Warrior Cop My...[CW: Warrior Cops, Nazis]
October 31, 2020 8:59 PM Subscribe
In a story broke in the Manual Redeye the school paper for duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky by the two teenage children of a lawyer involved in an officer involved shooting and picked up by the New York Times we get a taste of the kind of classes that have been (and may still be) given to police academy cadets.
Deconstructing the Warrior Cop came to national prominence by way of MeFi's own Radley Balko in his book The Rise of the Warrior Cop but it has unquestionably been a growing concern in light of this year's events.
The training slides show the mentality of a profession that has been infected with the ideas of Killology, an utterly corrupt ideology that masquerades as a (psuedo-)science and more than enough Adolf Hitler to make it clear that promoting fascism was not a concern for the teacher.
The point that seems clear is that with the idea that de-escalation training is not enough the movement to restructure emergency services/de-fund the police may also be insufficient. Police oversight needs to be thorough from beginning to end. Support local police oversight as well as restructuring. There is at least one national organization the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. Contact your local (city, county, and state) police oversight organization(s) and ask them about training oversight.
Also kudos to Satchel and Cooper Walton. Bravo!
Deconstructing the Warrior Cop came to national prominence by way of MeFi's own Radley Balko in his book The Rise of the Warrior Cop but it has unquestionably been a growing concern in light of this year's events.
The training slides show the mentality of a profession that has been infected with the ideas of Killology, an utterly corrupt ideology that masquerades as a (psuedo-)science and more than enough Adolf Hitler to make it clear that promoting fascism was not a concern for the teacher.
The point that seems clear is that with the idea that de-escalation training is not enough the movement to restructure emergency services/de-fund the police may also be insufficient. Police oversight needs to be thorough from beginning to end. Support local police oversight as well as restructuring. There is at least one national organization the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. Contact your local (city, county, and state) police oversight organization(s) and ask them about training oversight.
Also kudos to Satchel and Cooper Walton. Bravo!
This is so bad it's hard to parody. The instructors sure talk a lot of shit for someone in a professions that's considerably less dangerous than logging, fishing or piloting. (If you click the link you'll see that police is not even in the top 10 most dangerous professions in the US).
posted by Harald74 at 11:23 PM on October 31, 2020 [32 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 11:23 PM on October 31, 2020 [32 favorites]
Look, those loggers, fishers, and pilots would just be safer if they were armed and had the training police had. The violence of logs, fish, and planes can all easily be stopped by bullets and excessive violence, or so I'm told.
posted by deadaluspark at 11:35 PM on October 31, 2020 [22 favorites]
posted by deadaluspark at 11:35 PM on October 31, 2020 [22 favorites]
This is so far gone it creates a blast radius: all the cops who saw this deck and didn't flip their shit at the fucking Hitler violence worship for fuck's sake ought to be fired.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:54 PM on October 31, 2020 [80 favorites]
posted by away for regrooving at 11:54 PM on October 31, 2020 [80 favorites]
You know, maybe police jobs are too easy and they're bored. I wonder what would happen if we took away their guns, tripled their pay and cut their numbers in half.
I mean we generally don't have issues with the FBI which is another law enforcement agency that's viewed as a bit more professional. With the amount of automation through Nest/NextDoor apps, even traffic violations on the verge of being entirely automated, is it time to rethink what policing is? I heard somewhere that only 10% of police calls are even violent in nature.
posted by geoff. at 12:11 AM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
I mean we generally don't have issues with the FBI which is another law enforcement agency that's viewed as a bit more professional. With the amount of automation through Nest/NextDoor apps, even traffic violations on the verge of being entirely automated, is it time to rethink what policing is? I heard somewhere that only 10% of police calls are even violent in nature.
posted by geoff. at 12:11 AM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
OT but also note that to the extent that policing is dangerous it's due to car accidents.
posted by klanawa at 1:19 AM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
posted by klanawa at 1:19 AM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
I was thinking, OK, he snuck an anonymised Hitler quote in there, but no: he literally put the dude's name at the bottom. And the last page before the summary is a representation of the US flag being erected at Iwo Jima but with the words “Über Alles” superimposed. What the very actually fsck?
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:45 AM on November 1, 2020 [18 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:45 AM on November 1, 2020 [18 favorites]
Dude also quotes Bruce Wayne and Ben Parker. It's hard to believe people (as in LE) would take this nonsense seriously, but then people (as in LE) seem to want to take this nonsense seriously.
Grossman is also the turnip's "video games are murder simulators" guy, to the surprise of nobody.
Good work by these Manual Redeye folks.
posted by dumbland at 1:56 AM on November 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
Grossman is also the turnip's "video games are murder simulators" guy, to the surprise of nobody.
Good work by these Manual Redeye folks.
posted by dumbland at 1:56 AM on November 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
I wonder what would happen if we took away their guns, tripled their pay and cut their numbers in half.
I suggest we run police departments like a business. Say, Jack Welch's tenure at GE.
Set a KPI, say, "Case Clearance Rate", which I believe averages about 2 percent. Cops only solve 2% of reported crime.
Start with firing the bottom 20% of low performers, and set a goal of 10% clearance rate to keep your job. Then fire the losers every month, and fire the bottom 10% every year to get rid of the idiots whose only skill is gaming the KPIs
posted by mikelieman at 2:19 AM on November 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
I suggest we run police departments like a business. Say, Jack Welch's tenure at GE.
Set a KPI, say, "Case Clearance Rate", which I believe averages about 2 percent. Cops only solve 2% of reported crime.
Start with firing the bottom 20% of low performers, and set a goal of 10% clearance rate to keep your job. Then fire the losers every month, and fire the bottom 10% every year to get rid of the idiots whose only skill is gaming the KPIs
posted by mikelieman at 2:19 AM on November 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
While I assume it's an ironic joke, you realise that's a fantastically bad idea, don't you? What happens when you impose targets on public services is that the way the services operate change to meet the targets rather than do their job.
For example, clearing cases: if this can be taken to mean getting convictions for criminal offences, if that's the only criterion for a successful case, then the simplest way to deal with it would be to round up the people you think should be imprisoned (who also have the least recourse to opposition to you) and extract confessions from them.
