Posted on 08/16/2010 5:08:17 PM PDT by Upstate NY Guy
If mine were truly a free country, US police wouldn't wield such immense power or employ such aggressive tactics against their own citizenry – a militarisation of our police forces that started with the war on drugs and intensified after 9/11.
Consider: can you invent a realistic scenario wherein you shoot a man dead; justify it with a story witnesses contradict; confiscate any surveillance video; claim a "glitch" makes it impossible to show the video to anyone else – all while enjoying the support of state legal apparatus?
Police in Las Vegas did that last month, after they shot Erik Scott seven times as he exited a Costco. Cops say Scott pointed a gun at them; witnesses say Scott's licensed weapon was in a concealed holster, and five of those seven shots hit him in the back. The confiscated surveillance video might settle the question; too bad about that glitch....
In 2004, Malaika Brooks, then seven months pregnant, was stopped for speeding in Seattle. She refused to sign the ticket – a non-arrestable misdemeanour at the time, though she was arrested for it anyway – and was Tasered three times. Last March, a federal appeals court ruled that the Tasering, which left permanent scars, was not "excessive force" since it only inflicted "temporary, localised pain".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Two Tampa police officers shot, killed during traffic stop
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/two-tampa-police-officers-shot-killed-during-traffic-stop/1105674
In the UK you cannot take a crap without a government camera on you. What is this person talking about
popcorn ping
I believe that this issue deserves a lot more attention by all freedom loving citizens!
That’s because the law-abiding public is the enemy of the state.
>> Two Tampa police officers shot, killed during traffic stop
And not all teachers are pedophiles.
What’s your point?
Having said that, there is something apparently wrong when people who apparently are presenting no threat are being shot five, six, seven times.
Maybe its training, maybe its procedure, maybe its general unpredictability in society itself, but something is definitely wrong.
Tragic, tragic, tragic.
Soon as the Costco tapes were “glitched” it pretty much confirmed to me that nothing really out of the ordinary was going on, just a anti-gun Costco employee thinking he was going to get someone in trouble.
Funny how tapes never glitch when they prove what the store and police claim.
I think the training is a big part of the problem. These guys are trained to react to a certain situation. In the Costco case the perceived situation was probably all wrong. The cops probably did not know this was a law abiding West Point grad/veteran with a concealed weapon permit and not a threat at all.
Probably some idiot Costco clerk made some crazy statements to the 911 operator and the cops started following the wrong template. They may have already figured the situation was going to end in a deadly shooting and the events followed this course.
“Cops, every day, willingly take awful risks of being shot while on duty” - the common cry of badge lapping socialists.
According to the US Dept. of Labor, being a cop means you are NOT in one of the ten most dangerous occupations. Construction workers, commercial fishermen, loggers, and seven other occupations are the most dangerous.
Being a cop is not all that dangerous.
But cops are necessary for any police state, and American socialists have high hopes. Plus, cops are government employees, and grossly overpaid and egregiously over benefit equipped ones at that.
A handful of cops being shot is NO REASON WHATSOEVER for American cops acting like steroid enraged jack booted storm troopers.
Unless - horrid thought, they are steroid enraged, jack booted storm troopers.
Ping!
>>I’ve always respected and appreciated the police.<<
Ten years ago I would have said the same thing. Now it has changed to, “I fear unrestrained police tactics and questionable department investigative methods. I totally disagree with SWAT no knock procedures and killing dogs in 95% of the cases.
And the person that shot them was a criminal that deserves to be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison. Just like the cops in Nevada that shot down the former military officer that was exercising his right to carry a weapon and, according to witness accounts, did not resist. All cops aren't bad. They all aren't good either.
There were conflicting witness reports. You should probably wait until the coroner's inquest in September.
I will. Thanks.
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