BRPD is Killing Black Folks Too

OGG said:
Here is a massive problem.

The horrifying fact of the matter is, that the orders being shouted at "suspects", are usually unlawful, confusing, and being given by often multiple officers at the same time and with contradictory commands. A felony hot stop in particular is one where a cop is likely to be in the throws of an adrenaline rush. On his own, this makes him dangerous, in groups, it makes them magnitudes more so. An innocent suspect (say a case of mistaken identity), is going to be at a disadvantage from the start. They will be scared and confused. Many people get angry when they are scared and confused... it's a recipe for disaster that at the end of the day is not the fault of the victim.

Cops are referred to today as "Law enforcement officers". That IS NOT what they are, nor it even remotely what they were chartered to be from the beginning. They are in fact, "Peace officers" as defined and mandated by the Posse Cumatatus act that created their role in society.

The overwhelming majority of cops have little to no actual knowledge of "law". Most do not poses an education in the field. Their training does not include such beyond learning a standard basic understanding of local municipal violations and the obvious major crimes. Rarely do they have a formal understanding of their rights as a police officer, and they generally know much less about the rights of citizens. These guys often think that simply reading a Miranda card waives them of their responsibility to conduct themselves in accordance with the letter of law and the rights of the people as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

They are on the street with a barrel of ignorance in one hand a barrel of bullets in the other and it's not really their fault either. Their training is far more about generating revenue than service and protection. That is a fact.

And then you have the brotherhood in blue, an almost unanimous feeling of solidarity with each other above anything else. Again... so dangerous.

That is not to say all, or most cops are "bad". I have many cop friends. It is though absolutely true that local police officers and Sheriff's deputies are woefully under - educated about the most important part of their jobs, and woefully under - trained.

I've said this a million times:

It should be mandatory for people to take the equivalent of just one semester of Junior College level Criminal Justice classes. That tiny introduction alone scares the shit out of people when they realize the reality vs the perception. When they learn that things I pointed out are true, they get very sober, very quick. It can not, NOT change your entire perception of modern "Law enforcement". It is truly terrifying.

We all want to stand up and support cops for doing a thankless and dangerous job for peanuts. Their nobility is not in question as a whole. The system they populate though is wrought with disastrous failings.
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Kudos to you. Considering what you and your family has been through (if I recall correctly) that was WAAAYYYY nicer and more rational than anything I would have written.
 
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Phil513 said:
Kudos to you. Considering what you and your family has been through (if I recall correctly) that was WAAAYYYY nicer and more rational than anything I would have written.
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Thanks Phil.

It's not always easy to resist a knee-jerk reaction to the latest news of such events. For as much as I understand and share the outrage of those who express it, I also sometimes (often) feel somewhat betrayed by it. There wasn't a whole lot of outrage over the murder of my sister by a psycho cop who had no business being in uniform. There wasn't much if any when he walked away Scott Free with a lifetime pension and early (stress induced) medical retirement from the Police Force that he falsified his application to join after being fired from another department over his instability. There was no outrage that the actual bad guy the were after was also murdered that day, in that same cul-de-sac by the same hapless gang of keystone cops shooting everything in sight while he was unarmed and surrendering... bypassing due process and a trial by jury. There was no outrage over the untold mountain of medical bills paid by the city for the multiple gunshot wounds suffered by other cops at the hands of their fellow cops, or the forced early retirements they caused.

Nope. The only outrage was expressed by the blind copsuckers that refuse to accept the possibility that cops are human and therefore fallible. There was outrage against my family for seeking justice and accountability. Death threats, vandalism to our home and cars. Enough outrage to force my entire family out of the town they called home.

Then after five years of constant delays and victim blaming, they were outraged again when news was reported that the unlawful death lawsuit had been settled prior to going before a proper Judge and Jury trial. So much outrage, screaming about how greedy and ungrateful my mother and my sister's widowed husband she had only been married to for six months were for filing a suit and "getting rich" off of the taxpayers.

Since the settlement was sealed, those outraged neanderthals didn't know that we were forced to settle or have the case thrown out in the name of protecting the citizenry from the truth. They didn't know that nobody got rich. There were no millions of dollars or even a million dollars. There was however a massive legal bill, a grieving mother left broken hearted and broke, having lost her daughter and then her house in the years that followed due to the pursuit of justice that never came. Nope.