(Which is basically how the system works anyway, but targetising the process would pump it full of steroids.)
The other way it's done is to find ways to declassify as many cases as possible, so they no longer fall within your remit.
There's a section of the second episode of Adam Curtis' series The Trap, which describes the ways in which the use of targets by the New Labour government from 1997-2010 distorted the structures they were intended to improve.
Much better would be referring the aims of police departments back to the original Peelian principles that the Metropolitan Police Force was founded upon (and it would probably be good for the Met to do the same thing).
posted by Grangousier at 3:22 AM on November 1, 2020 [34 favorites]
For example, clearing cases: if this can be taken to mean getting convictions for criminal offences, if that's the only criterion for a successful case, then the simplest way to deal with it would be to round up the people you think should be imprisoned (who also have the least recourse to opposition to you) and extract confessions from them.
(Which is basically how the system works anyway, but targetising the process would pump it full of steroids.)
The other way it's done is to find ways to declassify as many cases as possible, so they no longer fall within your remit.
There's a section of the second episode of Adam Curtis' series The Trap, which describes the ways in which the use of targets by the New Labour government from 1997-2010 distorted the structures they were intended to improve.
Much better would be referring the aims of police departments back to the original Peelian principles that the Metropolitan Police Force was founded upon (and it would probably be good for the Met to do the same thing).
posted by Grangousier at 3:22 AM on November 1, 2020 [34 favorites]
Set a KPI, say, "Case Clearance Rate", which I believe averages about 2 percent. Cops only solve 2% of reported crime.
Start with firing the bottom 20% of low performers, and set a goal of 10% clearance rate to keep your job. Then fire the losers every month, and fire the bottom 10% every year to get rid of the idiots whose only skill is gaming the KPIs
This is a 100% surefire way to get a whole lot more innocent black people charged with shit they had nothing to do with.
posted by automatronic at 3:25 AM on November 1, 2020 [74 favorites]
Start with firing the bottom 20% of low performers, and set a goal of 10% clearance rate to keep your job. Then fire the losers every month, and fire the bottom 10% every year to get rid of the idiots whose only skill is gaming the KPIs
This is a 100% surefire way to get a whole lot more innocent black people charged with shit they had nothing to do with.
posted by automatronic at 3:25 AM on November 1, 2020 [74 favorites]
I suggest we run police departments like a business. Say, Jack Welch's tenure at GE.
“Running government like a business” is the dumbest idea in modern politics. They are entirely different tools with entirely different jobs that happen to look vaguely alike from a mile up. You might as well be telling a navy captain to fly their submarine into O’Hare because it’s kind of the same shape as a 747.
posted by mhoye at 4:05 AM on November 1, 2020 [45 favorites]
“Running government like a business” is the dumbest idea in modern politics. They are entirely different tools with entirely different jobs that happen to look vaguely alike from a mile up. You might as well be telling a navy captain to fly their submarine into O’Hare because it’s kind of the same shape as a 747.
posted by mhoye at 4:05 AM on November 1, 2020 [45 favorites]
I wonder what would happen if we took away their guns, tripled their pay and cut their numbers in half.
and
I suggest we run police departments like a business.
Eh. If we're going to throw around quick barroom fixes, the one I suggest is that every street cop be required to live in the neighborhood they patrol and walk or bicycle their beat with no gun. Train a bunch of negotiator cops who know and understand everyone they see every day.
posted by pracowity at 4:21 AM on November 1, 2020 [19 favorites]
and
I suggest we run police departments like a business.
Eh. If we're going to throw around quick barroom fixes, the one I suggest is that every street cop be required to live in the neighborhood they patrol and walk or bicycle their beat with no gun. Train a bunch of negotiator cops who know and understand everyone they see every day.
posted by pracowity at 4:21 AM on November 1, 2020 [19 favorites]
Also, for quick fixes, banning plea bargaining might reduce the 97% of criminal cases that are resolved with a guilty plea, so the police actually have to testify in a trial.
posted by ambrosen at 4:28 AM on November 1, 2020 [15 favorites]
posted by ambrosen at 4:28 AM on November 1, 2020 [15 favorites]
C'mon, y'all, just look at his comment history - I'm really confident that mikelieman's comment about running the cops like Welch's GE was sarcasm. Of course "run govt like business" is incoherent gobbledegook.
Of course his comment does draw attention to the fact of how incoherent that position is - imagine the hysterical conservative outcry if someone actually seriously proposed it. "Run govt like a business" only applies for govt they don't like, like social safety net things; the racist fascistic thugs should have the same kind of government job protections and security that are apparently the cause of the collapse of civilization when applied to teachers and the USPS and DMV employees.
posted by soundguy99 at 4:53 AM on November 1, 2020 [15 favorites]
Of course his comment does draw attention to the fact of how incoherent that position is - imagine the hysterical conservative outcry if someone actually seriously proposed it. "Run govt like a business" only applies for govt they don't like, like social safety net things; the racist fascistic thugs should have the same kind of government job protections and security that are apparently the cause of the collapse of civilization when applied to teachers and the USPS and DMV employees.
posted by soundguy99 at 4:53 AM on November 1, 2020 [15 favorites]
That is some pretty intense training considering only about a quarter of all officers have ever fired their service weapon. Also huge props to the high school newspaper!
posted by thickburglar at 4:59 AM on November 1, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by thickburglar at 4:59 AM on November 1, 2020 [7 favorites]
You should see how intensely the police forces of England and Wales trained for the 5 operations where they shot a gun out of 19,372 armed response operations last year, if only a quarter seems like a low number.
posted by ambrosen at 5:09 AM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by ambrosen at 5:09 AM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
Set a KPI, say, "Case Clearance Rate", which I believe averages about 2 percent. Cops only solve 2% of reported crime.
