tcr
sage of six tabs
funny i was gonna talk about the death of Daniel Shaver as well but you beat me to it
Body Cameras are but a small step in asserting the wrongs committed by Law enforcement. The whole point is to allow a windowview for the public to see through the lies of "I feared for my life" and the benefit of the doubt given to the officer. Its such a small thing that people think is a catchall when in reality the problem with law enforcement in America is the faux patriotism, cop worship culture that breeds heavily in rural areas. The amount of "Blue lives matter" "I stand with police" stickers mixed in with Confederate flags on trucks I've seen in my state is ridiculous and a testament to this culture. People believe that cops can do no wrong, they automatically jump to the officers side in a case between accused and law enforcement because one is a decorated law enforcement officer and the other is an accused thief / murderer / public threat. The concept of "innocent until proven guilty" simply doesn't exist anymore, the preconceived notions about a person's life and character are under attack the minute you get into a confrontation with the police. This culture that protects law enforcement (when in reality those with the authority and power over others should be held to the highest scrutiny) extends all the way from dozens of different police unions that essentially force a brotherhood on the job (where you get the "good apples" that refuse to talk about the actions of the "bad apples") to corrupt judges (like the judge in the Daniel Shaver case who refused to allow the jury to see the etchings on the offenders gun that described "You're Fucked" because it was "too prejudicial"), to the existence of grand juries in the first place. A pre trial that determines if a trial is even necessary? Are you kidding me? Combine this with for profit prisons and many politicians in the hands of those huge corporations to where they unduly influence laws (drug war) to keep as many targeted citizens on lockup as possible and you end up with America, where we lock up the biggest portion of our country relative to other countries and thank our law enforcement for being so militarized. Those who claim second amendment rights in case they need to raid the government yet bootlick officers is laughable as they don't realize that police officers are strikingly similar to the peacekeepers from the Hunger Games or some other Orwellian nightmare.
What can start happening is a conglomeration of accountability, transparency, retraining, and vetting. What I mean by this is for accountability, police officers need to be held to the same standard as citizens. Their entire job is to preserve the peace and protect the citizens and that goes out the window when they indiscriminately go on power trips and eliminate citizens simply because you don't follow their game of Simon Says, or because you don't put away your phone when recording them (completely legal in all fifty states no matter what they tell you.) When shit happens the police department is never punished for it and simply uses funds acquired from taxpayers to pay out the suits, when it should come from the offending officer's paycheck. Don't want to lose pay and be unable to feed your family? Do your best to de-escalate situations and preserve lives. Body Cameras and changing perception is one step that is in the right direction for holding police accountable, but worship culture needs to stop. For transparency, police officers need to be transparent with their stories. As officers they are perceived to be paragons of good. They're the ones who catch the bad guys right? How is it then that a littany of lying, corruption, and planting evidence happens? Look at the 2015 Walter Scott shooting for non-transparency, when you testify that the man reached for your stun gun despite numerous civilian recordings showing the opposite and then plant the stun gun on him to corroborate your story. 38 different states restrict police officer records, making it near impossible to find out if an officer has been disciplined or in 15 states cases only allowing you to see severe disciplinary actions such as suspension or termination. To achieve this leadership needs to change. Police chiefs can't just be allowed to go from department to department if suspended, officers can't just go to a different branch if terminated for misconduct, etc. Retraining needs to happen. Officers are expected to be the peacekeepers of society, not the executioners. Militarization and the culture of "war on crime" as well as poor post-military options lead to aggressive and belligerent tactics / officers on the force, some itching for an excuse to use their weapon. That doesn't include the multitude of white supremacists that the FBI has stated have been infiltrating our police force for the past several years, just the "good apples." Look how police in Japan operate, or Australia, or England. They de-escalate the situation because they understand that criminals aren't "the enemy" oftentimes they're just people in hard times. I've seen videos where foreign police officers talk down criminals with blades and guns into hugging them and voluntarily giving up their weapons, where the minute police officers in america see anything remotely similar to a weapon they open fire. If you aren't willing to control your emotions, keep them in check, then you don't need to be in such a high stressful job. Shooting should be a last resort yet so often its what officers open with. Lastly, vetting needs to happen in our forces. Police departments need to stop letting those with a past history of violence, those with clear mental issues, those who are prejudiced against race, into their department. You want to change police perception nationwide and have people stop yelling "Fuck 12" every time a cop car passes? It starts with holding yourselves accountable instead of doubling down on your fellow officers and circling the wagons.
