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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMissouri police officer on leave over video in which he says: 'I'm ... a killer'
In his rambling remarks on the video, he talks about what he describes as a draft replacement for the U.S. Constitution, the "four sodomites on the Supreme Court," and a visit to Kenya "to our undocumented President's home." He refers to Barack Obama as "that illegal alien who claims to be our President."
Page frequently references violence, including nine combat tours in the Army, during which he did "my fair share of killing."
Speaking about Muslims, he says pointedly: "They will kill you."
On domestic disputes, he opines: "You don't like each other that much, just kill each other and get it over with. Problem solved. Get it done."
On urban violence, he predicts that "when the inner cities start to ignite, people are going to start killing people they don't like."
And lastly, Page says, "I personally believe the Lord Jesus Christ is my savior, but I'm also a killer. I've killed a lot and, if I need to, I will kill a whole bunch more."
"If you don't want to get killed, don't show up in front of me."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/22/us/missouri-police-officer-suspended/
IDemo
(16,926 posts)from people with full sized Confederate battle flags flying from the back of their pickups.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)RandiFan1290
(6,242 posts)It is amazing what these people will say when they think they are among their "own"
They know they have to change the Constitution or start a civil war before the demographics completely engulf them. Glenn Beck preaches the same crap on Clear Channel every day although he is a bit more subtle.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)Minorities and the poor have never been "the people". "The people" have always been the well to do, the business people and politicians. Go back to Roman times any time period at all, the police serve and protect the connected people.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)This guy (a senior officer?) proves it for me.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)I know a couple of really nice people who are police officers. I think they went into law enforcement because they saw it as public service and it didn't require as long in college.
BUT a lot of police officers I know seem more like people who just like guns and want a job involving guns. I think the career attracts people like that very strongly. And there seems to be a relationship between liking guns and being racist (not all people who like guns have huge racism problems but there seems to be a connection there for a lot of people) and I'm afraid it attracts those people too.
People should have to have psychological tests before becoming police officers. And with all union/labor jobs, they should be paid more so there are more people to choose from so you can fill a department after the psych exam (because I suspect it would be difficult now.) Pay more, do a thorough psych exam, and pick the people who aren't racist gun nuts with violent streaks. And then don't encourage the racist gun nuts by giving them weapons of war! Whose idea was that anyway?
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)to happen, as you've mentioned, is better screening up front, at ALL levels. In fact, it seems to me that all police employed now should be put through psychological screening. To me, the profession can attract a lot of individuals that should not be there for the same reasons you've discussed.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)As long as you didn't cross them.
I just think that it doesn't take much to push the type of people who are becoming LEOs these days, over the line.
Who knows what the cause or the answer to it is. Are these people who aren't capable of forming emotional attachments because they were raised by a group of strangers in day care? Are they people who have been brainwashed by a media whos constant message is to be afraid? Is it the violent video games they've played most of their lives? Or have their experiences in the military traumatized them to the point of mental instability?
Yes, I do think more extensive psychological evaluations need to be performed. I also think there should be more citizen overseers of local PD's that review individual LEO's records of service and who have real power to eliminate them from Departments or in some cases dissolve the entire department which is what I think needs to be done immediately with the Ferguson PD
JJChambers
(1,115 posts)That's in addition to the competency testing, interviews and background check.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)Or they aren't checking for the right things.
JJChambers
(1,115 posts)gollygee
(22,336 posts)JJChambers
(1,115 posts)me b zola
(19,053 posts)Stanford prison experiment
The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted at Stanford University from August 1420, 1971, by a team of researchers led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo.[1] It was funded by the US Office of Naval Research[2] and was of interest to both the US Navy and Marine Corps as an investigation into the causes of conflict between military guards and prisoners.
Twenty-four male students out of seventy-five were selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. The participants adapted to their roles well beyond Zimbardo's expectations, as the guards enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some of the prisoners to psychological torture. Many of the prisoners passively accepted psychological abuse and, at the request of the guards, readily harassed other prisoners who attempted to prevent it. The experiment even affected Zimbardo himself, who, in his role as the superintendent, permitted the abuse to continue. Two of the prisoners quit the experiment early and the entire experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days. Certain portions of the experiment were filmed and excerpts of footage are publicly available.