If you watch The Wire, or read David Simon's Homicide you'll see why this is a really bad idea. Police departments do care about their numbers and when there is pressure to meet certain clearance rates or keep rates low, a lot of bad shit happens.
posted by jzb at 5:29 AM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
If you watch The Wire, or read David Simon's Homicide you'll see why this is a really bad idea. Police departments do care about their numbers and when there is pressure to meet certain clearance rates or keep rates low, a lot of bad shit happens.
posted by jzb at 5:29 AM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
Police should not be trained in combat, the same as garbagemen, librarians, nurses, or any other public official. They are not warriors.
posted by JJ86 at 5:33 AM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by JJ86 at 5:33 AM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
but no: he literally put the dude's name at the bottom
...twice.
posted by flabdablet at 5:36 AM on November 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
...twice.
posted by flabdablet at 5:36 AM on November 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
you have to have something to DO with all that military equipment "donated" to pollice
" He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it" - orwell
posted by lalochezia at 5:37 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
" He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it" - orwell
posted by lalochezia at 5:37 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
This is the sort of thing these badass Punisher warrior cops typically busy themselves with.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:45 AM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:45 AM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
he literally put the dude's name at the bottom
Even in putting dudes’ names at the bottom he is failing. He cites the famous quote about how it is not the critic who counts but the man who is in the ring, struggling, and tags it with a breezy “- FDR” at the end. It would take knowing the absolute bare minimum about their characters to distinguish between Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
It’s a bare step above attributing the lyrics of “Imagine” to Lenin.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
Even in putting dudes’ names at the bottom he is failing. He cites the famous quote about how it is not the critic who counts but the man who is in the ring, struggling, and tags it with a breezy “- FDR” at the end. It would take knowing the absolute bare minimum about their characters to distinguish between Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
It’s a bare step above attributing the lyrics of “Imagine” to Lenin.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
Way to go, high school journalists.
posted by Orlop at 6:39 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by Orlop at 6:39 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
Apparently the instructor who made the training slides left that position in 2015... so he could run the Internal Affairs unit.
You know, the guys who investigate police misconduct.
posted by nonasuch at 7:06 AM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
You know, the guys who investigate police misconduct.
posted by nonasuch at 7:06 AM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
Just as bad as the Hitler is the official spokesperson's response to the Hitler:
posted by clawsoon at 7:12 AM on November 1, 2020 [27 favorites]
The quotes are used for their content and relevance to the topic addressed in the presentation. The presentation touches on several aspects of service, selflessness, and moral guidance. All of these topics go to the fundamentals of law enforcement such as treating everyone equally, service to the public, and being guided by the law.So the quotes are okay because we're only getting moral guidance FROM FUCKING HITLER.
posted by clawsoon at 7:12 AM on November 1, 2020 [27 favorites]
or read David Simon's Homicide
I just opened that book up yesterday. It is a dark first few pages, and I had to put it back down.
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 7:24 AM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
I just opened that book up yesterday. It is a dark first few pages, and I had to put it back down.
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 7:24 AM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
Can we also talk about the fact that all of these slides seem to assume that these warrior police officers are white men? "Manliness" and being a man are promoted throughout, and every picture of why we do this and what we treasure shows pretty white women and cute white kids.
How shocking that people who go through this training murder Black people. How shocking that they mock and disbelieve rape victims. How shocking that they go home and beat up their wives. How shocking that they pepper spray Black children.
posted by hydropsyche at 7:25 AM on November 1, 2020 [33 favorites]
How shocking that people who go through this training murder Black people. How shocking that they mock and disbelieve rape victims. How shocking that they go home and beat up their wives. How shocking that they pepper spray Black children.
posted by hydropsyche at 7:25 AM on November 1, 2020 [33 favorites]
"I mean we generally don't have issues with the FBI"
Before I do an effort-post, is this supposed to be sarcastic?
posted by mikek at 7:31 AM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
Before I do an effort-post, is this supposed to be sarcastic?
posted by mikek at 7:31 AM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
Speaking of Orwell, 'officer involved shooting' is a phrase designed to obscure responsibility, is it not?
posted by StarkRoads at 7:47 AM on November 1, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by StarkRoads at 7:47 AM on November 1, 2020 [12 favorites]
So, they are wannabe Batmen? No, wait, they want to be SEALs. Okay, everybody wants to get in the SWAT unit, shoot machine guns, jump out of airplanes...um, wait. Hang on; I gotta think this over a little more.
It's easy to parody such a ridiculous orientation. But the dangers are more subtle than this bullshit slide show might indicate. Grossman gained a bit of well-earned notoriety during the '90s for his studies into PTSD in Vietnam veterans. He interviewed thousands. One of the notions he came up with was that proper briefings and debriefings could successfully handle PTSD related to combat operations. In real life, this seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately, it did not work, mainly because the effects of PTSD don't necessarily show up until months or years later, and these "helpful briefings and debriefings" simply gave the "warriors" a way to mask their symptoms. Even so, the link to combat remains problematic. So, Grossman's theories turned out to be, well, brainwashing.
I use the term "warrior" tentatively. I'm not an authority on warriors, but that term ought to be reserved for a person to whom the title is a cultural process.
Anyhow, the whole point is that soldiers are first trained to act like soldiers—battle drills, shedding of civilian identity, and so on. When you get into the field, you are armed with a certain template, a repertoire. When the shit goes down, your training kicks in. After a while, you get to be a soldier. But the effects of this transition are not always good. Combat is not the only transformative issue in play.
So, soldiers use their tools--weapons and tactics--to overcome an adversary that is sincerely trying to kill them. This is a complicated mindset, and it doesn't mean that soldiers are trained to be blood-thirsty killers--but they are given the tools and authority to take life in pretty much any gruesome manner a situation may require; in my experience (as a soldier), the "blood-thirsty killer" wasn't desirable in an outfit. For the typical infantry soldier, politics and social order is not important. (A certain type of unit is trained for such activities, but that's another topic altogether.)
But police forces are not and should not be trained as soldiers. Politics and social considerations are the primary seas in which they swim. If soldiers should train to use their weapons, police officers should train to use other tools because the public is not their enemy.
I support the notion of having police officers patrol on foot, on a bicycle. They ought to know the individuals on their beat. The Japanese model might be one to examine. Their kobans operate in a way that most Americans might find intrusives, but the theory that local police officers should get to know those whom they are sworn to serve merits some respect.
