I agree with your last paragraph. I'm not a policeman but as a serviceman and a civilian I've had to stand up for something or someone on occasion. If you have concerns,I think you have to air them.

@Paul_Clamberer I presume you know (and we've both been in the service) how hard it can be to stand out from the crowd, even when it's the right thing to do. None of the privates at My Lai thought of themselves as murderers; they had orders to follow.

Many police departments talk in terms of being at war with "the criminal element"; many people talk in terms of being at war with the police. When this militarized language is used, it's far too easy to fall into a mindset where "the enemy" is anyone who pushes back.

Even though it's fictional, End Of Watch is a good film to see how police officers cope with the day to day issues and see the actual reactions of people on the street to a uniform. Their interactions are almost identical to mine and my fellow officers in the prison setting. Some are friendly, some are neutral, some would like to see us dead, and it's hard sometimes to tell which is which; hence the stress and sometimes the anger.

It has become clearer in the past couple of weeks that the bad cops are by far in the majority. There is no outcry by the supposedly good cops about what their associates are doing. I've known law enforcement officers and they have been bigots and generally unenlightened.

@Theresa_N I respectfully disagree. Nobody I work with thinks these cops were at all justified.

Word

@Jetty I will share a more to the point answer later in this post. Also, this is not directed at or intended to be a blow to you for asking your questions. I'm simply just answering. But with that being said, the way I feel about the things you just shared, as a black person, is that some people assume that the problematic 'system' in place would never lie or manipulate information to push an agenda. For example, here's a way that people can push an agenda with numbers while not actually 'thinking' about the actual numbers. If about 76% of the US population is white and about 13% of the US population is black, there are certain things that should be acknowledged.

1. There are significantly more white people in the US than any other race. Therefore, any 'smaller' percentage of crime among white people may be astronomical in comparison to any other race. For example. Let's say 300,000,000 makes up all of the US population. 76% of 300,000,000 is 22,800,000. 13% of 300,000,000 is 3,900,000. So let's say white people have a 60% crime rate and black people have an 70% crime rate. Well, 70% of 3,900,000 is 2,730,000. That is definitely a terrible number, but 60% of 22,800,000 is 136,800,000. Far exceeding the number of black crimes by actual numbers. This is not good for either race, but as you can see, a smaller percentage only looks good for the white race if you don't run the numbers in context. But that's not where it stops. You would also need to take into account the number of people that may be wrongfully accused or people who were wrongfully not charged for a crime. (Don't quote me on the numbers. This is purely used as an example.)

2. The same white people who had slaves centuries ago had offspring. And they taught their offspring how to hate. That's why this race struggle still exists. It keeps being taught by some people. Some of these people are the same people over the system we use. Slavery in and of itself was never completely abolished, because someone can legally become a slave (via a loophole 13th amendment) once they are convicted of something.

3. Optics/labels leave a mark. Terms like black on black crime are coined to make black people hate each other and make it seem as though black on black crime is worse than white on white crime or any other race on itself crime. This is exactly the type of labeling that the Trump does. If he doesn't like someone, he labels them in a negative way and pushes that label. Crooked Hillary "Lock her up", Lyin' Ted, Pocahontas, Crazy Maxine Waters, Crazy Joe Biden, Little Marco, and so on. Classic Trump.

4. There is a long history of wrong doing to black people that goes back many centuries. And when I say wrong doings, I mean disrespect on pretty much all fronts. And the root of the problem has never truly been dealt with. That's why there are still modern day lynchings like what we saw with George Floyd. It was on camera for everyone to see. We all watched as a cop took this black man's life without any remorse. There was no struggle. The officer's hands were in his pockets. The fact that black Americans had to watch yet ANOTHER black person die at the hands of a white cop that will more than likely get off the hook for everything is quite frustrating. This has been going on since forever. It's just being filmed now. So going back to #3, the optics have changed due to the availability of easily uploading or streaming events live. In other words, we are able to see more of what black people have been saying all along. The system is having a hard time silencing the media, because individuals are the media now.

So to answer your questions about how I feel about the articles you shared, I have always felt that police brutality has been an issue. It angers me that the man was shot in cold blood like that. The system needs to be fixed. Not just for blacks, but all races. It's abuse of power and it needs to be dealt with. This system in place puts black people in a very hard place when they are in law enforcement. I'm sure they want to do good, but they have to struggle with their own feelings about the system and their own safety from not only other black people, but corrupt cops that they work with. What do you think would happen to a black cop if they tried to prevent a white cop from killing an unarmed person of any race? Do you think they would be viewed as a hero by the system? Now what if that black cop had to kill that white cop to save an innocent person's life. How do you think that story would end? What I'm saying is, white supremacy is most certainly a virus in this country. And I have to go back to #3 again. In the last part, this was shared from the black officer:

"I realized the African American community refuses to look within to solve its major issues, and instead makes excuses and looks outside for solutions. I realized that a lot of people in the African American lead with hate, instead of love. Division instead of Unity. Turmoil and rioting, instead of Peace. I realized that they have become the very entity that they claim they are fighting against.

