Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Ref the killing of Jemel Roberson the other day,

ran across this at Ace:
...I do not believe that this poor guy was shot because he was Black; I think he was shot because the cops were out of control and didn't use what little cognitive ability they may have. "Oh look! Guy with gun! Let's shoot him!" Four other people were shot, and it doesn't sound like the bad guy was the one firing, so that means the cops shot five people. Impressive!

The problem now is that "this business is already out of control." Policing in America is broken, and I see no rational solutions being suggested by anybody. BLM wants cops out of Black neighborhoods, and that is moronic beyond belief. Ignoring the fact that most Blacks are not insane...they want the police around...that will not fix the problem. And Whites are killed by cops at approximately the same rates as Blacks, so it's a fallacious argument anyway. But reflexive support for the police is a very shortsighted reaction too. All it does is embolden the crooked or arrogant or power-mad cops who are the lawbreakers, and reinforces the status quo, which is unacceptable.


The thin blue line needs to be discredited, because policing as an occupation is nowhere near the most dangerous one in America. Besides, cops become cops with the understanding that it may get dangerous, and that they may need to go into harm's way. So why is their safety more important than ours? That security guard wanted to go home to his family at the end of his shift, just like the cops who killed him.
I've known too many good cops to blanket call all of them bad; I've met some bad ones who never should've been allowed a badge in the first place, or who reached that point over time, but either other cops/management/politicians protected them.  Throw in bad or inadequate training, and that idiot 'street warrior' mindset that many are being taught, and we wind up with cops who act like an occupying force instead of peace officers.  And that never works well.

7 comments:

Phelps said...

I've known too many good cops to blanket call all of them bad; I've met some bad ones who never should've been allowed a badge in the first place, or who reached that point over time, but either other cops/management/politicians protected them.

Good cops don't protect bad cops.

People keep saying "they are just a few bad apples" and ignore that the proverb is "one bad apple ruins the barrel." The cops that cover the bad apples get ruined just like the original apple that should have been pulled from the barrel.

thinkingman said...

Well thought out summary of the unfortunately true state of affairs in what used to be Law Enforcement. What laws are enforced by killing people who do NOT require killing? HOW does society as a whole BENEFIT by such negligence being EXCUSED AWAY in an "investigation" by the Police Dept that has a VESTED INTEREST in CLEARING the killers of any wrong-doing? How does ANY of the preceding even PROMOTE SAFETY for the community? The answer to ALL of the above is NONE. NO laws were enforced, NO benefit to society was gleaned, NO promotion of safety for the community resulted. In ALL such cases, the police are , in fact, a DETRIMENT to the supposed purposes of their existence.

mark leigh said...

Those enforcing law need to be held to a higher standard than those they enforce the law upon. The only guardian we have against those selfsame guardians is uncompromising law and to weaken it with qualified immunity is a travesty of justice.

Anonymous said...

It's legend in the gun community to not have a gun in your hand when the cops show up, but in this case it was his job and he got shot anyway. I find it difficult to imagine that the cops - in general, not necessarily the specific ones who responded - were unaware that there was armed security at that facility.

There's a real hazard building here; should a situation develop that could be stopped, with or without shots being fired, by a CCW carrier, but there is also a probability - not a possibility, but a probability - that said CCW carrier will be shot by responding police it means that a CCW carrier who could take action to save lives won't.

This elevates the "not my people, not my problem" attitude into a basic survival tactic, that only if one is facing near certainty of deadly force from a direct and immediate - criminal, and non-police - threat will an armed citizen take the risk.

Such does not bode well to our society or culture.

Firehand said...

It's hugely frustrating to find out that someone you thought a good guy is willing to overlook an asshole damaging- well, EVERYTHING, because 'He's an asshole, but-'

Some of them, I don't know if they've never thought about the damage it does to themselves, or if they've bought into the 'protect our own at any cost' crap.

Dan said...

There are NO GOID COPS. There are only bad ones....the bad ones commiting all the crimes, assaults and abuses and the bad ones who witness their comrades and not only DO NOTHING but actually help cover for them. Any cop who doesn't play the game and turn a blind eye to the crimes they see cops commit is QUICKLY hounded and harassed into resigning.

Tim said...

When law enforcement is pitched as a career choice instead of a "calling", you get folks like this, or ones that hide, like in the Florida school shooting.