4 ms·

I don't know how you could look at the events of the past week and come to any other conclusion.

usaar333 6y ago
Someone can be quite concerned by police violence and brutality, but still view them as essential for a stable society. (The advocates of reforming police organizations go in this bucket)
- anigbrowl 6y ago
  Indeed, but they've had many years in which to deliver and have manifestly failed to do so. Reform should of course be the first recourse when you discover a problem, I don't bulldoze my house if if I discover a leaky pipe or a crack in the wall. If you know there are massive persistent problems and you keep saying 'now's not the time, let's reform this slowly and carefully' then at a certain point you're just procrastinating in hope that the problem goes away.
  - usaar333 6y ago
    > Indeed, but they've had many years in which to deliver and have manifestly failed to do so This is highly dependent on locality. I don't claim to follow broader national trends, but certainly things in the Bay Area have improved significantly in the last 2 decades. e.g. SJPD has seen encouraging reductions in use of force over the last five years (https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/as-police-decry-george-floyd-killing-new-force-report-signals-encouraging-direction-in-san-jose/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/as-police-decry-georg...)
    - anigbrowl 6y ago
      That's nice, but then why did San Jose police mount such a violent response at the demonstration last week, with one officers running around yelling things like 'let's get this motherfucker' and 'shut up bitch'? When called on to respond as a department they defaulted to gassing protesters and then citing the violent response as a post-facto justification for doing so. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/31/lets-get-this-motherf-ker-san-jose-officers-viral-protest-comments-draw-wide-condemnation/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/31/lets-get-this-motherf...
- rrmm 6y ago
  Police are suffering from a PR disaster of their own making. Every day they present more examples of why they cannot be trusted. They seem hellbent in making sure they are the villains.

Someone can be quite concerned by police violence and brutality, but still view them as essential for a stable society. (The advocates of reforming police organizations go in this bucket)

anigbrowl 6y ago
Indeed, but they've had many years in which to deliver and have manifestly failed to do so. Reform should of course be the first recourse when you discover a problem, I don't bulldoze my house if if I discover a leaky pipe or a crack in the wall. If you know there are massive persistent problems and you keep saying 'now's not the time, let's reform this slowly and carefully' then at a certain point you're just procrastinating in hope that the problem goes away.
- usaar333 6y ago
  > Indeed, but they've had many years in which to deliver and have manifestly failed to do so This is highly dependent on locality. I don't claim to follow broader national trends, but certainly things in the Bay Area have improved significantly in the last 2 decades. e.g. SJPD has seen encouraging reductions in use of force over the last five years (https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/as-police-decry-george-floyd-killing-new-force-report-signals-encouraging-direction-in-san-jose/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/as-police-decry-georg...)
  - anigbrowl 6y ago
    That's nice, but then why did San Jose police mount such a violent response at the demonstration last week, with one officers running around yelling things like 'let's get this motherfucker' and 'shut up bitch'? When called on to respond as a department they defaulted to gassing protesters and then citing the violent response as a post-facto justification for doing so. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/31/lets-get-this-motherf-ker-san-jose-officers-viral-protest-comments-draw-wide-condemnation/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/31/lets-get-this-motherf...
rrmm 6y ago
Police are suffering from a PR disaster of their own making. Every day they present more examples of why they cannot be trusted. They seem hellbent in making sure they are the villains.