Police

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Martin Alonzo, Jul 14, 2017.

  1. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Looked up the area this happened in and it seems like a nice neighborhood, so the police shouldn't have been on such high alert as going into a gang ridden city.

    Maybe the lady was high on drugs??? Drunk? Joking around and was taken the wrong way? I can't think of any reasons why that officer shot her.

    I did read he had some record of something with another woman he arrested but don't have the details.

    This kind of story just makes me wary of reporting a crime if I see something which is sad.

    I also think that ALL police depts should insist on body cams being turned on if they are responding to something wether they get out of the car or not.
     
    #91
  2. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Cody Fousnaugh
    Yes, of course I would cooperate. And I always have. Only a damned fool would not, no? What have I said that might make you think I would not? Of course, if a cop began beating on me based on some threat he perceived, I would likely NOT submit blindly and acceptingly to it.

    Perhaps "Murphy's Law" seems to precede me. Example: I was newly moved to Missouri, working outdoors, and a man in street clothes pulled up, got out, and introduced himself as the County Sheriff, running for re-election. He rattled off a list of reasons why I should vote for him. The one most moving to me was that he had sent all his deputies to a training session put on by the FBI to enable them to properly conduct property seizures. Wonderful. Spends taxpayers' money to learn how to steal their property.

    I told him I was newly arrived from Arizona, and could not yet register to vote, not a Missouri citizen yet. His reaction? They'll let me vote anyway, unregistered. Great example of the kind of rigorous, far-thinking individual I would like to see as my Sheriff!
    Frank
     
    #92
  3. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Chrissy Cross
    Note that the cop who killed a cafeteria worker a year ago was acquitted and paid a generous severance amount. The cop responsible in your link will, I predict, never do a single minute of jail time.
    Frank
     
    #93
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  4. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Probably not....I was reading some stats on that and they all usually get off.
     
    #94
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  5. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Cody Fousnaugh Do you have a personally-influenced denunciation of the above, Cody? Jiminy, carrying an UNLOADED .30-.30 would b e like having and using (?) a knife with no point or cutting edge, would it not?

    Do you know that many farmers and ranchers utilize small-arms sound suppressors when eliminating stock-predatory coyotes? Should they be finerd and imprisoned for this?
    Frank
     
    #95
  6. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Cody Fousnaugh
    At least, I can say I've rarely asked a lady's help to get out of a jam........
     
    #96
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  7. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Janice Martin
    When I lived in Chicago, the cops there were easy as pie to "get along with".
    Frank
     
    #97
  8. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Kalvin Mitnic

    Um.....er..., well, small wonder then about your avatar........
     
    #98
  9. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Cody Fousnaugh
    Few could blame him, no?
     
    #99
  10. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    It appears to me that the ultimate answer to all this comment is that private, law-abiding citizens should remain as much as possible, "holed-up" within their domiciles, remain essentially ignorant of possible serious outdoors goings-on, and if they must, call 911 from within the brick walls of safety. Stay uninvolved. Remain uncaring. Let the other guy fend for himself. Believe very few, trust none. (facetiousness intended)
    Frank
     
    #100
  11. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    At our age, wife and I, physically couldn't afford to get involved any type of crime or conflict we might see happen.

    As far as turning on a body camera while an officer is seated in a patrol car, that couldn't be done. A body camera is put in the middle, towards the top, of the uniform shirt. If the camera was turned on, the officer would have to turn sideways in the vehicle seat to record what was going on at the window beside him/her. Get what I mean Chrissy?
     
    #101
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  12. Oh, you might if you were in this locale... the police officer in my family is my daughter :)
     
    #102
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  13. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I doubt that there are very many people in police departments anywhere in this country who go to work hoping that they get a chance to kill someone during their shift. Today, more so than even a decade ago, their lives are very much in danger every day that they put on that uniform. A lot of prominent people, including elected officials, have made it okay to kill a cop today, and some people are made to feel that this is something to be proud of.

    Police are being set up for false allegations by people who know full well that the media will go along with whatever story they want to tell, and that politicians will take to the microphones to make heroes of them.

