13 days, 22 murders

[Alma]

Hell of a time in STL.

Morale of St. Louis officers 'being drained' in challenging time for police, chief says

Officers often are rushing from one homicide scene to the next or from one protest to another, he said. “It’s just extremely demanding,” he said. “More demanding than I’ve seen as a St. Louis police officer in 33½ years.”

 

[BTExpress]

See what happens when you take the guns away from law-abiding citizens.

 

[tapintoamerica]

If Trumpists are so agitated, maybe they’ll consider sensible gun control.
Or not.
Mizzurah politicians are more likely to hate the “crisis actors” of Sandy Hook than they are to rein in Our Second Amendment.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Given the undeniable psychological stress created by the virus and the lockdowns AND the number of firearms in the US, a spike in murders seems sadly predictable, especially in a place like St. Louis in the summer. I remember a line in an Ed McBain novel, "in the winter, all the firefighters wish they'd become cops and in the summer all the cops wish they'd become firefighters."

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

See what happens when you take the guns away from law-abiding citizens.

They didn’t abide by the law.

 

[Azrael]

Being a policeman is hard, says policeman.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Being a policeman in a city is REALLY hard. ... at a time when a lot of activities have been shut down due to a pandemic, there is a lot of social strife that has come to head, and the real unemployment rate (not the BLS nonsense) has to be at least in the 20 to 30 percent range, and among minorities is twice that (as the gap in unemployment between whites and blacks is widening).

The one thing about being a cop in St. Louis right now. ... wiht all the stresses that particular job brings. ... it's an actual job. ... with pay, and with pretty good benefits relative to a lot of other things.

 

[Azrael]

Being a policeman is hard.

My comment was about the one-sidedness of the story.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I should have been less opaque, too.

The narrative -- at least if you read the NY Post right now -- is that everyone is against cops, and because they are getting no backing from politicians, and cops aren't being allowed to somehow effectively stop crime, murders and other crime have suddenly surged .... because the cops have been made toothless and aren't being allowed to do their job (causing morale problems).

My comment was about the fact that whenever economic hardship hits inner cities even worse than it already had, the murder and overall crime rates, take off. In this case, a lot changed very quickly, which is why it has created turmoil and a lot of horrifying stories about murder after murder in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in major cities.

"Law and order" isn't going to be an effective answer to that. ... as long as the unemployment rate in those neighborhoods is hovering around 50 percent (the real number), racial strife is the worst it has been in decades, and people are feeling a ton of uncertainty due to the virus spread.

 

[Alma]

I should have been less opaque, too.

The narrative -- at least if you read the NY Post right now -- is that everyone is against cops.

Well, I think it’s at least a little true that cops are getting **** on more than usual.

 

[The Big Ragu]

And we're back to. ... being a cop is a hard job. Presumably anyone who signs up for it knows what they signed up for in the early days of training.

It's also no surprise that the job gets even more stressful and dangerous when unemployment soars, racial strife is the worst it has been in decades, and a viral pandemic has people on edge.

 

[Alma]

And we're back to. ... being a cop is a hard job. Presumably anyone who signs up for it knows what they signed up for in the early days of training.

It's also no surprise that the job gets even more stressful and dangerous when unemployment soars, racial strife is the worst it has been in decades, and a viral pandemic has people on edge.

Right, but you called it a narrative. That’s your dog whistle for “I don’t believe it.”

 

[The Big Ragu]

I called what I am seeing in the NY Post the last few weeks a narrative (which is a story created around events). That narrative is that we are seeing a crazy number of murders because cops are being hamstrung.

No, I don't believe that.

I believe that bullets are flying because the pandemic has people stir crazy, it also has put half of the population in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods out of work, and on top of it racial tensions are high.

I also believe that being a cop is a very difficult job in that kind of environment.

That isn't a "dog whistle" or your attributions about what I believe.

 

[Azrael]

Right, but you called it a narrative. That’s your dog whistle for “I don’t believe it.”

Not everyone is against the cops.

 

[Azrael]

Also, the murder rate in St. Louis has been the highest in the nation for years.

Be nice if stories like this dug a little deeper than the Police Chief's defense of the police.

 

[Alma]

Also, the murder rate in St. Louis has been the highest in the nation for years.

Be nice if stories like this dug a little deeper than the Police Chief's defense of the police.

It was written for a St. Louis audience that I’m sure is familiar with the issues of the city. It's also not uncommon, when you get the police chief 1-on-1, to play that up as a single-sourced story when it's local news.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

... and cops aren't being allowed to somehow effectively stop crime, murders and other crime have suddenly surged .... because the cops have been made toothless and aren't being allowed to do their job (causing morale problems).

Not allowing cops to use choke holds and asking them to not kill unarmed people makes cops toothless?

 

[The Big Ragu]

And like clockwork. ... top story, front page of the NY Post right now.

https://nypost.com/2020/07/16/nypd-top-cop-says-handcuffing-of-police-has-gone-too-far/

 

[Vombatus]

I’ve wondered how much of current police forces are made up of veterans or former security contractors who have been in theater.

Is it a lot higher than the 1980s or 1990s?

Does it correlate with anything at all? Less police violence? More?

God bless our veterans.

I’m just wondering though. Haven’t read any articles or studies on that possible angle.

 

[Big Circus]

I’ve wondered how much of current police forces are made up of veterans or former security contractors who have been in theater.