LAPD Plan to Curb Flashlight Beatings

Yahoo news ^ | 12/15/2004 | Unknown

[mhking]

The beatings will continue until morale improves...

[Fierce Allegiance]

The flashlights we were issued came with several lenses. One was a white opaque lens. My chief asked what it was for, so I told him it was for blind people. He never got it.

[discostu]

I thought that was the purpose of those big mags. Everybody I know who has one (including myself) considers them a tool of self defense. The light projection is just a bonus feature.

[rightinthemiddle]

Substitute "9MM Ruger" for "flashlight" in the article...it's even funnier.

[Ryan Spock]

At the time of the Miller incident, the LAPD had no formal policy on proper use of a flashlight to subdue a suspect.

Formal policy on proper use? Like a Standing Operating Procedure?

1) Shine flashlight into suspect's eyes while chanting "Go toward the light, go toward the light" in a slow, calming voice.

2) Continue this until suspect enters a semi-trance state, then give the signal to your partner or other officer on the scene.

3) Upon receiving the signal, the partner or assistant will find the nearest blunt object and strike the suspect repeatedly (may we suggest a flashlight for this task?)

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

That would be the NAACF - because if you noticed, all the flashlights being used are umm...non-white. There might be a racial side to this story we are not getting from the media. /sarcasm

[Xenalyte]

Dude, this is too funny. I am in Holiday Hell right now, and this made me laugh for the first time today.

And I'm with you . . . it's about damn time this burning issue was addressed.

[Ryan Spock]

I am in Holiday Hell right now...

Hey, we should get together and hang out! I'm staying at the Holiday Purgatory just down the street!

[PoorMuttly]

I hope the rubber flashlights are pink.

They would go nicely with plastic handguns and sneakers.

Builds esprit d'corps, doncha know. Gangs, beware.

[stockpirate]

The new plan will limit the number of flashlight beating that each officer can administer. Officers with more time on the force can of course beat more people with a flashlight than a new recruit.

We are hoping to decrease flashlight beatings by 10%.


lol

[B Knotts]

The city's police commission unveiled a plan Tuesday aimed at discouraging officers from using flashlights as weapons, except in emergencies.

So...the current policy is to beat people with flashlights when it isn't an emergency?

[AreaMan]

As soon as they figure out how to install a lamp and some batteries, this will be the LAPD replacement for all flashlights:

[Humvee]

I agree about banning flashlights. They should be using their nightsticks!

[OB1kNOb]

When the batteries ran down. No more juice.

[mvpel]

And in spite of their enormous size, they only put out about as much light as one of these little guys, which fit in the palm of your hand:

My local PD carries collapsable batons - why risk damaging a perfectly good flashlight on an unruly suspect?

[timpad]

This is absolutely the single funniest headline I have read all day.

Apparently, there's a bumper crop: Bus Death Mystery

I'm sure that a bus turning up dead is quite the mystery.

[KneelBeforeZod]

[mvpel]

At the time of the Miller incident, the LAPD had no formal policy on proper use of a flashlight to subdue a suspect.

Leave it to the LAPD to set themselves up for a lawsuit.

The Monadnock company here in New Hampshire, which produces the Monadnock Expandable Baton, has a lot of detailed training materials and courses that are necessary if you want your officers to avoid accidentally inflicting serious injury or death on a suspect. There are certain regions of the body, indicated in red on their training chart, that pose a significant risk of serious injury if struck.

If a police officer is going to strike someone in one of those regions with a baton, he'd darn well better know why it was necessary and be able to state it in court if he's planning on a comfortable retirement.

[PeterFinn]

"LAPD Plan to Curb Flashlight Beatings"

Going back to just shooting them?

[Larry Lucido]

"I only hit him with the beam, your Honor."