He Tried To Get Away ...

[ItsjustMe]

[lark]

1. Our hiring of police officers must be upgraded.

They need to be subject to strong screening and anyone who is overly fearful/scornful of others of different races must be permanently screened out.

[Wounded Bear]

6. And training. Don't forget training...

American cops have far less training than most other 1st World nations. Hell, to be a small town sheriff no training is really required, you just need to be popular among your fellow rubes.

[lark]

7. Yes indeed, that absolutely must be included.

I really wish something could be done about the many police unions that promote white nationalism and racial hate.

[Permanut]

21. This.

[Crunchy Frog]

26. And accountability. They need to be able to deal with bad cops, effectively and openly.

In ways that are largely prevented by the police unions. There needs to be major union busting.

[lark]

38. Yeah, qualified immunity is a concept whose time needs to come to an end.

Now.

[soldierant]

32. Exactly the point Glenn Kirschner made here

He pointed out if someone wants to be a cop because they want the authority to abuse people, you aren't going to train that out of them,

Readers Digest version is he suggests vetting on steroids, to be done with involvement from citizens who are going to be policed by the hires. But he says it much better.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

2. Also need a...

US Govt. national database of police officers, with records for any misconduct/abuse and flag system to prevent future employment.

[luckone]

3. ++Without some tracking the fired police are not off the streets just hired elsewhere

[Duppers]

8. Another ++

👍 Definitely.

[crickets]

22. This x 1000. nt

[uponit7771]

25. +1,

[FakeNoose]

4. Only one problem - the cop is the one with the gun

Nobody is threatening the guy with the gun.

[njhoneybadger]

5. Half of the people in this country have no functioning conscience

and most of them claim to be Christian.

[Claire Oh Nette]

27. cpincidence?

I think not...

[rickyhall]

9. I miss Jack Webb

[mjvpi]

17. I miss Andy of Mayberry

[kimbutgar]

20. And the cops on Adam 12

[rickyhall]

31. Jack Webb created, wrote & directed Adam-12 & Dragnet

[Jay25]

10. That's it in a nutshell.

[housecat]

11. If a fish rots from the top, go to the top and see why they are hiring nazis

[KS Toronado]

12. Could a nationwide policy of body-cams

for all law enforcement officers when dealing with the public lower the cases of cops being stupid?
Believe most would think twice knowing they're recording themselves.

[wnylib]

34. The cops who harrassed Lt. Nazario

with pepper spray and threats had their body cams on and recorded the whole incident.

Body cams don't stop cops if they know that their superiors will not discipline them. In the case of Nazario, they hoped to keep him quiet by threatening his military career if he spoke up. But it didn't work. As Nazario said in the video from the cam, he has a good rapport with his CO and planned on discussing it with him.

The cop who pepper sprayed him wasn't even fired until the video went viral, 4 months after the incident. If Nazario had not pursued it, nothing would have happened to the cops at all.

[KS Toronado]

36. "had their body cams on and recorded the whole incident."

Kinda proves my point, without the recordings, cops literally get away with murder.
With them some get fired....

[wnylib]

37. Cam videos can be useful for prosecuting or suing

but only if: the victim survives and is not afraid to make a formal complaint, or the victim's family sues after the victim dies or is disabled. And there is still no assurrance that the cops will be convicted. There is a list of cops getting off despite videos from Rodney King onward.

The cams do not work as a deterrent, and that is the point I was making. A prosecution or civil lawsuit after the fact does not bring back the dead victim. It does not make life safer for people of color. In spite of cams or videos from security cameras or witnesses, cops still get away with murder if their superiors don't take action, if a DA fails to prosecute, or if a jury fails to convict.

So changes in how police are hired, trained, and disciplined are necessary. In some police forces, that means a complete overhaul.

The idea is to save lives more than to prosecute for deaths.

[tiptonic]

13. What about

What about better pay? That would help.

[Jon King]

15. The pay is very good actually...

The pay and benefits package and ability to retire after 20 years is pretty much top notch compared to many careers. Contrary to mythology, most police work their entire careers and never face any real danger.

The problem is the hiring. Its mostly friends of friends and sons of friends. And the culture attracts people who want to be bullies rather than people who want to help.

The solution is what many countries have, mainly community based officers whose entire function is to mediate and de-escalate first and foremost. They have a separate unit trained for actual dangerous crime response and still another unit of investigators.

Our police system has only two of the three branches....we left out the officers trained in de-escalation first and foremost.

[Claire Oh Nette]

28. THis

We've militarized our police with cast offs from the perpetual war in Iraq/Afghanistan.

In listening to the Brooklyn Center Police chief list the training his officers took, firearms, taser, target scenarios, not once was de-escalation mentioned.

They don't de escalate anymore. They view whoever they interact with as enemies. This is the problem. They're an occupying force for Black people already, and more and more for the rest of us.

[mjvpi]

18. Much more and different training to justify that higher pay.

[RainCaster]

14. Police unions must be held accountable for their members

Not the city government that hires them. It's the unions that insist a bad cop must be kept on the force. Let them pay for the insurance, and deal with the attorneys in court.

[mjvpi]

19. Agreed. Unions should have standards, like in the building trades.

If you hire a union brick layer, you are buying a guaranteed quality.

[BobTheSubgenius]

16. It's hard to use the word "standoff" when only one party is armoured and armed.

[nolabear]

23. That's the point, right?

[dianaredwing]

24. This is way too big a problem to solve with a bandage, even a really big one

Law enforcement is not federal but state and regional. As we have seen with the voting rights problem, one size obviously does not fit all. I have read a lot of professional papers about these problems and it is mind boggling. We need for the whole country to find a moral center again but that seems rather unlikely with so many crazies out there. Therefore, all we can do is what everyone in this thread suggests, keep patching up the wounds, stopping the bleeding, and making small improvements in individual instances until other communities see that both cops and victims are members of a community and community policing usually works. It is a damn shame so many women, children, and other minorities must suffer and die simply because of a machismo theory of community control.

[Claire Oh Nette]

30. well said.

Toxic masculinity is at the heart of many ills in society.

Just as the common core content standards and common essential coverage for health insurance, a minimum training standard should elevate policing.

Bullies with guns who are no different from criminals are no better than good cops who are so fearful they can't act rationally.

If there were white people being killed like this, the police would have a case. The think blue line is the problem.

I'm all for unions. However, our military and national guard have codes of conduct without a union. Maybe because they've got firearms, police need a civilian leadership and governance. THe Police union has proven to have racist leanings. I don't think this is true of the Firefighters union, or the teachers union, or other civil service, government worker unions. The weaponry makes it different.

[maxsolomon]

29. Reinvent Policing.

Reimagine, Revise, Retrain...

I won't say "Defund" or "Abolish" because I know those words are a 3rd Rail on DU.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

33. Keep bullies out

Of policing and anywhere there are vulnerable people,marginalized people or suffering people.

[RocRizzo55]

35. #ACAB /nt