“What’s the charge, officer?”
“Acting as an agent of Freedom. We don’t allow that around here.”
So after this:
We’re back to the police acting like idiots?
Jesus, look at all those pussy-ass white pigs scared to death of an unarmed black man, even while they have overwhelming access to force. That there is a photograph of rank cowardice.
Why are they wearing camoflauge? Is Ferguson a jungle? Or is there some fucked up psychological wish fulfillment thing with these guys?
Well, it’s a combination of wish-fulfillment, pack behavior, and pure idiocy.
Cockroaches really do hate the light.
What the FUCK is wrong with people?
What did I miss? I haven’t been following as closely as I might, but on Thursday the Rambo-wannabe local cops were out and the soft-touch, diplomatic state police were in. Are the local yokels back now? What happened?
Edit: Well, here’s one thing that was confusing me. The picture at the top of the post with the paramilitary goons is not in fact a picture of Scott Olson being arrested today, but a picture taken by Scott Olson last Tuesday. The Twitter pics further down show that today’s arrest was made by (presumably) state cops with reasonable patrol uniforms and gear. Not saying that excuses anything, obviously, it just clears up some confusion.
Silly me, thinking that the photo topping a breaking-news article might actually be a picture of the event described.
I’m with you, Phas: after Thursday, coverage here and elsewhere kind of faded away. I’ve lost track of what’s going on. That’s what we get for not following Twitter, I guess.
I agree with the sentiment that the “main” picture ought to be the one representing the action that was in the headline. Boing-Boing editors - if you’re going to continue to facilitate discussion of this story, can you try to do those kinds of things which remove confusion from the mix?
Thing is, though, that is one of Olsen’s pictures. And, I’d hate to sound all conspiratorial, but maybe - just maybe - that picture from last week might have had something to do with his arrest today?
Not that the cops in Ferguson could possibly be that petty. Nah. Couldn’t be that. >.<
Regarding using the photo of not-what-happened, I think this is a pretty ordinary reaction to what did happen. The compelling image he shot got national attention and probably did a lot to turn public opinion against the Ferguson cops. By arresting him the Ferguson cops have pretty much begged every news agency in the world to run the picture again. I think BoingBoing just couldn’t help but give in to their demands.
Shut down the ferguson pd. They are criminals and deserve a fair trial. They don’t feel the same about you.
There is no excuse for arresting a journalist doing their job.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, where are you?
Same place he’s been through this whole fiasco - two towns over, cowering in the shadows.
It seems like a lot of folks here have missed the last few days of coverage. Thursday was calm, but it has gone downhill badly since then. The National Guard has now been called in. So if you were frustrated by police dressed like soldiers before, you will be especially frustrated to learn that actual soldiers have now been called in.
The police say that a lot of the people they’re arresting now are from out of town, and that local protestors are largely peaceful. They specifically mentioned “anarchists.” Not clear if that means true anarchists, or just folks who refuse to kowtow to a uniform.
Basically after the police retreated some idiots began looting a few stores. The protesters quickly moved to protect those stores and as far as I can tell were successful at it. But the police apparently saw minor looting as reason enough to go in all out again. It’s like some combo of sour grapes and counter productive zero tolerance respect mah authoritah posture. They really don’t seem to have much of a clue on how to reach out to the wider community.
I am not so sure about that. I think there is a big difference between a centralized force for relatively rare extreme situations and police bringing excessive escalation into everyday police work without effective oversight.
I agree with you about police escalation. They have convinced themselves that they’re operating in a war zone every day. Not just in Ferguson, but across the nation. This despite a two decade decline in violent crime.
But soldiers are soldiers. Unless this is a military police unit, these are folks who have been trained to fight, not serve and protect. And last night was the worst night yet, despite the presence of the National Guard.
On the other hand, if Ferguson wasn’t a war zone before, it is now. Two people were shot last night (not even by police, according to…the police).
