brown and "urban" youth in general has nothing to do with it.

Oh, and what is my "brand of rhetoric"?

John

It usually goes something like this, on and on, with zero sense of perspective and painting with a nice, big, broad brush:

Originally Posted by Boreas

This is a terrible state of affairs brought on, really, by decade upon decade of police abuse, mostly in the black community. People are fed up, sick of the police violence and harassment that are part of their daily lives.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost and, instead of placing the blame on a system that brutalizes black and brown people in this country, we try to affix blame to the community that has been the victim for all this time.

It won't wash, not any more. If the cops want to defuse this situation, they need to start treating the citizenry like human beings.

John

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by whell

It usually goes something like this, on and on, with zero sense of perspective and painting with a nice, big, broad brush:

"This is a terrible state of affairs brought on, really, by decade upon decade of police abuse, mostly in the black community. People are fed up, sick of the police violence and harassment that are part of their daily lives.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost and, instead of placing the blame on a system that brutalizes black and brown people in this country, we try to affix blame to the community that has been the victim for all this time.

It won't wash, not any more. If the cops want to defuse this situation, they need to start treating the citizenry like human beings.

John"

I'd be interested in your critique of this quote of mine.

John