Finally, in my view, it would be naive to believe that police officers don't face danger in the course of their duties. But their primary tools ought not to be bullets and tasers. Their training orientations damned sure should not feature SEAL teams and Rangers in the assault.
This slide presentation went beyond outrageous. If you believe it's representative of the way society is drifting, as do I, then it's soul-sucking.
posted by mule98J at 8:28 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
It's easy to parody such a ridiculous orientation. But the dangers are more subtle than this bullshit slide show might indicate. Grossman gained a bit of well-earned notoriety during the '90s for his studies into PTSD in Vietnam veterans. He interviewed thousands. One of the notions he came up with was that proper briefings and debriefings could successfully handle PTSD related to combat operations. In real life, this seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately, it did not work, mainly because the effects of PTSD don't necessarily show up until months or years later, and these "helpful briefings and debriefings" simply gave the "warriors" a way to mask their symptoms. Even so, the link to combat remains problematic. So, Grossman's theories turned out to be, well, brainwashing.
I use the term "warrior" tentatively. I'm not an authority on warriors, but that term ought to be reserved for a person to whom the title is a cultural process.
Anyhow, the whole point is that soldiers are first trained to act like soldiers—battle drills, shedding of civilian identity, and so on. When you get into the field, you are armed with a certain template, a repertoire. When the shit goes down, your training kicks in. After a while, you get to be a soldier. But the effects of this transition are not always good. Combat is not the only transformative issue in play.
So, soldiers use their tools--weapons and tactics--to overcome an adversary that is sincerely trying to kill them. This is a complicated mindset, and it doesn't mean that soldiers are trained to be blood-thirsty killers--but they are given the tools and authority to take life in pretty much any gruesome manner a situation may require; in my experience (as a soldier), the "blood-thirsty killer" wasn't desirable in an outfit. For the typical infantry soldier, politics and social order is not important. (A certain type of unit is trained for such activities, but that's another topic altogether.)
But police forces are not and should not be trained as soldiers. Politics and social considerations are the primary seas in which they swim. If soldiers should train to use their weapons, police officers should train to use other tools because the public is not their enemy.
I support the notion of having police officers patrol on foot, on a bicycle. They ought to know the individuals on their beat. The Japanese model might be one to examine. Their kobans operate in a way that most Americans might find intrusives, but the theory that local police officers should get to know those whom they are sworn to serve merits some respect.
Finally, in my view, it would be naive to believe that police officers don't face danger in the course of their duties. But their primary tools ought not to be bullets and tasers. Their training orientations damned sure should not feature SEAL teams and Rangers in the assault.
This slide presentation went beyond outrageous. If you believe it's representative of the way society is drifting, as do I, then it's soul-sucking.
posted by mule98J at 8:28 AM on November 1, 2020 [14 favorites]
Last year at a nearby cafe here in San Francisco, I was waiting in line for coffee behind a couple of cops. They turned and looked at me and I said that I don’t see many police officers here, usually a lot of firefighters. One of the officers suddenly had a real serious face and said “We are the heroes.” Creeped me out. Now I can understand the indoctrination that engenders that attitude. Ironic thing though given all the critiques above about preaching manliness etc. this officer was a woman.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:33 AM on November 1, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 8:33 AM on November 1, 2020 [8 favorites]
One of the officers suddenly had a real serious face and said “We are the heroes.”
James Cameron, all those years ago, fucking nailed it.
On why he made the T1000 a cop in Terminator 2:
'Cops think of all non-cops as less than they are, stupid, weak and evil. They dehumanize the people they are sworn to protect and desensitize themselves in order to do that job'
posted by deadaluspark at 8:41 AM on November 1, 2020 [30 favorites]
James Cameron, all those years ago, fucking nailed it.
On why he made the T1000 a cop in Terminator 2:
'Cops think of all non-cops as less than they are, stupid, weak and evil. They dehumanize the people they are sworn to protect and desensitize themselves in order to do that job'
posted by deadaluspark at 8:41 AM on November 1, 2020 [30 favorites]
Also, for quick fixes, banning plea bargaining might reduce the 97% of criminal cases that are resolved with a guilty plea, so the police actually have to testify in a trial.
I'm not sure this is necessarily a solution. Police are well known to testi-lie in court and cover each other's backs.
posted by JackFlash at 10:30 AM on November 1, 2020 [7 favorites]
I'm not sure this is necessarily a solution. Police are well known to testi-lie in court and cover each other's backs.
posted by JackFlash at 10:30 AM on November 1, 2020 [7 favorites]
Cops are dumb.
Signed,
Your friendly neighborhood firefighter.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 10:43 AM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
Signed,
Your friendly neighborhood firefighter.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 10:43 AM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
David Simon's Homicide
This book, which I read many years ago, impressed two things on me: one, the majority of murders in Baltimore in 1988 were committed with a .32, which struck me as an unusual calibre, and two, in this book about homicide investigations, the vast majority of closed cases were solved when someone walked in and confessed.
posted by adamdschneider at 10:52 AM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
This book, which I read many years ago, impressed two things on me: one, the majority of murders in Baltimore in 1988 were committed with a .32, which struck me as an unusual calibre, and two, in this book about homicide investigations, the vast majority of closed cases were solved when someone walked in and confessed.
posted by adamdschneider at 10:52 AM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
> majority of murders in Baltimore in 1988 were committed with a .32, which struck me as an unusual calibre
It has its admirers.
posted by glonous keming at 11:31 AM on November 1, 2020
It has its admirers.
posted by glonous keming at 11:31 AM on November 1, 2020
One of the officers suddenly had a real serious face and said “We are the heroes.”
Compared to firefighters? The folks who run into burning buildings to save lives? On a slow day pull kittens out of trees? Literally do nothing but help people and never shoot anybody?
All firefighters are awesome AFAA
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:38 AM on November 1, 2020 [23 favorites]
Compared to firefighters? The folks who run into burning buildings to save lives? On a slow day pull kittens out of trees? Literally do nothing but help people and never shoot anybody?