    Police are being set up to be assassinated as well, and this is something they need to be aware of too. Every traffic stop could mean the end of their life. Just driving or walking the streets that they patrol could end their life without warning.

    These two variables lead to a couple of things that make the job of a police officer very difficult. For one, every police officer is well aware that if anyone is able to get video that can be edited to put them in a bad light, their career is over, and it's unlikely that the city they work for will back them up, and they can be sure that the media won't. Because of this, there might be a tendency for them to be very cautious about any action that they might take. This caution can lead to hesitation that can mean the end of their life in an instant.

    They know that too, because a significant segment of our population has made them targets. When someone pulls a cell phone out of their pocket, they have seconds to decide whether or not this poses a threat to them. Is it a gun, is it a cell phone, or is it something else? They have seconds to decide and the result of a wrong decision could mean the end of their career, the end of their freedom, or the end of their life. If someone wants to make an issue, there's no positive outcome for the police officer.

    On the other hand, the fact that they may very well become the victim of an assassination attempt, at any time and without provocation, can result in a scared police officer misidentifying a toy gun for a real one, or a cell phone for a gun, or an innocent movement as a threat to their life. Again, he or she has only seconds to decide.

    Anyone who has been following the threads here knows that I have been critical of police officers at times. Yes, sometimes they are wrong, and sometimes their wrong decisions are indeed based on racism or other factors that shouldn't turn an innocent person into a victim.

    Now, the picture that people get when racism is mentioned isn't the picture that I intend. I am not talking about a cop who hates black people, or Muslims, or someone else and sets out to kill one. There's no excuse for that, and those kind of people belong in prison, not on a police force. There are also not very many of them, thankfully.

    No, what I am talking about is the sort of racism that isn't so easily controlled. A year or so ago, the police were called to a report of a child with a gun. The dispatcher told the cops three times before they arrived that the report was that it was probably a toy gun. Yet, when the first cop arrived on the scene, almost as soon as he got out of the car, he shot the 12 year-old boy dead. The child wasn't given a reasonable chance to understand the seriousness of the situation or to put the gun down. He was a boy playing with a toy gun, as most of us have at the same age.

    I don't believe that this police officer shot this child because he hated black people and wanted to shoot a black child that day. I don't think he was an evil man, and I doubt very much doubt that intended to shoot a black person, let alone a black child.

    However, at the same time, I strongly suspect that if this had been a 12 year-old white child, the outcome would have been different.

    I don't know what the answer to these problems are. There may not be any. There are no easy answers because there are too many people today who don't want reasonable solutions.

    Looking at the problem from another perspective, the police are trained in the responsible use of firearms. They are also trained to recognize a threat. They also have to go through periodic retraining. This is why people who are in favor of strong gun control will often insist that only the police should be allowed to possess a firearm.

    Some states require firearms training in order for a citizen to carry a firearm, but not nearly as much training as the police receive. In some states, including Maine, no training whatsoever is required in order for a citizen to carry a firearm.

    Yet, I am held to a much higher standard. I am allowed to carry a firearm, and to use a firearm in the protection of my life. Yet, if a trained police officer mistakes a cell phone for a handgun and shoots someone, the chances are very good that it is going to be ruled a good shoot, and he won't be charged with a crime. He probably won't even get a reprimand. But if I were to mistake a cell phone for a handgun and shoot someone, thinking that my life was in danger, the same police officer would put me in cuffs in a moment, and there is almost no chance that I will be able to avoid a prison sentence. Certainly, I will never again be able to possess a firearm.

    Something is wrong there too, but I'm not sure what the answer is.
     
    #103
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2017
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  14. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson
    Good write! Thank you. Valid points. By "carry a firearm" in Maine, do you mean "open" carry, or concealed? Most states allow concealed only by permit. A few allow no-permit unrestricted concealed carry of a weapon for residents of that state not under, or ever having been under, criminal indictment, which means most everyone. AZ is such a state. Obviously then, it makes little sense to restrict open carry in such a state.
    Frank
     
    #104
  15. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Very good post, Ken!
     
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