I don’t know about the origin of American police. I do know that, in Oregon, the state police (OSP) get their authority from Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) section 181, and Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) section 257.
My understanding is, change the laws and you change what the cops can and cannot do.
Good idea, but - I’m in Cleveland, where the federal government was called in to hold the police accountable, and in 2015, reached an agreement.. Long story short - it isn’t working. Today’s news (warning many many ads) is that the commission wants a federal civil rights investigation into excessive force complaints from May protests.
I know this is very creepy for you, but I want you to relax: I am just a criminal, doing this entirely on my own dime and my own time, and you can have recourse to law enforcement later! I know it would be terrifying if I were actually some sort of federal law enforcement, because then you would have no recourse, and, furthermore, you might feel that the country had taken a serious turn.
Activist 1: We’re protesting against the police because they’ve become far too abusive and powerful.
Activist 2: No good, they’re too abusive and powerful.
Activist 1: But that’s exactly why we need to p—
Activist 2: Have you considered protesting against toddlers? They can hardly put up a fight at all.
Cute.
According to OregonLive.com, the newspaper’s web site, “A few hundred protesters gathered outside the East Side Police Station located at 4835 E Burnside St, Portland, Ore., Thursday, July 16, 2020.” That’d be a police precinct. Why did the protesters choose that particular location, unless they wanted to mix it up with police?
It also says, “Some protesters have gathered nightly at the downtown Justice Center, where confrontational events have led to violent crackdowns by police, including the use of tear gas and “non-lethal” munitions.” The Justice Center is a police precinct. Why would protesters choose that particular location, unless they wanted to mix it up with police?
These aren’t people who got permits and paraded downtown at 3pm with police escorts. These are protesters out at 1 in the morning, looking for an adversary, the same way that Critical Mass always seemed to ride in rush hour traffic, just to piss off drivers.
So. How is that working out for the protesters? At least the ones in Portland?
What is the appropriate place to hold a protest against police violence if not near a police station? The zoo?
Do you really think that State, Local and Federal governments would even be discussing police reforms right now if not for the massive nationwide protests against brutality?
A commenter on that article said pretty much what I was feeling while reading it:
They are shooting protesters in the head and disappearing people off the streets. The door has been opened for private right-wing militias to mimic these secret police tactics and start kidnapping people as well. Our whole world is collapsing. I don’t understand how the author can remain so flippant. This isn’t the time for tongue in cheek satire. We need stronger language than this.
Also known as “gallows humor.”
this remains to be seen. let’s hope not
that’s wild. it’s not like people are going to protest about defunding care bears. care bears aren’t killing black people on the regular.
and protesting “against” police anyway isn’t the only thing. defunding the police is one issue. other issues are things like getting trump out of office, getting kids out of cages, ending the war on drugs and freeing people from prison who were convicted of non violent crime, voting rights, equal pay for equal work, medical and healthcare equity, ending redlining and discriminatory lending, removing confederate statues, …
the protests aren’t solely about policing and protestors aren’t going out to rile up cops. cops are being sent out wherever the protests are because america doesn’t want to change.
there is no magical “right way to protest” - there’s just people saying enough is enough
it’s worth saying that choke holds were banned in nyc, and yet police used a choke hold to kill eric garner. driving into protestors is also illegal, and that hasn’t stopped police from doing that either. neither is it okay for unidentified men to abduct people from city streets for unspecified reasons
this is why defunding the police is important. even if qualified immunity is taken away, police won’t stop using the tools they have to enforce their view of the way things should be.
we don’t need to reform a few laws, we have to change people’s minds about the role of policing in society
For me, Petri is the shining star of the Washington Post op-ed page, and her style of acid humor is part of a long and honorable tradition of resistance to oppression. I think “flippant” is a superficial mischaracterization.
It’s more like a pale imitation of gallows humor that was written for people who still think that covfefe is funny, watch late-night talk shows religiously for their stale and ineffectual take-downs of the President, and refer to him as “Drumpf” whenever they leave a comment on a news article.
Niemöller. Not just now, years ago.
Abducting people without arresting them is kidnapping. Whether or not it’s a federal agent.
In all honesty this seems to me like it’s a bunch of guys in vans asking to get shot by someone with a properly licensed concealed carry permit.
And I’m sure the court systems won’t bother even reprimanding these ss goons for kidnapping.
Any application of gallows to Trump kills as humor.
This is the US, I couldn’t help going there myself…it’s only a matter of time.
At any given moment, there have been over 25,000 protesters on the street in Portland and the surrounding suburbs. If the shit really hits the fan, how’s that going to turn out for the police (or, really, at this point) the hundred-or-so Feds?
“There are more of us than them.”
The Governor should call out the Oregon Guard to clear the streets of unknown armed vigilantes dressed up in military gear. 