FWIW, I turned 18 nearly a year before that settlement. I had been one of the plaintiffs in the suit from the beginning. I had no interest in money, or settling anything. I had one goal... expose the truth. I was outvoted. We all wanted justice, my mom especially couldn't take another five years. I removed myself as a plaintiff before the settlement was drafted. I had no idea what the amount was, didn't ask, and never saw a penny. That was 28 years ago. I only discovered by complete accident, late last year, what the terms of the settlement were. I found some of my mom's old paperwork, and there it was. I wish I had never found out. I also wish I hadn't seen the sizeable cashiers check receipt for the "advance" my mom gave the "screenwriter" that after rounding up all of our irreplaceable photos and memories of my sister to go research and write the tell all story... took the money and the items and disappeared. She paid him more than she netted from the settlement after all was said and done. No one knows, or is outraged over that.

My sister's story comes up in the local news from time to time as it relates in some way to some current event. The very limited details that are mentioned are always completely wrong. The comment section quickly gets filled by those outraged copsuckers blaming my sister while standing firmly behind the police.

This is why I pursued an education in Criminal Justice way back when. I thought maybe I could be part of the system, and therefore part of the solution. I realized late in the game that I was fooling myself. I earned my degree and moved on with my life outside that system.

So if you guys ever wonder what makes OGG tick... what makes me so intense... well, there ya go folks. It's become physically impossible for me to ignore injustice. I can't do it. Can't. My sister didn't get justice. My family didn't get justice. As long as there is a breath left in my lungs, I'll make sure that I never allow it again... within the law and without violence. It's the only way to achieve real justice. Murder isn't justice.
 
Then I did remember correctly. I was living in Escondido when all that went down.

I knew it was wrong at the time. I can't imagine what you have been through. I appreciate how pragmatic you are concerning current events.
 
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OGG said:
Thanks Phil.

It's not always easy to resist a knee-jerk reaction to the latest news of such events. For as much as I understand and share the outrage of those who express it, I also sometimes (often) feel somewhat betrayed by it. There wasn't a whole lot of outrage over the murder of my sister by a psycho cop who had no business being in uniform. There wasn't much if any when he walked away Scott Free with a lifetime pension and early (stress induced) medical retirement from the Police Force that he falsified his application to join after being fired from another department over his instability. There was no outrage that the actual bad guy the were after was also murdered that day, in that same cul-de-sac by the same hapless gang of keystone cops shooting everything in sight while he was unarmed and surrendering... bypassing due process and a trial by jury. There was no outrage over the untold mountain of medical bills paid by the city for the multiple gunshot wounds suffered by other cops at the hands of their fellow cops, or the forced early retirements they caused.

Nope. The only outrage was expressed by the blind copsuckers that refuse to accept the possibility that cops are human and therefore fallible. There was outrage against my family for seeking justice and accountability. Death threats, vandalism to our home and cars. Enough outrage to force my entire family out of the town they called home.

Then after five years of constant delays and victim blaming, they were outraged again when news was reported that the unlawful death lawsuit had been settled prior to going before a proper Judge and Jury trial. So much outrage, screaming about how greedy and ungrateful my mother and my sister's widowed husband she had only been married to for six months were for filing a suit and "getting rich" off of the taxpayers.

Since the settlement was sealed, those outraged neanderthals didn't know that we were forced to settle or have the case thrown out in the name of protecting the citizenry from the truth. They didn't know that nobody got rich. There were no millions of dollars or even a million dollars. There was however a massive legal bill, a grieving mother left broken hearted and broke, having lost her daughter and then her house in the years that followed due to the pursuit of justice that never came. Nope.

FWIW, I turned 18 nearly a year before that settlement. I had been one of the plaintiffs in the suit from the beginning. I had no interest in money, or settling anything. I had one goal... expose the truth. I was outvoted. We all wanted justice, my mom especially couldn't take another five years. I removed myself as a plaintiff before the settlement was drafted. I had no idea what the amount was, didn't ask, and never saw a penny. That was 28 years ago. I only discovered by complete accident, late last year, what the terms of the settlement were. I found some of my mom's old paperwork, and there it was. I wish I had never found out. I also wish I hadn't seen the sizeable cashiers check receipt for the "advance" my mom gave the "screenwriter" that after rounding up all of our irreplaceable photos and memories of my sister to go research and write the tell all story... took the money and the items and disappeared. She paid him more than she netted from the settlement after all was said and done. No one knows, or is outraged over that.

