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Skinner always drives with the windows down: he tries to maximize the number of encounters people have with the police in which they feel neither scrutinized no

Skinner always drives with the windows down: he tries to maximize the number of encounters people have with the police in which they feel neither scrutinized nor under suspicion. “You sometimes hear cops talk about people in the community as ‘civilians,’ but that’s bullshit,” he said. “We’re not the military. The people we’re policing are our neighbors. This is not semantics—if you say it enough, it becomes a mind-set.” ain't that the truth. Every time I see police in riot gear surrounding or walling off peaceful protesters, I wonder how much less likely it would be for the protest to turn violent if the officers were in dress blues instead.

CM30 9y ago
Agreed. It's possibly also why attitudes towards the police seem a bit better in the UK (and much of Europe) compared to the US, because the police in these areas aren't dressed like they're going into a war zone or carrying weapons.
- baud147258 9y ago
  Well, in France, since the 2015 attacks, there are cops with military weapons when they are a lot of people in the same place (not necessarly during protests). Also whatever the protest, here in France you'll always have a group of cops in full riot gear nearby.
  - Thriptic 9y ago
    I was quite impressed by this when I was in Paris ~2 years ago. A drunken mob of about 50 people had massed outside my hotel to celebrate a soccer victory, and they were blocking the street, being loud and a little aggressive, and doing some petty vandalism. In the US I feel like this would have induced an aggressive police response. Instead what happened is the Paris police closed the street a few blocks up, massed a response force nearby out of sight, and waited to see what happened. Eventually the mob dissipated, and two street sweepers and a team of cleaners came through and cleaned the entire area up. The following morning it was if the event had never happened.

CM30 9y ago

Agreed. It's possibly also why attitudes towards the police seem a bit better in the UK (and much of Europe) compared to the US, because the police in these areas aren't dressed like they're going into a war zone or carrying weapons.

baud147258 9y ago
Well, in France, since the 2015 attacks, there are cops with military weapons when they are a lot of people in the same place (not necessarly during protests). Also whatever the protest, here in France you'll always have a group of cops in full riot gear nearby.
- Thriptic 9y ago
  I was quite impressed by this when I was in Paris ~2 years ago. A drunken mob of about 50 people had massed outside my hotel to celebrate a soccer victory, and they were blocking the street, being loud and a little aggressive, and doing some petty vandalism. In the US I feel like this would have induced an aggressive police response. Instead what happened is the Paris police closed the street a few blocks up, massed a response force nearby out of sight, and waited to see what happened. Eventually the mob dissipated, and two street sweepers and a team of cleaners came through and cleaned the entire area up. The following morning it was if the event had never happened.