Another "I can't breath" death: Police Reform & Protests in the USA

[Machismo]

It must be lovely for the woman Saint Floyd robbed & traumatized for life having to see him deified through murals, portraits and that trashy-ass golden casket every day.

Even scumbags have rights.

It must be lovely for people to think that cops murdering people is acceptable.

[Felya]

It must be lovely for people to think that cops murdering people is acceptable.

They make good cops look bad, by pretending this is normal. Which shouldn’t be a surprise... killing a cop while carrying a Blue Lives Mater flag and all... like I said earlier. They are not defending the cop’s actions, they are defending racism it self.

[Endus]

It must be lovely for the woman Saint Floyd robbed & traumatized for life having to see him deified through murals, portraits and that trashy-ass golden casket every day.

He allegedly used a $20 counterfeit bill to pay at the store when buying cigarettes.

That was it. Not "robbed", no "traumatizing" of the clerk.

Even if the bill was counterfeit, it's quite likely that Floyd was unaware himself that it was a fake. That's how counterfeiting works; the fakes can often pass pretty serious scrutiny.

Edit: And y'know, we don't even need to play games about this. We can listen to the guy's words, from his own mouth.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/vide...guilt-76831575

What's "traumatized" him in this was Chauvin's abusive conduct. In his own words, Floyd seemed "friendly" and "approachable".

So stuff your nonsense apologism. You're lying about the facts, to push an agenda.

What he learned out of all this is he shouldn't have called the cops, in the first place.

[Edge-]

It must be lovely for the woman Saint Floyd robbed & traumatized for life having to see him deified through murals, portraits and that trashy-ass golden casket every day.

Y'all can't stop pearl clutching on behalf of others, can you?

[postman1782]

It must be lovely for the woman Saint Floyd robbed & traumatized for life having to see him deified through murals, portraits and that trashy-ass golden casket every day.

So, you mean are you making excuses that cops should now have the right to execute anyone they want to now? Regardless of DUE FUCKING PROCESS? He went to jail, he did his fucking time. And he was working and doing everything properly. The problem was, that he, UNKNOWINGLY, passed a fake $20 bill to pay for something. Should he be executed for that?

Get the fuck out of here with this victim blaming bullshit.

[Endus]

Y'all can't stop pearl clutching on behalf of others, can you?

The most obvious way you can tell they're talking out their ass is that the clerk who served Floyd was a guy. Not a woman.

It's just pearl-clutching to present a racist lie to try and present Floyd as being "worth killing".

[Edge-]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/...aw/4842364001/

Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed into law a police reform and training bill lauded by Indiana Democrats and Republicans as "historic."

Holcomb signed House Bill 1006 on Thursday. In addition to de-escalation training requirements, the bill allots $70 million to repair and update the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy's training facility.

The bill establishes a procedure allowing the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board to decertify an officer who commits misconduct. It also prohibits chokeholds under certain circumstances and criminalizes an officer turning off a body worn camera to conceal criminal behavior.

The bill, authored by Rep. Gregory Steuerwald, R-Danville, also requires police agencies request a prospective officer's employment record from previous employers during the hiring process.

There's bipartisan support for this bill, and activists are behind it too. These are the kinds of institutional changes people have been protesting for. It may not go far enough, but it's a very good first step.

[masterhorus8]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/...aw/4842364001/



There's bipartisan support for this bill, and activists are behind it too. These are the kinds of institutional changes people have been protesting for. It may not go far enough, but it's a very good first step.

This is what people mean by "defund the police".

[Edge-]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/06/us/de...y-7/index.html

Add the "Minneapolis police use-of-force instructor" to the long list of current law enforcement officers saying Chauvin's actions were excessive, unnecessary, and not in accordance with department procedure.

"We don't train leg-neck restraints with officers in service, and as far as I know, we never have," Lt. Johnny Mercil said.

Prosecutors have turned the blue wall of silence to dust, and the testimony is overwhelming in how unified everyone is in concluding that Chauvin used excessive and unnecessary force, and that other offices didn't uphold their duty to intervene.

- - - Updated - - -

https://twitter.com/TomCottonAR/stat...38205704019969

Tom Cotton's response to the increase in crime in major cities last year, you know when there was additional economic stress that often drives this kind of crime?

We're not locking up enough people and have an under-incarceration problems. The US, the country with by far the highest per-capita prison population in the world and with one of the highest rates of recidivism.

Fuck these ghouls.

[Bakis]

Luckily these early testimonies so far look like accountability.
However will it be watered down to 2nd degree manslaughter or will this case be the turning point?

Rationale tells me odds are low, yet somehow I got high hopes

[Themius]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/...aw/4842364001/



There's bipartisan support for this bill, and activists are behind it too. These are the kinds of institutional changes people have been protesting for. It may not go far enough, but it's a very good first step.

De-escalation training is nice, 70 million to repair and update the academy training facility... seems less useful. I'd like to see changes to training period, as in... double or even triple the time required to become a police officer.

Decertifying officers for misconduct is nice, also something that can already happening a lot of places, yet doesn't. Prohibiting chokehold "under certain circumstances" isn't great... what circumstances? And no chokehold isn't groundbreaking.

Turning off body cam's to conceal criminal behaviour is good, though part of the problem with police, in general, is that their actions aren't themselves considered criminal. So does turning off a camera to do something that the DA deems isn't criminal... is that itself illegal or not under this new law?