I realized that the very reasons I became a cop, are the very reasons my own people hate me, and now in this toxic hateful racially charged political climate, I am now more likely to die,… and it is still hard for me to understand…. to this day."

Unfortunately, this is what the systems that we are under will do to a black man with good intentions. It will make them believe black people are animals, mean, ungrateful, and unreasonable people. All I can say is, if this country had no history of slavery (that is still present) and racism (that is also still present), it might make more sense to say something like that. But because this history actually happened (even though it's glossed over and not really taught properly in schools), black people can not just ignore it and be the bigger human being. We're seeing the same struggles from over 50 years ago. My father said what's going on in 2020 reminds him of what he was seeing in 1968. What that tells me is that nothing has changed. Peaceful protests are not working. Rosa Parks sat down on a bus and was arrested for not sitting in the 'colored' section. Martin Luther King protested peacefully and was shot. Colin Kaepernick took a knee and was black balled and called an SOB by the president. When the system was built to discredit black people, that's what it will do. And that's what it has been doing. There's always a distraction (by design) to change the discussion until another 'event' happens that reignites the issue. It's a cycle. The system will allow protests and riots as long as the cycle doesn't require the system to change. Our system and how it manipulates people is really messed up. There's just way too much to address and very tiring.

Bingo! I mean, I agree completely.

Believe it or not, the number one reason recruits say they want to be cops is “to help people” but they get inculturated into the fold. it is also profession that attracts people on power and hero trips. Hiring, training, and leadership crucial. Doesn’t need to be this way.

@NJSnarky Beauty pageant contestants say that they are there "to help people" too. It is an answer that no one can take offense to and apparently gives the interviewer the impression that the person is a "good" person because they want to "help people". It's one of the easiest lies told in an interview.

Cops get, at most, 6 months of training and then given a gun to go out and do their jobs. The idea that 6 months of training gives anyone the ability to make almost instantaneous life and death decisions is ridiculous on it's face, but somehow, in America, it's "heroic". Beauticians need 2 years and they are just cutting and styling hair.

Policing in America is doing exactly what it is designed to do, keeping people where the powers that be want them. It's why psychopaths can join and prosper in their ranks.

@NJSnarky That maybe true that new recruits say they want to help people, however I can't imagine them saying that they want power. I can't imagine them saying they want to be able to beat up people, and smack down minorities. I have a feeling that many in law enforcement seek the power, and then it also goes to their head.

@AmmaRE007 Why I went into the profession was partly to serve the people, and partly because it was supposed to be a job with a pension.

There can be a lot of anger in the job. Officers feel often they're assumed to be the enemy by anyone they deal with, and on the other side people don't understand why an officer can't just shrug an offense off or look the other way. I understand the frustration on both sides and how a conversation can quickly become a confrontation.

@Paul4747 What do you mean "shrug an offense off or look the other way"? Cops are killing, maiming and beating people that are not committing crimes. That's what people don't understand.

The way a person can demonstrate that they aren't the enemy is to not back up companions that brutalize citizens. It's just that simple. Turn in the bad ones and go to court and testify against them. The idea that people should trust cops that do nothing when their cohorts are brutalizing people is insulting.

@redbai I'm talking about an everyday encounter like wanting to tear up a speeding ticket, that's all. I'm sorry I gave the wrong impression.

So many 'pork chops,' aka Cops, seem to live in a world I often dub as the Sargeant Schultz (Hogan's Heroes) mindset of " I saw nothing, I know nothing."
So again I ask, Who, exactly, watches over the Watchdogs?

I agree

@Lorajay I’m only guessing and going off hearsay but it seems like good cops are unable to or aren’t listened to if they try to turn in the bad and corrupt police

@Marcie1974 "The Blue Brotherhood" designed to protect each other when things get a little out of hand. Defense lawyers make many cops lives frustrating therefore the reason for some of their tactics but it's a different story when police are actually afraid.

@Marcie1974 one need only read or watch Serpico to see why standing up to the bad cops rather than just doing your job best you can and keeping your mouth shut is a life changing decision. For most cops (and this applies to so many other organizations, if not human groups of any kind), it’s easier to just find another career or another police force than to break out against a fellow officer. It is the same in the military or prison guards, , as far as results: bad leaders create innocent dead bodies. But standing up can also get you killed.

@Barnie2years I’m an optimistic person and reading that just makes me sad

@Marcie1974 Especially with Donald Trump, their "president" as an example. [Will the whistle blower please stand up!] As I said earlier. Look what happened to Frank Serpico! The "Fraternal Order of Police" has a lot to do with this, and here I revert to my original statement about military cameraderie.