~snip~
Conclusions:
On August 20, 1971, Zimbardo announced the end of the experiment to the participants. The results of the experiment have been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology and social and institutional support. The experiment has also been used to illustrate cognitive dissonance theory and the power of authority.
The results of the experiment favor situational attribution of behavior rather than dispositional attribution (a result caused by internal characteristics). In other words, it seemed that the situation, rather than their individual personalities, caused the participants' behavior. Under this interpretation, the results are compatible with the results of the Milgram experiment, in which ordinary people fulfilled orders to administer what appeared to be agonizing and dangerous electric shocks to a confederate of the experimenter.
~more~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
csziggy
(34,137 posts)The Sanford Experiment and the Milgram Experiment both seem to indicate that people are shaped by the situation they are placed in and will abuse those situation under the right conditions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
Zimbardo and his team aimed to test the hypothesis that the inherent personality traits of prisoners and guards are the chief cause of abusive behavior in prison. Participants were recruited and told they would participate in a two-week prison simulation. Out of 70 respondents, Zimbardo and his team selected the 24 males whom they deemed to be the most psychologically stable and healthy. These participants were predominantly white and middle-class.[3] The group was intentionally selected to exclude those with criminal background, psychological impairments or medical problems.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment#Conclusions
The results of the experiment favor situational attribution of behavior rather than dispositional attribution (a result caused by internal characteristics). In other words, it seemed that the situation, rather than their individual personalities, caused the participants' behavior. Under this interpretation, the results are compatible with the results of the Milgram experiment, in which ordinary people fulfilled orders to administer what appeared to be agonizing and dangerous electric shocks to a confederate of the experimenter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment#Conclusions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
Three individuals were involved: the one running the experiment, the subject of the experiment (a volunteer), and a confederate pretending to be a volunteer. These three people fill three distinct roles: the Experimenter (an authoritative role), the Teacher (a role intended to obey the orders of the Experimenter), and the Learner (the recipient of stimulus from the Teacher). The subject and the actor both drew slips of paper to determine their roles, but unknown to the subject, both slips said "teacher". The actor would always claim to have drawn the slip that read "learner", thus guaranteeing that the subject would always be the "teacher". At this point, the "teacher" and "learner" were separated into different rooms where they could communicate but not see each other. In one version of the experiment, the confederate was sure to mention to the participant that he had a heart condition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment#The_experiment
Milgram summarized the experiment in his 1974 article, "The Perils of Obedience", writing:
"Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment#Results
What is needed are reviews by people outside the authority structure not involved in the day to day operations or decision hierarchy. Communities need to make sure that police and other authorities are held accountable and that they understand over reach of authority WILL be punished.
Unfortunately most people want to assign the responsibility for "reducing crime" or "controlling drugs" to some group then forget about the organization given that job until things have gotten so bad fixing it is hard.
me b zola
(19,053 posts)An important thing to talk about, especially when friends and family members of law enforecment officials don't understand how the wonderful person that they know could ever mistreat the vulnerable. Authority can~and all too often does~turn otherwise nice people into monsters.
csziggy
(34,137 posts)That's why the Constitution has the President as Commander in Chief rather than let the military be run completely by their own.
But people are lazy - they just want to set up systems and leave them to run on their own without proper oversight. And all our systems, especially those that wield powerful weapons and tools, need oversight.
Response to notadmblnd (Reply #5)
notadmblnd This message was self-deleted by its author.
MoleyRusselsWart
(101 posts)uponit7771
(90,364 posts)TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)to piss our treasury away in the sand and trusting them to deal with and protect the public when they are done whacking brown folks overseas and keep on keeping on.
TBF
(32,090 posts)when they hire police officers in Missouri? I don't even know what to say after reading that.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)he claims to be a christian...... How did they get it so wrong. Racism truly poisons the mind with it's unreasoning hate. This type of jerk is legion out there in america and bundyland.
packman
(16,296 posts)A so-called Christian who is deeply into the forgiveness shit end of it, is convinced in their twisted theology that no matter what they do - be it adultery, thievery, murder, etc.- Jesus will forgive them BECAUSE they believe in him as their savior. Their belief system is self-centered and narcissistic. Neat and convenient and scary . You will never, ever convince such a person that they are racist .
secondvariety
(1,245 posts)and a 35 year police veteran? Bullshit.
