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The important thing that I do not think most people understand is that this is routine. It happens every day on numerous occasions across the country. Unfortuna
by joesmo 13y ago
The important thing that I do not think most people understand is that this is routine. It happens every day on numerous occasions across the country. Unfortunately, it seems that this, along with so much else, has long ago become part of our society and culture.
Balko's book, "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces" is a great read about this exact subject. In it he addresses the issue with many examples and some ideas on how police forces can (and some have) changed somewhat to use less violent tactics and more community policing resulting in less crime. That's blasphemy to any politician of course who cannot be seen as "soft on crime."
The reality is, the "us vs. them" mentality of many citizens nowadays is likely beyond fixing. That is not to say that there aren't a multitude of ideas that could work. Indeed, there are many solutions to these problems, but such solutions will not be pursued.
At least they (I assume) got the address right this time. And the son in the bathroom should buy a lottery ticket. Perhaps his divine luck in staying alive (and luck is all that it was) will make him rich as well.
- lostcolony 13y ago'The reality is, the "us vs. them" mentality of many citizens nowadays is likely beyond fixing.' I think to fix it you need to first fix the "us vs. them" mentality of many cops.
- joesmo 13y agoTotally agree here. The only way to fix it the mentality for police, IMO, is to legislate police as they will never voluntarily give up the power they have. Unfortunately, this is one of the things I doubt will ever happen.
- rurounijones 13y agohttp://www.cato.org/raidmap http://www.cato.org/raidmap is also rather sober reading Each marker can be clicked for further information.
- joesmo 13y agoGreat link, thank you. It's quite disheartening to see innocent people put in jail and _sentenced to death_ for rightfully defending themselves against the intruders who do not identify themselves as police before starting their offense. Sadly it is often overlooked that the police is not held accountable by the law. The law allows them to do exactly what they want with little to no repercussions.
- benched 13y agoThe onus for fixing the "us vs. them" situation is on the police. It's part of their job. I've seen police successfully practicing those soft skills with civilians many times.
- dllthomas 13y agoIt's also on the legislators, to make the police less of an enemy to more of the people, and the courts to hold police accountable when they overstep.