My sister's story comes up in the local news from time to time as it relates in some way to some current event. The very limited details that are mentioned are always completely wrong. The comment section quickly gets filled by those outraged copsuckers blaming my sister while standing firmly behind the police.

This is why I pursued an education in Criminal Justice way back when. I thought maybe I could be part of the system, and therefore part of the solution. I realized late in the game that I was fooling myself. I earned my degree and moved on with my life outside that system.

So if you guys ever wonder what makes OGG tick... what makes me so intense... well, there ya go folks. It's become physically impossible for me to ignore injustice. I can't do it. Can't. My sister didn't get justice. My family didn't get justice. As long as there is a breath left in my lungs, I'll make sure that I never allow it again... within the law and without violence. It's the only way to achieve real justice. Murder isn't justice.
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Thank you for the thoughtful reply
 
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rhino said:
He was lying on the ground with his hands in the air. I don't see how there can be a question that he was complying.
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Well, according to the NRA he'd have been able to protect himself if he'd been carrying a gun, so really it's his own fault.
 
perhaps, if, just once, when one of these dumbass cops shoots some poor bastard who's laying on the ground with his hands up, maybe just once, the other cops turned their guns on that dumbass and arrested his sorry ass. now that would be a statement. but I'm not holding my breath.

how a good, decent cop can be part of that and not do something or say something trashes the reputation of all cops.
 
I'm not sure which of these I find most absurd,

Police Union: He was accidentally shot by an officer trying to shoot the autistic man sitting in the street playing with a toy truck who he thought was loading a gun. He was trying to save his life.

Or: This officer was a S.W.A.T. team member and fired 3 shots from an AR-15 at a perfectly still target and missed.
 
On a related note, did the cops with AR-15s not have a scope or binoculars they could use to see if the guy really did have a toy truck? How could it possibly be a good idea to send cops out with AR-15s and not give them a way to get a good look at what they’re going to shoot at?
 
335clone said:
Cop says " I don't know " when asked why he shot him.

Well there ya go.
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Actually, he does know, he just doesn't want to say. I imagine at least one of the following covers it-

"I hate black people"
"I'm afraid of black people"
"Cops are afraid of everything these days, we're all pretty much operating on a 'shoot first, ask questions later' basis"
"I'm a complete klutz and brushed the trigger by accident"

None of which you'd really want to say to the guy you just shot.
 
Beyer160 said:
Actually, he does know, he just doesn't want to say. I imagine at least one of the following covers it-

"I hate black people"
"I'm afraid of black people"
"Cops are afraid of everything these days, we're all pretty much operating on a 'shoot first, ask questions later' basis"
"I'm a complete klutz and brushed the trigger by accident"

None of which you'd really want to say to the guy you just shot.
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Well, "I don't know" isn't any better. Why not just go with the tried and true "shut the fuck up before I shoot you again"?
 
They tried to get something on the ballot for the city council to require BRPD new hires to be from the city. That is a novel idea. I'm not sure that I agree with it, but I think it is something that is worth discussing. The city council did not agree. They blocked it so that it couldn't be on the ballot and made people leave the room when they got vocal about being pissed.
 
rhino said:
They tried to get something on the ballot for the city council to require BRPD new hires to be from the city. That is a novel idea. I'm not sure that I agree with it, but I think it is something that is worth discussing. The city council did not agree. They blocked it so that it couldn't be on the ballot and made people leave the room when they got vocal about being pissed.
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In a perfect world, that is a great idea. When I lived in Charlottesville, they tried that with the police and fire dept. The problem was, if you worked for the police or fire dept, you couldn't afford to live in the city. That and when you do that, you limit yourself to a very small pool of applicants.
 
rhino said:
They tried to get something on the ballot for the city council to require BRPD new hires to be from the city. That is a novel idea. I'm not sure that I agree with it, but I think it is something that is worth discussing. The city council did not agree. They blocked it so that it couldn't be on the ballot and made people leave the room when they got vocal about being pissed.
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Well, that would certainly block outside hires with a mandate to clear up internal corruption.
 
Flamencology said:
Well, that would certainly block outside hires with a mandate to clear up internal corruption.
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I wish that were the case.

To explain further, most of the City Parish workers I know live in surrounding cities. Houses are cheaper and schools are better because there is less widespread poverty and violent crime. Another way to read this is they live where all the white people went to get away from the black folks causing trouble.

I'm sure you can see how this could easily lead to an us vs them mentality.
 
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