All firefighters are awesome AFAA
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:38 AM on November 1, 2020 [23 favorites]
a lawyer involved in an officer involved shooting
I'm sure this is supposed to be isn't-it-funny-when-we-talk-like-cops phrasing, but it isn't funny to talk like cops because it confuses things and should not be acceptable practice here. the lawyer is involved in a case where cops killed a guy, shot him dead. "involved in an officer-involved shooting" is cop talk for got murdered by a cop. but the guy they killed is not the lawyer involved (actually involved, not euphemistically "involved") in the case.
the purpose of cop phrasing is to make it impossible to know from a simple sentence who is alive, dead or wounded, aggressor, or victim. that is why non-cops should never, ever use it or participate in normalizing it.
posted by queenofbithynia at 12:26 PM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
I'm sure this is supposed to be isn't-it-funny-when-we-talk-like-cops phrasing, but it isn't funny to talk like cops because it confuses things and should not be acceptable practice here. the lawyer is involved in a case where cops killed a guy, shot him dead. "involved in an officer-involved shooting" is cop talk for got murdered by a cop. but the guy they killed is not the lawyer involved (actually involved, not euphemistically "involved") in the case.
the purpose of cop phrasing is to make it impossible to know from a simple sentence who is alive, dead or wounded, aggressor, or victim. that is why non-cops should never, ever use it or participate in normalizing it.
posted by queenofbithynia at 12:26 PM on November 1, 2020 [29 favorites]
The Police Academy series of movies were bad when they came out, have dated appallingly, but who wouldn’t choose to live in that past rather than this present
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:34 PM on November 1, 2020
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:34 PM on November 1, 2020
Set a KPI, say, "Case Clearance Rate", which I believe averages about 2 percent. Cops only solve 2% of reported crime.
it has been implied above but bears repeating: case clearance does not mean what you are saying it means. it is absolutely not true that the number or percentage of cases cleared equals the number or percentage of crimes solved.
posted by queenofbithynia at 12:37 PM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
All firefighters are awesome AFAA
i have a cousin who is a firefighter, and he's... not awesome. Reactionary, down-to-trump, spouts limbaugh talking points basically by reflex.
plus the firefighters where he works conspired to commit massive fraud by manipulating sick leave and overtime. when then-county commissioner sisolak (now NV governor) investigated, he got death threats.
just because firefighters aren't out jack-bootedly grinding faces into dirt doesn't mean they're not sympathetic to those who do.
posted by logicpunk at 2:12 PM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
i have a cousin who is a firefighter, and he's... not awesome. Reactionary, down-to-trump, spouts limbaugh talking points basically by reflex.
plus the firefighters where he works conspired to commit massive fraud by manipulating sick leave and overtime. when then-county commissioner sisolak (now NV governor) investigated, he got death threats.
just because firefighters aren't out jack-bootedly grinding faces into dirt doesn't mean they're not sympathetic to those who do.
posted by logicpunk at 2:12 PM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
Yeah, many firefighters are awesome, but the fraud I see on a daily basis basis from abuse of sick leave and overtime by our career staff — with the knowledge and consent of union and operational leadership — is horrific. But everyone knows that people become police officers because they can’t pass the test to be firefighters. ;-)
posted by wintermind at 2:20 PM on November 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by wintermind at 2:20 PM on November 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
“I mean we generally don't have issues with the FBI“
Define we plz.
posted by youthenrage at 2:41 PM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
Define we plz.
posted by youthenrage at 2:41 PM on November 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
I don’t want to derail, and certainly there are issues in the fire service - I’ve even outlined some of them in my commentary over the years. And especially the past - things that we participated in as firefighters were horrible actions - no one deserves to be hit with water from a firehose at high pressure.
However, despite political leanings (and yes at least down here it skews quite conservative) if we respond to a 911 call we are going to work to save a life or your property or help in some fashion if possible. Even the people I work with who are ideological opposites will do this because a) we get paid for it b) we took on that responsibility when we signed up for the job c) none of us are interested in being sued.
At 14 years on the job I still remain rather stupidly idealistic, but I’m an MPA also so I keep banging my head against the wall thinking that government’s purpose is to serve the people.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 2:55 PM on November 1, 2020 [7 favorites]
However, despite political leanings (and yes at least down here it skews quite conservative) if we respond to a 911 call we are going to work to save a life or your property or help in some fashion if possible. Even the people I work with who are ideological opposites will do this because a) we get paid for it b) we took on that responsibility when we signed up for the job c) none of us are interested in being sued.
At 14 years on the job I still remain rather stupidly idealistic, but I’m an MPA also so I keep banging my head against the wall thinking that government’s purpose is to serve the people.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 2:55 PM on November 1, 2020 [7 favorites]
I did not know Radley Balko was a MeFite! Wow! And it made me really happy to read the RedEye -- go, student newspapers!
I'm in the middle of watching a speech (given October 12th) by Patrick Skinner, the Savannah cop who's the subject of the New Yorker story "The Spy Who Came Home". He was a teacher, then a Capitol police officer in Washington, DC, then an air marshal, then a CIA officer, then a consultant, then a Savannah rookie cop (and is now a detective). One interesting thing he says during the speech is that this means he went through cop training twice, ~15 years apart, and that the second time was way more warrior-mentality-y. This comes up starting around 16:41 in the video. I'm editing the autocaptions to share what he says (my transcript may be a little off):
I'm in the middle of watching a speech (given October 12th) by Patrick Skinner, the Savannah cop who's the subject of the New Yorker story "The Spy Who Came Home". He was a teacher, then a Capitol police officer in Washington, DC, then an air marshal, then a CIA officer, then a consultant, then a Savannah rookie cop (and is now a detective). One interesting thing he says during the speech is that this means he went through cop training twice, ~15 years apart, and that the second time was way more warrior-mentality-y. This comes up starting around 16:41 in the video. I'm editing the autocaptions to share what he says (my transcript may be a little off):
And so I went back. And I had gone through the federal version of this 20 years before that -- almost 16 years -- and then I went through it again and I could see clearly how the war mentality was permeating everything. Every part of the training. The training was all about officer safety, which I understand -- I'm an officer, I don't want to get hurt -- and it was all about the warrior mentality. And it's well intended; I mean, at first. It's supposed to mean like, winning a fight, like literally your warrior mentality was designed to not give up and die. But it kind of oozed into everything else. And so it became this: the cops were now warriors. We were battling -- we were good battling evil. And if you frame it that way then everybody who's not a cop is not as good, and then certainly the criminals are evil. And so when you start getting into good and evil then you start to run out of empathy. And you you start to run out of solutions -- or even even good, you know, ways to address these problems (I don't really believe in solutions because you just basically try, you don't solve life, you just handle it).posted by brainwane at 3:37 PM on November 1, 2020 [17 favorites]
Direct link to relevant quote from Patrick Skinner @16:41
posted by deadaluspark at 3:41 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by deadaluspark at 3:41 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
In a deposition on October 14, KSP Captain James Goble said that Lieutenant Curt Hall, whose name is on the slideshow, taught “warrior mentality” trainings at the KSP Academy.
