Today in cops gone feral

"Don't look at me with your spitty blood face."

What a titanic asshole.

 

The guy wasn't trespassing. He was Walking While Black. ... (And then he got all uppity!)

 

A BBC article about the gun unit in Baltimore.

When Cops Become Robbers - BBC News

 

(Full disclosure, I am black). At what point does it become cost effective to talk back to the police in order to get a potential multi-million dollar settlement when they beat or shoot your ass on video? The downside is you die, the upside is all your relatives and your lawyer get paid.

 

Jaccbot Hinds, 40, who witnessed the shooting, said officers jumped out of their unmarked police car and fired without warning.

“They just hopped out of the car. It’s almost like they did a hit. They didn’t say please. They didn’t say put your hands up, nothing,” Hinds said.

 

"None of the officers wore body cameras."

How convenient.

 

That's something that the justice system has to start dropping the hammer on. No camera, or turning off the video/audio, needs to carry serious enough consequences to make the average officer keep the thing on and running. Dirty cops planting guns or stealing will take their chances, but quickly occurring street incidents will get caught on video far more often.

 

If they were in an umarked car, likely they were plainclothes. There might be a legitimate problem putting cameras on them.

 

The police are a para-military force and have to be reined in on a regular basis.

 

It's a tough job and you have to share trust with fellow officers, I get that. I do think most officers figure they don't have a choice in backing up another officer's mistake or bad deed - even if everyone knows a cop is bad, you broke "the code." Superiors won't respect you. Chances are if you've been on the job for a few years you may not have handled everything perfectly and someone had your back. And if you are new are you really willing to chuck your career, or move to some outpost for it?
I don't know what the answer is. Police unions pretty much decide who gets to be mayor in big cities.
The laws give wide latitude to officer shootings. A simple "I feared for my life or the life of someone else" is usually enough, whether it is reasonable or not, whether there were less lethal options available or not.

 

"Testilying". I had never heard that one before.

Lying Is a Fundamental Part of American Police Culture

 

Is there any video of that? ABC had video of the guy walking up to people pointing the pipe at them. They played a 911 call where someone said
'I don't know if it's a gun.'