Bratton's Broken Windows and the Death of Eric Garner
*While history appears to repeat itself, some things are changing. For one, the practice of regularly filming cops has become an invaluable tool in the communities that are policed the most. Who knows what the story coming out of the Garner death might have been had Garner's death not been recorded by residents or if it had happened somewhere out of view, in an alley or something Whereas with so many incidents of brutality being usually out of the public eye -- with the obvious exception of the infamous Rodney King beating -- the video put the public front row to Garner's death. That's what makes the case so damning -- and unspinnable. Police brutality has a new face: ours. We're seeing brutality victims left and right. These aren't simply pictures dampened by the tears of grieving families anymore. We can hear Garner's words, feel his frustrations and now see his death frame by frame with no doubt left in our minds. "
*This is what people mean when they say brutality is a pattern, a culture. The problems don't only lie with the street cops, they persist even at the oversight level. In the case of Garner, supervisors failed to even mention the chokehold to investigators -- which suggests a culture within the department that covers the ass of its own."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josmar-trujillo/the-changing-face-of-poli_b_5619603.html