Hall was the Assistant Commander at the KSP Academy from 2005 to 2015, and later became Commander of Internal Affairs at KSP before recently retiring. The internal affairs unit is typically tasked with investigating police misconduct.
Twisting the knife further, the guy who wrote the slides and conducted the training then moved on to a role where he was expected to police the police, investigating the very shootings he encouraged. That's just...wow.
posted by wierdo at 4:35 PM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
Hall was the Assistant Commander at the KSP Academy from 2005 to 2015, and later became Commander of Internal Affairs at KSP before recently retiring. The internal affairs unit is typically tasked with investigating police misconduct.
Twisting the knife further, the guy who wrote the slides and conducted the training then moved on to a role where he was expected to police the police, investigating the very shootings he encouraged. That's just...wow.
posted by wierdo at 4:35 PM on November 1, 2020 [9 favorites]
(Oh, whoops, that Skinner speech was prerecorded in late September, then shown on Oct. 12th.)
posted by brainwane at 4:47 PM on November 1, 2020
posted by brainwane at 4:47 PM on November 1, 2020
Beau of the Fifth gives a take on this - 'This isn't training, it's a justification for barbarism'. Which sounds like pretty much what you guys get for a lot of police interaction over there.
posted by Leud at 1:16 AM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Leud at 1:16 AM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
Did someone mention Orwell in a piece about police killing?
Could, with advantage, read his Shooting an Elephant.
Cited often on MeFi.
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:06 AM on November 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
Could, with advantage, read his Shooting an Elephant.
Cited often on MeFi.
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:06 AM on November 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
> Eh. If we're going to throw around quick barroom fixes, the one I suggest is that every street cop be required to live in the neighborhood they patrol and walk or bicycle their beat with no gun. Train a bunch of negotiator cops who know and understand everyone they see every day.
This is an idea that’s commonly bandied about, but it seems like on the face of it a terrible mistake. it’s bad enough having these violent offenders patrolling in cars; even worse to have them embedded in the neighborhood, monitoring and harassing us not just while on the job, but in their off hours as well. it is horrifying to think about what it would be like to have a cop as a neighbor. proposing this indicates that for whether reason the person making the proposal feels more safe with cops around rather less which seems laughable in 2020. even disarmed, they’re a threat and a menace.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:19 AM on November 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
This is an idea that’s commonly bandied about, but it seems like on the face of it a terrible mistake. it’s bad enough having these violent offenders patrolling in cars; even worse to have them embedded in the neighborhood, monitoring and harassing us not just while on the job, but in their off hours as well. it is horrifying to think about what it would be like to have a cop as a neighbor. proposing this indicates that for whether reason the person making the proposal feels more safe with cops around rather less which seems laughable in 2020. even disarmed, they’re a threat and a menace.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:19 AM on November 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
I learned about residency requirements here on MetaFilter.
posted by brainwane at 5:01 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by brainwane at 5:01 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
Call me cynical, but it seems like it would be even easier for cops to get embedded in organized crime if they live and work in the same communities. I could be wrong about that, though.
posted by clawsoon at 5:18 AM on November 2, 2020
posted by clawsoon at 5:18 AM on November 2, 2020
1) Far too many cops are already involved in organized crime - white supremacist organizations. If anything, living in majority-white (and often heavily-law-enforcement-resident) suburbs exacerbates this.
2) US cities are not a Scorsese movie. OK, maybe that was a little snarky, but I think it's really worth considering how much this idea is drawn from pop culture stuff where the guy next door turns out to be a mob guy and things move from "hey if you wanna have some fun I know a guy who knows a guy who'll give you great odds on the Bengals game Sunday" to "OH wow you owe my guy thousands from the bets you lost, lemme tell you what you can do for us Mr. Policeman." That kind of world was only in a few cities in the first place and has really been reduced since the 90's.
3) We are at a breaking point - cop culture is bad enough that I'll take a level of community policing and residency requirements over the theoretical future worry of easier corruption.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:59 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
2) US cities are not a Scorsese movie. OK, maybe that was a little snarky, but I think it's really worth considering how much this idea is drawn from pop culture stuff where the guy next door turns out to be a mob guy and things move from "hey if you wanna have some fun I know a guy who knows a guy who'll give you great odds on the Bengals game Sunday" to "OH wow you owe my guy thousands from the bets you lost, lemme tell you what you can do for us Mr. Policeman." That kind of world was only in a few cities in the first place and has really been reduced since the 90's.