IronGate
(2,186 posts)If, like me, he's a reservist, then, like me, he got called to active duty, going on leave from his civilian job to fulfill his military duty.
ybbor
(1,555 posts)If he were a serial killer this would be referred to as his manifesto.
Oh wait, it sounds like he is a serial killer.
Generic Brad
(14,275 posts)I swear, this officer is Eric Cartmann all grown up and drunk with police powers.
ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)Response to ellenrr (Original post)
Marr This message was self-deleted by its author.
christx30
(6,241 posts)to say anything. You're wearing that uniform. That's all we need to see to know that you are a disgusting racist and killer.
We are going about this all wrong. More Americans have been killed by cops in the last 10 years than the Iraq war. They are a pestilence on our shores.
When Superman goes rogue, he gets a kryptonite bullet. Green Lantern is locked in a yellow cage. Martian Manhunter gets fire. Batman gets a bad someone tow recklessly trade commodities in his name.
Cops need to lose their immunity. They need to be held personally (financially) accountable for deaths and mistakes they make on the job. Victims should be able to sue the city, sure. But the cop needs to lpse his job, his pension, and his home to pay back the victim. Cop gets the wrong house for a drug raid because he trusted some crackhead informant, he spends the rest of his life sleeping under a bridge. And the people who's door he kicked down gets to own him forever. It may seem harsh, but a cop wields enormous power. Their little 'whoopsies' can ruin people's lives and kill them. They can lie in the course of their jobs. You wouldn't operate a nuclear plant without safeguards that can shut the place down if it goes wrong. It's the only way to protect innocent people. Why should cops be any different?
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)I can't look at videos like this now without extreme rage. Assuming from the narrative, that he's -
Under-loved as a child
Under-educated as so many of those going into his profession
Under-informed on his world
Jeebus killing (were Jeebus alive)
Bible thumping
And
if he believe that his Lord Jeebus is his savior, I hope Jeebus won't show all of the abuse marks when he shows up for this motherfucker's trial.
Okay
Now, I'm off to a great day!
Dyedinthewoolliberal
(15,588 posts)needs to be helped and fast................. and taken off the police force
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)What does it take to get canned?
procon
(15,805 posts)9 combat tours! No one survives that kind of horror and comes home unscathed. The military is still failing vets when it comes early diagnosis and treatment of soldiers with these serious long term mental health problems.
Every boy -- and I do mean EVERY single one of them! -- I knew that returned from Vietnam was totally messed up. There was no treatment for them back then and so many of those kids either turned to drugs/alcohol, they killed themselves or someone else.
Nothing has changed. This man should never have been hired as a "peace officer" because he still thinks like he is in a warzone to kill people rather than protect and serve the community.
catbyte
(34,447 posts)A-hole covers it.
fadedrose
(10,044 posts)about his beliefs....
But to empathize with those who did nothing about his rants, his claims were so incredible and stupid that they just plain didn't take him seriously.....
Which makes him a nut, and most people let nuts be as long as they do their job - how he did his job, not what nonsense he spoke, is the question to be answered by his superiors and coworkers....
Did he act on his crazy beliefs or did he just enjoy shocking people?
Either way, he shouldn't be a cop because both behaviors reflect poorly on the police department.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)allan01
(1,950 posts)in my area, the sherrif usually gets this trash when they get fired from other forces . we got the trash from the oj simpson case and the rodney king debachle . suspended , should be fired , pox the the blue code of silence - blue code of conspiricy.
2naSalit
(86,775 posts)Expose your f'd ideology in a public forum and get a paid vacation.
Maybe we need outside help from outer space, we sure are in big trouble on this planet and I am starting to think that the only way to address our vast and troublesome issues will be with outside help.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)is a windbag. Since he's been a cop for 35 years and retired from the Army in 2012, I'm guessing he's been a reservist and not on active duty, since around 1977 except for possible deployments since 2003. I normally wouldn't concern myself with this stuff, because being an unstable, violent asshole is enough, but since he touts his military bonafides with such relish, I'd be curious to know more about his career, especially his primary MOS, units, citations and deployment history.
Dirty Socialist
(3,252 posts)He sounds like a Yahoo! Troll.
Dirty Socialist
(3,252 posts)If not, WTF!
damnedifIknow
(3,183 posts)Oh how manly. You are my hero you deranged screwball.