Wow you are right. I’d rather be in all of the more dangerous professions on those lists, however, than to be a cop. That seems like an awful job.
They are called “less than lethal” because they are designed to incapacitate or subdue someone instead of kill them. They are not 100% foolproof and safe, so they do prove lethal sometimes. Many things not designed to be lethal end up killing people. Every year a couple people die from baseballs to the head or chest.
Right, but while a farm accident can be, and often enough is lethal, the tractor is never juiced up on a 1/5 of vodka and a jumbo crack rock when the farmer arrives. Ideally. 
???
What are you getting at?
It’s quite possible that the fact that he was young, strong and black made it more likely for his actions to be interpreted as aggressive.
Yes, it is incredibly easy to say “Fark the police!” It’s much harder to come up with better solutions. Any constructive ideas? I suggest regular mandatory “off-duty,” non policing community service. They can still get paid for their time, but it will force the officers to be involved in the community in a non-authority position. They may see community members as people rather than perps. It seems like the police are too removed from the community these days. Are there any officers in your area that you know by name and would feel comfortable talking to?
That’s the old ‘neighborhood policing’ idea. It does work well. In an immigrant neighborhood, rather than put them on community service, exactly, we cooperated with the chief. He just just took them out of their cars and put them on bicycles. They had to bring the squad cars around and do demos for the neighborhood kids and such, but were mainly required to spend time on the street, in the hood. Sometimes, they’d play ball with the kids. They learned their names - in both directions.
It worked great - because the kids knew everything that was going on. But their parents didn’t trust cops, because many were illegals and constantly in fear of the INS. But the kids were mostly US born and attended the local schools - so they were at ease with the language and local custom. The cops made friends with the kids instead, and everything improved shortly - about 6 months. The cops on that beat were basically good guys, and that program is what allowed them to really go for it.
So in general, I agree. The problem is allowing the cops to become isolated and start seeing themselves as ‘other’.
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when you see someone with a firearm, what do you think? when i see an armed officer, i notice the gun. half funny story a friend of mine (who unlike me, owns and practices with firearms) about the first time he visited an indoor range. he asked the rangemaster “what’s with all the holes in the ceiling?” there were holes in the ceiling just ahead of the line you stood behind to fire downrange from. the rangemaster replied something about police coming in to practice for qualifying with safety holsters. overcompensate and i guess rounds go in the roof, but that type of holster does keep the weapon secure.
you seem to have no understanding about either firearms or the law. you don’t really have to learn. police do. in addition to that, police help people. it is their job. when they are incapable of doing their job or worse yet, obeying the law then it is the responsibility of our legal society to prosecute them for their negligence or misdeeds. note: just because a police car drives past you while changing a tire doesn’t mean they are not doing their job. it can be funny to have that happen. it can also end poorly when they can’t stop because their attention is already required elsewhere.
opening fire into a crowd is not their job. on that we agree. as far as what you wrote… it sounded like you want to live in a world without police. i might still be around. that bother you?
How? Did I say something about either the law or firearms that was false?
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I never said anything about guns in and of themselves. I do know this: If you pull the trigger, you better be ready to take responsibility for what you hit. If that’s not your philosophy, you shouldn’t have one.
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Let me put it this way: my professors this semester were all either prosecutors, practicing lawyers, or law professors. I very freely admit my knowledge of law is lacking in many respects, otherwise I’d be done with school, but to say I have no understanding of the law… it’s a little funny to me is all.
Ideally police enforce the law and promote public safety. Hitting innocent bystanders accomplishes neither. Maybe you’re circling some larger idea here, but you’re not explaining it very well.
I certainly want to live in a world where police aren’t necessary. It that realistic? Maybe not. Personally I’m hopeful. In the meantime, I’ll settle for one where police screw-ups aren’t pinned on someone else. I don’t know why exactly you ask, but I’m not sure that I’d really give a flying fig fortress of flash dancers whether you’re still around or not.
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The cops will never see the inside of a courtroom over this, much less a cell.
You never know … perhaps they’ll testify to the court (with anonymity, from behind a screen) as to how the mans erratic bevahiour forced them to unload two magazines at him, how they feared for their lives when they had to pause to reload…
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Stolen!
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There’s something deliciously ironic about that – the police are armed with deliberately inaccurate weapons, such that the only time they can be sure of a kill is when they already have the perp. in handcuffs.
when you fail out, i assume you’ll feel the same. good luck though, the world needs more people like you… especially with that ‘meter’ of yours.
I see that you’re somehow taking all this personally. That’s just sad.
Here is a list of citizens killed by cops this year
5000 civilians killed by police since 9/11 by the way.
Iceland’s population is much more gun obsessed than the US. Yet their police have only had to shoot once.
No, I think your gun obsession angle is just so much fluff. You’re just repeating an old ‘Americans’ trope.
What you have here is the result of the militarization of the civilian police.
“There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.” - Commander William Adama
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i’m hoping you stated this (mildly edited by me) to make a point about NYPD’s racist policies and how this whole situation is egregious and wrong.
i’m hoping jsroberts meant that it’s pertinent to our conversation here about NYPD’s racist policies, including stop and frisk, and how they may have contributed to a situation which can only result in these types of excessive uses of force. ?
i’m also hoping that’s what jsroberts meant in his similar (although very different at face value) second reply.
Yes, that was my point. The first comment was in reply to an earlier comment that:
I didn’t agree that Cory had summarized the article without changing its tone or exaggerating a little, although I did agree that it was unbelievably reckless (trying to shoot a suspect in the middle of a major intersection near Times Square?) and an appalling misuse of force. I was just surprised that the colour of his skin didn’t come into the summary, as Cory has posted a few times about stop and frisk and other police policies that disadvantage people who aren’t white and male. People’s skin colour can have an influence on the way people interpret their ambiguous actions, so I’m surprised it wasn’t brought up here.
In this case, if we rule out the possibility that Broadnax was lying about what was going through his head at the time, the police officers mistakenly mistakenly believed that he was reaching for a gun, when he was actually just reaching for his wallet. Reaching for his hip was an ambiguous action, and it is entirely possible that it would have been interpreted differently if he were a smaller white woman.
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yeah, it’s all on me. you’re obviously always correct.