3) We are at a breaking point - cop culture is bad enough that I'll take a level of community policing and residency requirements over the theoretical future worry of easier corruption.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:59 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
it’s a little bizarre to see people advocating for community-embedded police in a thread where the fpp discusses commonly-used police training that positively cites adolf hitler. we do not need neonazis as neighbors, particularly not neonazis who the state allows to use deadly force without consequence.
the model of community defense we should aim for is the Black Panthers model. community members tasked with protecting and serving the community, and moreover tasked with doggedly following and monitoring police when they enter the community.
lots of (white) people woke up to the real role of police-as-occupying force after the micheal brown and tamir rice police murders. more
woke up to it after police strangled eric garner
to death on the street. more woke up to it after the george floyd slaying. and these are just four names among thousands.
we can’t pretend that “solutions” that seemed viable back in 2010 or june 2016 still seem viable now.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 6:11 AM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
the model of community defense we should aim for is the Black Panthers model. community members tasked with protecting and serving the community, and moreover tasked with doggedly following and monitoring police when they enter the community.
lots of (white) people woke up to the real role of police-as-occupying force after the micheal brown and tamir rice police murders. more
woke up to it after police strangled eric garner
to death on the street. more woke up to it after the george floyd slaying. and these are just four names among thousands.
we can’t pretend that “solutions” that seemed viable back in 2010 or june 2016 still seem viable now.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 6:11 AM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
This is a "why not both?" kinda discussion, IMO - of course nobody wants neoNazis embedded in communities, and i don't think anyone is seriously suggesting that we take the police force as it exists now with training materials from Hitler and just shove 'em into city neighborhoods.
community members tasked with protecting and serving the community
Is this not what "community policing" is? You MAKE law enforcement members of the community by making them live there and patrol there. A top-down legally required solution rather than an organic volunteer movement.
we can’t pretend that “solutions” that seemed viable back in 2010 or june 2016 still seem viable now.
What's your solution if 100% abolishing the police doesn't happen?
posted by soundguy99 at 6:41 AM on November 2, 2020
community members tasked with protecting and serving the community
Is this not what "community policing" is? You MAKE law enforcement members of the community by making them live there and patrol there. A top-down legally required solution rather than an organic volunteer movement.
we can’t pretend that “solutions” that seemed viable back in 2010 or june 2016 still seem viable now.
What's your solution if 100% abolishing the police doesn't happen?
posted by soundguy99 at 6:41 AM on November 2, 2020
> community members tasked with protecting and serving the community
> Is this not what "community policing" is? You MAKE law enforcement members of the community by making them live there and patrol there. A top-down legally required solution rather than an organic volunteer movement.
that is not what community policing is because the police have no responsibility to protect or serve.
> What's your solution if 100% abolishing the police doesn't happen?
keep them on camera from the second they exit the precinct until the second they return to the precinct. slash police budgets — currently most major cities spend over half of their budgets on cops. and organize community defense and mutual aid groups to combat police occupation until such time as the police can be abolished. supplement extant police departments with municipal- and state-authorized organizations with an actual duty to protect and serve, until such time as the extant police departments can be abolished. there are valid reforms on the way to abolition. embedding police in the community is actively worse than our current situation.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:08 AM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
> Is this not what "community policing" is? You MAKE law enforcement members of the community by making them live there and patrol there. A top-down legally required solution rather than an organic volunteer movement.
that is not what community policing is because the police have no responsibility to protect or serve.
> What's your solution if 100% abolishing the police doesn't happen?
keep them on camera from the second they exit the precinct until the second they return to the precinct. slash police budgets — currently most major cities spend over half of their budgets on cops. and organize community defense and mutual aid groups to combat police occupation until such time as the police can be abolished. supplement extant police departments with municipal- and state-authorized organizations with an actual duty to protect and serve, until such time as the extant police departments can be abolished. there are valid reforms on the way to abolition. embedding police in the community is actively worse than our current situation.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:08 AM on November 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
I mean this isn't hard. Okay, it is hard given the amount of money and power cops have, but the theoretical framework isn't hard.
What do you actually need an armed agent of the state with powers of life and death to do? And what do you actually just need a trained bureaucrat to do?
Considering the amount of time cops spend just taking reports and doing paperwork, do you NEED to send a guy with a pistol, taser, vest, etc., to a random business or person's house to take a report? I put it to you that you do not.
Do you need them need a guy with a gun to deal with traffic accidents? Frankly, in the accidents I've been in, Fire has shown up first and started directing traffic, there's no reason you need a cop. Accident investigator could ride on the fire truck or be part of the fire department. Maybe if you need to mandate a drunk driving test or something, but there's no reason an Actual Cop couldn't meet them at the hospital for a blood draw if it's that important.
Do you need a sidearm to write speeding tickets? If the situation is dangerous enough to merit a high speed chase and, like, gunfire, I put it to you that you have their plate, car's description, and direction of travel, you can find them later. Again, with rare exceptions when you need basically an armed response team, which is different from a dude with a gun that actually fires it once a year and otherwise spends his time watching slideshows about how he's the thin blue line between THE JUNGLE and THE SHEEP.
Here we go, a survey on how police departments spend their time.
Violent crime is 4 percent of their time.
Let's break it down.
Noncriminal calls: Like I said, bureaucrats or investigators.
Traffic: Unarmed traffic officers. For serious accidents, "accident investigator" is already a profession at the insurance companies, there's no reason it couldn't be a state profession.
Medical or other: This is where you spend money on social workers and EMTs and whatnot.
Property Crime and Other Crime: I'm not sure of the exact breakdown but given "violent" is broken out on its own, I'm guessing you don't need a gun for it.
"Proactive" reads to me as "Cops riding around hassling people."
I'm not naive enough to think the US is going to abolish guns anytime soon, so there obviously is a place for trained, armed response, but it should be an actual, separate profession where you're trained in the use of lethal force. Not everyone needs to be strapped to say "Sorry about your car, there's really nothing we can do unless it turns up."
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 9:58 AM on November 2, 2020 [15 favorites]
What do you actually need an armed agent of the state with powers of life and death to do? And what do you actually just need a trained bureaucrat to do?
Considering the amount of time cops spend just taking reports and doing paperwork, do you NEED to send a guy with a pistol, taser, vest, etc., to a random business or person's house to take a report? I put it to you that you do not.
Do you need them need a guy with a gun to deal with traffic accidents? Frankly, in the accidents I've been in, Fire has shown up first and started directing traffic, there's no reason you need a cop. Accident investigator could ride on the fire truck or be part of the fire department. Maybe if you need to mandate a drunk driving test or something, but there's no reason an Actual Cop couldn't meet them at the hospital for a blood draw if it's that important.
Do you need a sidearm to write speeding tickets? If the situation is dangerous enough to merit a high speed chase and, like, gunfire, I put it to you that you have their plate, car's description, and direction of travel, you can find them later. Again, with rare exceptions when you need basically an armed response team, which is different from a dude with a gun that actually fires it once a year and otherwise spends his time watching slideshows about how he's the thin blue line between THE JUNGLE and THE SHEEP.
