Alceste
Vagabond
Is that not what you just wrote? That maybe it's a good thing he was gunned down because he might have "influenced" people?
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Ferguson!
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Is that not what you just wrote? That maybe it's a good thing he was gunned down because he might have "influenced" people?
psychoslice
Veteran Member
Do you really think he was an angel ?.
Alceste
Vagabond
Do you really think all the flawed people in the world should be gunned down in the street by police?
s2a
Heretic and part-time (skinny) Santa impersonator
OK.
"What do you think about access for the press?"
As compared with what? Perhaps as to "when"? I can't offer any definitive questions about whatever access "the press" in Mo. may have endured or expected. Maybe history, or just time will tell us more
"What do you think about the militarization of the police force?"
Honestly, I don't see how my reflections have any bearing on this circumstance versus others of a similar nature.
Speaking as a lone individual, I see legitimate points offered from both sides.
But generally speaking, and in most cases...I remain skeptical of any expressed need of a "tank" or armored APC as a proper/appropriate response to an orchestrated or civil expression of outrage.
Even worse is a police force that thinks wearing camo and weapons of war is the best response to citizen opprobrium. Cops with automatic weapons in hand, trigger at the ready and pointed directly upon protesters in far beyond stupid. These folks are NOT armed bank robbers, escaped felons, or armed criminal adversaries. They are upset at the ongoing levels of mistrust of the very folks that are supposed to "serve and protect" their basic rights...not to suppress them with overwhelming firepower and threats of terminal outcomes.
Can and do "certain" communities only seek to level the playing field when confronting obvious criminal elements that seek to impose their interests by means of intimidation and force of weapons? Sure.
But Ferguson, MO. pales in comparison to other major urban societies/communities, and any "need" of military power/force to "police" the populace is ludicrous.
This situation has now become, and evolved into a struggle of wills.
Police wish to enforce the law, absent any overriding concerns of due process, and citizens seek to remind their police just whom they serve as benefactors of order and peace.
One last point...
The cops are, no matter where you live, anywhere...the resident authority we have chosen for ourselves to maintain "law and order". If you choose to resist arrest by a cop, you will ALWAYS lose. ALWAYS.
The situations in Ferguson, NYC, or a dozen other municipalities nationwide is this...if an officer of the law places you under arrest..no matter how unjust or unrighteous it may seem to you n that moment, submit. THEN, tell it to the judge.
The cops do not want to hear it, and don't care.
TELL it to the judge.
OK?
psychoslice
Veteran Member
In what I have heard about this young man, yes.
freethinker44
Well-Known Member
Does it matter? The cop didn't know anything about him when he killed him. Maybe he was a horrible person and deserved everything he got, maybe he was going to be the next Hitler, who knows? The point is, and the only thing that matters here, is that the cop didn't know when he killed him. From the cops perspective in that moment, he didn't kill a thug, or a thief, or the next Hitler, he killed an unarmed teenager that punched him in the face, and that is unacceptable.
psychoslice
Veteran Member
Na, he was an *******.
CynthiaCypher
Well-Known Member
Everyone is at some point.
Alceste
Vagabond
Wow. I jaywalk too, and I tried my hand at shoplifting when I was a kid. So I assume you would be fine with me being gunned down, unarmed, in the street too?
Oh yeah, and I have even done drugs! Plus I pushed somebody once, and I fought back when assaulted, and I sassed a cop.
Quick, call out the SWAT team.
Alceste
Vagabond
In fairness, we don't know that he punched the cop. The source for that particular claim is "the stupidest man on the Internet."
psychoslice
Veteran Member
Well, this was his time.
psychoslice
Veteran Member
Jaywalking, come on get real.
freethinker44
Well-Known Member
Sassing a cop alone is worthy of an execution nowadays.
s2a
Heretic and part-time (skinny) Santa impersonator
Of course not. Geez.
But should our police be willing victims of violence when challenged with lethal force?
Of course not.
I'm first in line to argue for a more just and righteous police, and favor any other methods with which to subdue a suspect using non-lethal means.
Here's the rub, and you are invited to write your Congressman about the facts, and alternatives.
Guns, or more specifically, police service weapons, are far cheaper to provide and supply to police than non-lethal alternatives. That's just how it is, economically speaking. It's cheaper to shoot someone to death than just stun them into incapacitation. That is a fact.
You mean instantaneous dispensations of policed justice boil down to stupid economics?
Yes.
Not until all major communities insist that non-lethal means of subduing a "suspect" must become mandatory practice, then all such communities must express an inexorable will to "Pay" for such protections. Until then, we will continue to face "shootings of "criminals" everyday...because we are to cheap to pay for a better and more just alternative. And prospective innocents will continue to die.
Alceste
Vagabond
Yes, the cop decided to confront him for jaywalking. That is not in dispute. He knew nothing else about the kid when he killed him.
freethinker44
Well-Known Member
I know but even assuming he did, that still is not an acceptable reason to kill him.
People keep saying Brown got shot because he was a thug, and a robber, and this and that... No, the cop didn't know any of that when he killed him. All he knew was he was some random kid jaywalking. But then they say, "oh Brown punched him in the face, though", OK fine, Brown punched him in the face, doesn't matter, still not a reason to kill him.
psychoslice
Veteran Member
maybe the so called kid just didn't do what he was suppose to do, cops get shot all the time by low life's, just in case you didn't know that.
Alceste
Vagabond
Ok, I see your point and agree.
Alceste
Vagabond
Probably for the best - if they live they might influence people.
freethinker44
Well-Known Member
Nope, they don't. Compared to other professions being a cop is actually pretty safe.
Here's is some data from 2013:
Law Enforcement Line of Duty Deaths in 2014
So in 2013 only 27 cops died from gunfire in the entire country. That's less than 1 cop per state. Less than 1 cop per state in an entire year is "all the time"?