She's done this before. She doesn't want to understand.

I do not agree that they are murdering POC out of fear. I believe they are doing it because they believe they can get away with it. What I saw in that cop's face as he was killing George Floyd was not "fear", it was "power". I'm not buying into cops being scared. If that's the case, they should stop being a cop. That's not a reason for anyone to die.

@redbai i agree. I don’t think fear comes into it, at all.

@redbai A show last night exposed that they knew each other, worked together and that they "bumped" heads. It was personal. It brought a lot of attention to police brutality and it's frequency to POC. The media is making a huge profit by manipulating the mindset of the public by pushing buttons and getting people to jump to conclusions. Fear is the essence of all things. Fear breeds everything that we use to survive. It's just the amount of fear that tends to get noticed.

Interestingly, chauvin was a criminal himself! IF we take those peoples' argument at face value and apply it, Chauvin deserves to be killed by some executioner cop himself.

The Police Union makes them all complicit. The eager militarization makes them unfortunately fall under the umbrella of thugs even if they are not.

I was in a protest some time ago where we occupied Senator Packwood's office in Portland, Or. A policeman walked into the room full of peaceful protestors and said, "I am in control and all of you will now leave the Federal Building." No one knew whether or not he had any authority but then 250 people sat down on the floor. The policeman got really mad and left to get the FBI. An agent walked into the room, introduced himself and asked that we stay as long as we wanted, we had the right to do so, and he was going to be having a talk with the previous officer. After the FBI guy talked about half of the people in the room left It was a fun day.

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.

YES, i agree with you. Did you notice how the white supremacist groups march in Washington with faces hidden and armed.. and were not attacked by the police..and there were no record of any license to march at all

Where are all these "good cops" while people /journalist are being shot with rubber bullets? A Homelees Disable man IN a Wheelchair was shot in the face with a rubber bullet. He's now Blind in his right eye..yeah good cops..

@Charlene I agree but also realize that the bad cops and their horrible actions are what makes the news. We almost never hear of those doing a good job. I try not to generalize about people. We are all the same but also all different.

@AmmaRE007 No, but also understand the idea of mob rule. If one cop goes after a group often others will follow. This is the problem with many of the police groups. Too much armoring and heavy/terrifying weapons. They feel invincible and all in it together. Subtle intimidation (going against the crowd - meaning the police groups) often get people doing things of which they don't agree.

@Charlene Perhaps we need to look outside the places that are getting all the news. There have been a few where the cops (usually without all the armor and in small numbers) siding with the protestors.

@JackPedigo

I did not think you were racist from the post .This is the problem. First off, what is so horrible about standing up for good policeman in the first place .And second , dwelling on hundreds of years of being treated unfairly should not be placed on the backs of the people of today .

@bebe12 Your White Privilege today derives from such mistreatment. So working for justice is on your back if you don't want to be considered passively racist.

@bebe12 You feel bad about the charge of racism being place "on your back?" Try having a cop's knee pressing there! Oh, right! Your White Privilege protects you from that! And it helps create that sweet illusion of White Innocence, the illusion that the safe and decent life you have is not based on the continued exploitation and subjugation of others. It's so sweet to enjoy that you resent it being challenged...

POC are still being mistreated THIS VERY DAY! Are you honestly so naive you think once slavery was over everything was swell for freed slaves? No. Enter Jim crow laws followed by policies enacted to target and disenfranchise black and brown americans such as redlining of neighbourhoods, credit card denials or higher interest rates, lower wages earned, poorer housing options, poorer underfunded schools to attend, lower quality of healthcare, overrepresentation in jails for non violent crimes, the school to prison pipeline, longer sentences to the same crimes as whites, etc. etc. Nobody needs to dwell on 100s of years ago when shit has yet to be resolved or fixed RIGHT NOW.

There are far too many similar stories in the US!

I read about it and it sickened me.

If that one "good" cop fails to intervene in the inappropriate actions of their colleagues, they are as guilty as their colleagues.

Its a lot more complicated than that.

@PondartIncbendog no it's not..if I saw You attempting to hurt a child I'd kick you in balls..Thou knew what was happening and Did Nothing..

@Charlene What? That doesn't make any sense.

@PondartIncbendog misspelled Chauvin's partners last name..

@LovinLarge It is the important word in your statement. I agree that cops that support officers performing bad acts are complicit.

My main problem is with the word all.

@Lorajay They are all in the same union. They are all culpable. This is a systemic problem.

Not all of them resigned and not all of them clapped.

@Lorajay Most did.

@Lorajay "The entire Buffalo Police Department Emergency Response Team has resigned".