Here we go, a survey on how police departments spend their time.
Violent crime is 4 percent of their time.
Let's break it down.
Noncriminal calls: Like I said, bureaucrats or investigators.
Traffic: Unarmed traffic officers. For serious accidents, "accident investigator" is already a profession at the insurance companies, there's no reason it couldn't be a state profession.
Medical or other: This is where you spend money on social workers and EMTs and whatnot.
Property Crime and Other Crime: I'm not sure of the exact breakdown but given "violent" is broken out on its own, I'm guessing you don't need a gun for it.
"Proactive" reads to me as "Cops riding around hassling people."
I'm not naive enough to think the US is going to abolish guns anytime soon, so there obviously is a place for trained, armed response, but it should be an actual, separate profession where you're trained in the use of lethal force. Not everyone needs to be strapped to say "Sorry about your car, there's really nothing we can do unless it turns up."
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 9:58 AM on November 2, 2020 [15 favorites]
I had a conversation a few months back with an RCMP officer who was trained in a community policing model and who worked in one of Canada's most violent communities. I posted part of it to Facebook with her permission.
If you're interested in what community policing means from an officer's perspective, it might be worth a read.
posted by clawsoon at 10:33 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
If you're interested in what community policing means from an officer's perspective, it might be worth a read.
posted by clawsoon at 10:33 AM on November 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
So many men want so badly to be soldiers without actually being soldiers.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:05 AM on November 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 11:05 AM on November 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
and organize community defense and mutual aid groups to combat police occupation until such time as the police can be abolished.
In other words, give the local HOA or Nextdoor group guns and money. We used to have those- they were called Vigilance Committees. They worked about as well as you'd expect. I mean they were effective in a sense, and the community members that supported them were happy...
posted by happyroach at 12:51 PM on November 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
In other words, give the local HOA or Nextdoor group guns and money. We used to have those- they were called Vigilance Committees. They worked about as well as you'd expect. I mean they were effective in a sense, and the community members that supported them were happy...
posted by happyroach at 12:51 PM on November 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
Louisville Courier-Journal: Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer is resigning
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer is resigning from his position in the agency this week.posted by Lexica at 9:42 AM on November 3, 2020 [6 favorites]
Brewer, who was assigned to the post in January by Gov. Andy Beshear, will step down effective by the end of the day Wednesday, KSP spokesman Lt. Josh Lawson confirmed Monday evening.
Lt. Col. Phillip Burnett will serve as interim commissioner until the agency finds a permanent replacement, Lawson said.
Lawson said he did not have information regarding the reason for Brewer's resignation.
The move comes three days after journalism students at Louisville's Manual High School revealed in a bombshell report that KSP had at one time used a training slideshow that quoted Adolph Hitler multiple times and advocated for troopers to use "ruthless violence."
So I wonder. I was recently reading about entrapment, and how one part of a defense of entrapment involves a lack of predisposition, which is a special term. You can lose the ability to claim entrapment if you're already inclined to do the crime (or crimes in general).
So, Louisville police go through this training. They say they haven't used this specific deck in a long time, but a) are any of the officers who did go through that exact training still on the force; and b) were any of them involved in the Brionna Taylor killing? I would also accept (dunno about the court) that those who went through Hitler training have been the partners and trainers of officers who weren't directly exposed. So, tracing that line of influence via the strong esprit de corps among law enforcement, could that training be used as proof of predisposition to shoot first and ask questions later? Surely the concept of predisposition isn't only used in the context of entrapment, it would be a purpose-built way of alleviating gray areas in charging decisions (see also: "thug"). Could be a way to (IANAL, obvs) break the officers' qualified immunity, and impunity in general.
posted by rhizome at 12:54 PM on November 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
So, Louisville police go through this training. They say they haven't used this specific deck in a long time, but a) are any of the officers who did go through that exact training still on the force; and b) were any of them involved in the Brionna Taylor killing? I would also accept (dunno about the court) that those who went through Hitler training have been the partners and trainers of officers who weren't directly exposed. So, tracing that line of influence via the strong esprit de corps among law enforcement, could that training be used as proof of predisposition to shoot first and ask questions later? Surely the concept of predisposition isn't only used in the context of entrapment, it would be a purpose-built way of alleviating gray areas in charging decisions (see also: "thug"). Could be a way to (IANAL, obvs) break the officers' qualified immunity, and impunity in general.
posted by rhizome at 12:54 PM on November 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
Residency requirements seem like a great idea but in practice they have tended to produce police enclaves that are racist as hell. Here in Chicago there was only one area that went for Trump in this election. It's a neighborhood on far North West of Chicago. As far as you can get from most of the city. And it is full of white cops. It routinely has protests against affordable housing and very few minorities live there because "somehow" they end up feeling unwelcome. Hmmm. If you require cops to live in the specific districts they patrol I guarantee that within a few years there will be buildings or city blocks that are know as cop areas because they will cluster together.
The one upside is that we might not get ex-cops in the city council like we have now (2 ex cops and an ex-fireman - all awful mini Trumps).
posted by srboisvert at 4:13 PM on November 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
The one upside is that we might not get ex-cops in the city council like we have now (2 ex cops and an ex-fireman - all awful mini Trumps).
posted by srboisvert at 4:13 PM on November 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
One of the students found even more evidence of Neo-Nazi infiltration into preparation of these training materials, this time an ostensibly factual clip about the history of heroin trafficking that is directly sourced from a longer video that's bald-faced Neo-Nazi propaganda. In case you might think for a second that whoever put this together didn't know exactly what they were doing, the clip in the training includes a ludicrously slow pan (seriously, it's like 10 seconds long) over the logo of the production company for the longer video, which is extremely obviously just the Black Sun emblem used by the SS.
posted by Copronymus at 10:36 PM on November 30, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Copronymus at 10:36 PM on November 30, 2020 [5 favorites]
« Older Forget Everything You Know About Your Dog | The Great Fox-Spider is a Night-Time Hunter... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Big Al 8000 at 10:48 PM on October 31, 2020 [10 favorites]