Until a complete reformation happens within training, application, accountability, and legal issues, then the police will continue to be a growing militarized effort to round up the citizens and prevent them from speaking out on controversial issues. Distrust for police will happen as long as you can still be stopped for going .5 miles over the speed limit or having your seatbelt off and then immediately escalating that benign traffic stop into an illegal search and seizure because your "drug dog signaled." Nothing will ever change as long as law enforcement is always given the benefit of the doubt in every single scenario, as long as whoever they arrest is perceived as criminal scum no matter the cause. As long as people say "well if you don't want to get shot just don't disobey the laws and follow police orders!", completely undermining the entire premise that police are fallable too. "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." - Thomas Jefferson
Body Cameras are but a small step in asserting the wrongs committed by Law enforcement. The whole point is to allow a windowview for the public to see through the lies of "I feared for my life" and the benefit of the doubt given to the officer. Its such a small thing that people think is a catchall when in reality the problem with law enforcement in America is the faux patriotism, cop worship culture that breeds heavily in rural areas. The amount of "Blue lives matter" "I stand with police" stickers mixed in with Confederate flags on trucks I've seen in my state is ridiculous and a testament to this culture. People believe that cops can do no wrong, they automatically jump to the officers side in a case between accused and law enforcement because one is a decorated law enforcement officer and the other is an accused thief / murderer / public threat. The concept of "innocent until proven guilty" simply doesn't exist anymore, the preconceived notions about a person's life and character are under attack the minute you get into a confrontation with the police. This culture that protects law enforcement (when in reality those with the authority and power over others should be held to the highest scrutiny) extends all the way from dozens of different police unions that essentially force a brotherhood on the job (where you get the "good apples" that refuse to talk about the actions of the "bad apples") to corrupt judges (like the judge in the Daniel Shaver case who refused to allow the jury to see the etchings on the offenders gun that described "You're Fucked" because it was "too prejudicial"), to the existence of grand juries in the first place. A pre trial that determines if a trial is even necessary? Are you kidding me? Combine this with for profit prisons and many politicians in the hands of those huge corporations to where they unduly influence laws (drug war) to keep as many targeted citizens on lockup as possible and you end up with America, where we lock up the biggest portion of our country relative to other countries and thank our law enforcement for being so militarized. Those who claim second amendment rights in case they need to raid the government yet bootlick officers is laughable as they don't realize that police officers are strikingly similar to the peacekeepers from the Hunger Games or some other Orwellian nightmare.
What can start happening is a conglomeration of accountability, transparency, retraining, and vetting. What I mean by this is for accountability, police officers need to be held to the same standard as citizens. Their entire job is to preserve the peace and protect the citizens and that goes out the window when they indiscriminately go on power trips and eliminate citizens simply because you don't follow their game of Simon Says, or because you don't put away your phone when recording them (completely legal in all fifty states no matter what they tell you.) When shit happens the police department is never punished for it and simply uses funds acquired from taxpayers to pay out the suits, when it should come from the offending officer's paycheck. Don't want to lose pay and be unable to feed your family? Do your best to de-escalate situations and preserve lives. Body Cameras and changing perception is one step that is in the right direction for holding police accountable, but worship culture needs to stop. For transparency, police officers need to be transparent with their stories. As officers they are perceived to be paragons of good. They're the ones who catch the bad guys right? How is it then that a littany of lying, corruption, and planting evidence happens? Look at the 2015 Walter Scott shooting for non-transparency, when you testify that the man reached for your stun gun despite numerous civilian recordings showing the opposite and then plant the stun gun on him to corroborate your story. 38 different states restrict police officer records, making it near impossible to find out if an officer has been disciplined or in 15 states cases only allowing you to see severe disciplinary actions such as suspension or termination. To achieve this leadership needs to change. Police chiefs can't just be allowed to go from department to department if suspended, officers can't just go to a different branch if terminated for misconduct, etc. Retraining needs to happen. Officers are expected to be the peacekeepers of society, not the executioners. Militarization and the culture of "war on crime" as well as poor post-military options lead to aggressive and belligerent tactics / officers on the force, some itching for an excuse to use their weapon. That doesn't include the multitude of white supremacists that the FBI has stated have been infiltrating our police force for the past several years, just the "good apples." Look how police in Japan operate, or Australia, or England. They de-escalate the situation because they understand that criminals aren't "the enemy" oftentimes they're just people in hard times. I've seen videos where foreign police officers talk down criminals with blades and guns into hugging them and voluntarily giving up their weapons, where the minute police officers in america see anything remotely similar to a weapon they open fire. If you aren't willing to control your emotions, keep them in check, then you don't need to be in such a high stressful job. Shooting should be a last resort yet so often its what officers open with. Lastly, vetting needs to happen in our forces. Police departments need to stop letting those with a past history of violence, those with clear mental issues, those who are prejudiced against race, into their department. You want to change police perception nationwide and have people stop yelling "Fuck 12" every time a cop car passes? It starts with holding yourselves accountable instead of doubling down on your fellow officers and circling the wagons.
Until a complete reformation happens within training, application, accountability, and legal issues, then the police will continue to be a growing militarized effort to round up the citizens and prevent them from speaking out on controversial issues. Distrust for police will happen as long as you can still be stopped for going .5 miles over the speed limit or having your seatbelt off and then immediately escalating that benign traffic stop into an illegal search and seizure because your "drug dog signaled." Nothing will ever change as long as law enforcement is always given the benefit of the doubt in every single scenario, as long as whoever they arrest is perceived as criminal scum no matter the cause. As long as people say "well if you don't want to get shot just don't disobey the laws and follow police orders!", completely undermining the entire premise that police are fallable too. "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." - Thomas Jefferson