[thehill.com]

What I read in the Guardian is that the team resigned because the insurance company covering personal liability for the team stated it would not cover any exposure from oppressing demonstrators. This was supposedly because two of the team were charged.

@Theresa_N Surely when one is at work doing ones job you are covered by your place of work not special personal liability? Of course it is different if you bring a gun to work and start shooting people or in any other way harming them, but then your place of work is not responsible for what you have done unless they have instructed you to do so. It doesn't seem right what the Guardian is saying about the reason for them resigning.

Well, it doesn't matter, all that matters is the rest of the team cheered the two guilty of assault when they came out of the courtroom. They're all collectively guilty.

@Theresa_N Indeed they are.

that is true but irrelevant (not to the question, totally relevant to the question, but irrelevant to the current protests) because it is not the protesters who are violent. they are ringers.

g

I don't know what's going on in the world, I have my own life to deal with.i love everyone whatever their color or beliefs. I do find it strange that a responsible driver is pulled over 3000 miles from home,officers line the interstate, my car emptied along said interstate, because a simple silver necklace hanging from the mirror was an obstruction of view. He looked at my license and saw it was from West Virginia. He asked if I knew of the state police academy there. Many other officers falsely accusing me of being dead also graduated from the same school.
I completely agree that there are a few good officers out there, but there are way too many that have had their heart ripped out and are seeking promotion instead of offering protection.

@Holysocks Sadly the necklace was an excuse they used to stop you.
You were profiled as possibly being a drug trafficker and since you wanted to be cooperative they took it as they could to attempt to find what they believe is there.

They asked you a ton of questions and you were most likely asked the same questions by other law enforcement officers.
That was to get your story and to see if you would vary from it.

Big ass mistake that most honest people don’t realize is when they start asking you questions you don’t have to answer them.

You simply ask them what was their reason for pulling you over or stopping you while walking. If they tell you that it’s for an offense then you ask them for the penal code.
And if it’s not a felony then you simply instruct them to right you a ticket and end the conversation there. ( I don’t have to answer any of your questions and my attorney will help with this summons.)

If you see a second vehicle pull in then be prepared to be removed from your vehicle because now they’re gonna try to cite that they have reasonable suspicion.

And I can’t stress enough do not fight them, do not refuse to exit your vehicle this will only escalate the situation and will cement their suspicions that you’re hiding something illegal and they can then cite that you’re interfering with a police investigation and they will most likely tack on that you’re resisting arrest.

And if you do have something illegal then you need to tell them and let them have access to whatever it is and let your attorney take it from there. And go away with one charge.

Now if don’t have anything illegal you should still get out but you don’t have to give them consent to search your vehicle if you don’t want to but be prepared to be detained and harassed for at least an hour.

Also before you step out of your vehicle you should roll your windows up and as soon as the door is closed lock them.
They can’t just use the excuse of I thought I saw something.

You’re going to see more officers and a supervisor they’ll try nice cop and attempt to tell you that can’t do what you just did, that you’re going to jail and even use your kids and family to just simply let them have their way.

Once again you don’t have to answer their questions.
K9 will show up and if the dog states that there’s something there then they won’t need a warrant which is why I said if you’ve got it then just let them have it.

If the dog doesn’t sit then they have to get a warrant which will be difficult because their lack of evidence so they’ll once again attempt to intimidate you or convince you to just simply let them have their way.

The answer is “ no “ and am I under arrest.
They’ll reluctantly release you.
At which time you get with attorney and you lodge a complaint against them but don’t stop there contact your local government representatives by mail or email and advise them that their officers are profiling and you make sure that they respond to you just in case you begin to get harassed and then you go to the state attorney general’s office and repeat your complaint.

Now this is the most important thing that I can tell everyone.
If you’re pulled by law enforcement and you know for a fact that you weren’t violating any laws.

You need to let people know that you’ve just been pulled and if you can once you see the officer/deputy/trooper give your people their name and why the said they were pulling you over.

This creates a time stamp just in case their cameras aren’t “ working “ and The Who and why.
I say this because of the creative writing classes that law enforcement goes through can at times vary from what actually took place and if your family or attorney doesn’t any better then you might not win in court.

And just in case anyone here decides to use their phone or any other form of recording device please keep in mind that if used for your defense or to file a complaint against the officer that it and it’s contents are subject to review by their side.

So if you naughty things with phone, or if you’re cheating on your spouse this will be brought up in court.
If you have a recording device in your vehicle and they review all of your recordings which they will and you’ve committed any crimes while in that vehicle they can and most likely will charge for them.

So yes there are bad cops but they’re still operating within the guidelines given to them by our government.
And honestly the best way to solve our issues with law enforcement is to rewrite the guidelines as to limit their power over us and for the public to learn what they are and how they’re supposed to be carried out.