Exactly. They are professionals, supposedly. They are law enforcement. If they allow despicable behavior to occur among their ranks, which clearly they do, they are all to blame.

To blame a few bad apples is to ignore the massively larger issue of a sick, aggressive police culture of violence and oppression. They are in need of massive reform, all of them.

I agree massive reform is needed. Reform will be a lot harder to accomplish if every cop is automatically labeled a bad cop.

@Lorajay it's not just racism, too many cops have an ingrained us against them mindset that begins in training and is reinforced by their fellow officers. It is prevalent in large areas where police don't live in the jurisdiction where they work and have no ties to the community. Police unions and administrations protect the bad cops and keep them on the job. At the same time they demand more money which continues to elicit no improvement in police effectiveness or behavior.

As soon as anyone suggests reform or that law enforcement funds could be better spent, they are labelled as anti-cop and pro crime. As soon as community oversight of police is suggested, law enforcement agencies and their unions go ballistic. They claim nobody understands or can judge their actions. Why are the good cops so opposed to any oversight or investigation? I understand that nobody wants outsiders meddling in their jobs, but surely they are at least intelligent enough to understand that there has to be accountability.

Absofuckinlutely!

Are we not doing the same thing now when it comes to police?

@Lorajay They can choose not to be cops. You can't choose to not be black.

@JohnnyQB By definition, there can't be racism against the dominant race.

Also, since when are people obligated to support their opinions with evidence.

And finally, you sound very angry. I am not here for that.

Exactly. White people get the mentally ill or deranged or one bad person defense. Whereas minorities get "othered" and grouped as one big bad monolith. Racialized communities are just as heterogenuous as white communities.

Your last paragraph really hits it and is right on.

SeptemberW: As I reported earlier, there were over 1000 people killed by police last year and a third of them were not even armed, and the number is probably higher than reported. I didn't hear how many of those people were "Black" but I'm sure it must be a very high percentage.

I agree with your perspective.

I agree, but I would add that this paramilitary cultural transformation did not simply happen at random It is, in my opinion, an unfortunate but understandable reaction to the absolute flood of high powered weaponry now flowing through America. Nearly impossible to be Officer Friendly these days when one starts each shift knowing what they could be walking into.

The problem is not simple. Not only do the police need far more accountability, but there need to be many more diverse community services provided for and funded for OTHER community partners to lead, so that the police are not called to answer every situation. AND they need to know this insane sea of powerful weaponry has been curtailed by common sense gun control. Otherwise, the police's job will automatically amount to battlefield-like warfare. ....and yes, none of this erases the racism that is still pervasive.

@Decieven Sure. I put it on my pages. Feel free to put it on yours. Are your "friends" mostly equally-minded? I'm not sure I want a lot of right wingers chiding me. It's just an opinion and I don't really enjoy controversy.

@Decieven, @MikeInBatonRouge I had a similar response to my commentary on F.B. and this was my respone to it; " I agree that we are overarmed in this country, and that it makes their job much harder, but that is inherent in today's job of policing, thanks to our right-wing politicians and lobbying organizations such as the N.R.A., to which many police officers belong, incidentally. But that only heightens the risk of their chosen profession and does nothing to excuse the thousands of incidents of shootings, beatings and strangling of citizens suspected of some crime. In 2019, about one thousand Americans were shot by police officers and over 1/3 of the victims were unarmed. We are close to the top of gun related deaths among so-called "developed countries"."

@fishline79 "excusing" excessive police force is not the same thing as explaining it. It is unacceptable no matter what. But unless we understand it, we have little hope of changing it.
The inexcusable torrent of weapons on the streets, coupled with low cop pay, discourages genuinely kind people from considering a career in law enforcement and increases likelihood of Rambo tough guy types looking for power. The same strengthens the closed coverup brotherhood culture, where calling out a bad cop likely ends up burning the whistleblower.

@MikeInBatonRouge That's about what I'm trying to say.

Re. "...should have stayed on facebook...," That seems to imply that this site is total enlightenment. Uh, not so much. There is terrific enlightening discussion here, for sure, but also a lot of differing perspectives. I think this post reflects a perspective unfortunately shared by some others here, and I am glad we are getting the chance to confront it.

@MikeInBatonRouge Most social media seems enlightened when compared to facebook IMO. The OP asked "Did I get that right"? My comment was written because the post seems polemic. Keep in mind I usually agree with @Lorajay and you.

@kensmile4u I get it, and I agree. I was just airing my gut reaction, which was to think despite this site's clearly more enlightened tone compared to facebook, we are also varied on this site, and not everyone shares the same views, naturally. I want it posted, because surely others think that way, and we can then have a discussion and at least imagine that some education is taking place on important issues.

Serpico comes to mind!

Yes, Many of them are just trying to survive in a chaotic unfair world. If you remember that was part of my original statement. I think I was actually aiming my statement mainly at cops to make them understand that no one should be grouped into a group of all of anything.