4 ms·

I'm scared of police and I'm basically a WASP. If I were black or latino, I'd be even more scared. Civil asset forfeiture, drug dogs that always indicate presen

I'm scared of police and I'm basically a WASP. If I were black or latino, I'd be even more scared. Civil asset forfeiture, drug dogs that always indicate presence of drugs, camera/drone tracking of movements of people, illegal phone searches, militarized police departments with special forces type weapons and vehicles, etc. I'm a former US Marine and the police are basically becoming a domestic occupying military force, similar to what I saw in Afghanistan. I'm more scared of police than terrorists because it's statistically way more likely that I'll die, be injured or be defrauded by a member of the police/legal/civil industrial complex.

morley 11y ago
I'm sure there are plenty of people scared of terrorists for the same statistically unlikely reasons. It doesn't make that fear necessarily a net positive on society.
steveeq1 11y ago
And you are statistically more likely to be killed by a black man than you are by an actual policeman. I agree with chrisBob in that you shouldn't worry about the dangers of policemen in the same way you shouldnt worry about the dangers of black people, even if it's statistically "true". It's simply a bad way to look at it. There is a lot of police brutality news lately in the media so I suspect a lot of availability bias is going on. Things like shark attacks, airline crashes and terrorism tend to get a lot of mental coverage because it sells. And it tends to get a lot of people worried despite their actual nominal probabilities in the grand scheme of things.
- llamataboot 11y ago
  Police have lots of ways to ruin your life than just killing you (which they can also do with impunity) -- plenty of people have plenty of reasons to fear/dislike the police.
- vezzy-fnord 11y ago
  Whether or not you actually get killed by police, there's still plenty to fear from a paramilitary organization.
- xacaxulu 11y ago
  I think that's an over simplification of the issue. And I strongly disagree that I'm more likely to be killed by a black man unless that black man is wearing a badge.
  - steveeq1 11y ago
    Do you have a statistical source for this assertion?
- mindslight 11y ago
  > There is a lot of police brutality news lately in the media so I suspect a lot of availability bias is going on Sure. The actual rarity is why it has been hard to convince people that reform is needed. The majority will simply not be affected, so anything they're made aware of is easy to pass off as happening to "others". But regardless of how much it happens, if justice were being achieved then we would expect any case we do become aware of to end with the victims being made whole after the fact. Not just for spectacle cases where someone dies, but in all cases, even if someone is simply arrested yet never sentenced - "You can beat the wrap but you can't beat the ride" is antithetical to due process. Such compensation not happening routinely is a fundamental problem with the justice system, and I am glad the issue is finally getting attention.

morley 11y ago

I'm sure there are plenty of people scared of terrorists for the same statistically unlikely reasons. It doesn't make that fear necessarily a net positive on society.

steveeq1 11y ago

And you are statistically more likely to be killed by a black man than you are by an actual policeman. I agree with chrisBob in that you shouldn't worry about the dangers of policemen in the same way you shouldnt worry about the dangers of black people, even if it's statistically "true". It's simply a bad way to look at it. There is a lot of police brutality news lately in the media so I suspect a lot of availability bias is going on. Things like shark attacks, airline crashes and terrorism tend to get a lot of mental coverage because it sells. And it tends to get a lot of people worried despite their actual nominal probabilities in the grand scheme of things.

llamataboot 11y ago
Police have lots of ways to ruin your life than just killing you (which they can also do with impunity) -- plenty of people have plenty of reasons to fear/dislike the police.
vezzy-fnord 11y ago
Whether or not you actually get killed by police, there's still plenty to fear from a paramilitary organization.
xacaxulu 11y ago
I think that's an over simplification of the issue. And I strongly disagree that I'm more likely to be killed by a black man unless that black man is wearing a badge.
- steveeq1 11y ago
  Do you have a statistical source for this assertion?
mindslight 11y ago
> There is a lot of police brutality news lately in the media so I suspect a lot of availability bias is going on Sure. The actual rarity is why it has been hard to convince people that reform is needed. The majority will simply not be affected, so anything they're made aware of is easy to pass off as happening to "others". But regardless of how much it happens, if justice were being achieved then we would expect any case we do become aware of to end with the victims being made whole after the fact. Not just for spectacle cases where someone dies, but in all cases, even if someone is simply arrested yet never sentenced - "You can beat the wrap but you can't beat the ride" is antithetical to due process. Such compensation not happening routinely is a fundamental problem with the justice system, and I am glad the issue is finally getting attention.