- - - Updated - - -

Luckily these early testimonies so far look like accountability.
However will it be watered down to 2nd degree manslaughter or will this case be the turning point?

Rationale tells me odds are low, yet somehow I got high hopes

Years of disappointment have me also pessimistic that he'll get the full weight thrown at him.

[DarkTZeratul]

De-escalation training is nice, 70 million to repair and update the academy training facility... seems less useful.

I expect this was something of a compromise. Make needed changes, but also give money to the department to help get them on board.

However will it be watered down to 2nd degree manslaughter or will this case be the turning point?

In this particular case, I do think 2nd degree manslaughter seems to fit pretty solidly with what happened.

[Endus]

De-escalation training is nice, 70 million to repair and update the academy training facility... seems less useful. I'd like to see changes to training period, as in... double or even triple the time required to become a police officer.

De-escalation training seems to me to miss the mark. It's kind of like sexual harassment training at the office. The guys who need it aren't going to take it seriously, because they don't want to abide by those rules in the first place, because they want to engage in the conduct that's not tolerated. Whether it's Jimmy who likes playing grab-ass with the girls, or Billy who likes to smack around people of color when he can get away with it, they're not gonna get "fixed" by training.

At best, they'll learn to hide their impulses better. Which just makes them a powder keg, rather than solving the actual problem. Which is that Jimmy and Billy are employed in their jobs, in the first place.

Turning off body cam's to conceal criminal behaviour is good, though part of the problem with police, in general, is that their actions aren't themselves considered criminal. So does turning off a camera to do something that the DA deems isn't criminal... is that itself illegal or not under this new law?

The way it should work is that police should have higher standards of evidence required to justify their use of force; their training demonstrates that they have a greater capacity to control themselves and evaluate circumstances than the average person.

That body camera footage should be that additional evidence required. So, if your shooting or use of force was justifed, the camera will back it up.

Turning that camera off should be considered not just a lack of positive defense, but a demonstration of premeditation on whatever action the officer was about to engage in. Sure, turn it off when you go to the can or have lunch, but if anything comes up, even a random person coming up to talk to you, turn the fucking camera on.

And sure; I know that CIs often need to be kept secret and off the cameras. That's fine. You take your risks, officer. If the risk isn't worth it, maybe you shouldn't be bothering your CI in the first place.

No more presumption of innocence for police officers. You hit a guy, I expect your body camera to exculpate your use of force. It was off? You're heading to prison for assault and battery, you fuckdongle.

In the rare case where the camera is damaged in a fight or otherwise fails, that's why officers should be working with a partner. Also, cameras on squad cars. A legit officer should be swimming in evidence that proves their use of force was valid.

[Themius]

De-escalation training seems to me to miss the mark. It's kind of like sexual harassment training at the office. The guys who need it aren't going to take it seriously, because they don't want to abide by those rules in the first place, because they want to engage in the conduct that's not tolerated. Whether it's Jimmy who likes playing grab-ass with the girls, or Billy who likes to smack around people of color when he can get away with it, they're not gonna get "fixed" by training.

At best, they'll learn to hide their impulses better. Which just makes them a powder keg, rather than solving the actual problem. Which is that Jimmy and Billy are employed in their jobs, in the first place.



The way it should work is that police should have higher standards of evidence required to justify their use of force; their training demonstrates that they have a greater capacity to control themselves and evaluate circumstances than the average person.

That body camera footage should be that additional evidence required. So, if your shooting or use of force was justifed, the camera will back it up.

Turning that camera off should be considered not just a lack of positive defense, but a demonstration of premeditation on whatever action the officer was about to engage in. Sure, turn it off when you go to the can or have lunch, but if anything comes up, even a random person coming up to talk to you, turn the fucking camera on.

And sure; I know that CIs often need to be kept secret and off the cameras. That's fine. You take your risks, officer. If the risk isn't worth it, maybe you shouldn't be bothering your CI in the first place.

No more presumption of innocence for police officers. You hit a guy, I expect your body camera to exculpate your use of force. It was off? You're heading to prison for assault and battery, you fuckdongle.

In the rare case where the camera is damaged in a fight or otherwise fails, that's why officers should be working with a partner. Also, cameras on squad cars. A legit officer should be swimming in evidence that proves their use of force was valid.

What worries me about the camera is that story I have shared multiple times, The one where the woman is brought into interrogation, ends up with a broken cheek and teeth after she was fighting back with the officers because she wanted to call her mother. They said she was drunk, she says she wasn't drunk but hysterical.

In any case the officers turned off the camera and turned it back on when she was on the floor in a puddle of blood about her head. The argument the judge gave for why they couldn't do anything was that there wasn't enough evidence... which is bogus being that the reason there wasn't evidence was that they were in a locked police station and the officers shut off the cameras...

[Edge-]

De-escalation training seems to me to miss the mark. It's kind of like sexual harassment training at the office. The guys who need it aren't going to take it seriously, because they don't want to abide by those rules in the first place, because they want to engage in the conduct that's not tolerated. Whether it's Jimmy who likes playing grab-ass with the girls, or Billy who likes to smack around people of color when he can get away with it, they're not gonna get "fixed" by training.

At best, they'll learn to hide their impulses better. Which just makes them a powder keg, rather than solving the actual problem. Which is that Jimmy and Billy are employed in their jobs, in the first place.

They have to learn it somewhere, de-escalation is just a bit more complex than, "Don't pat your female colleague on the ass as she walks by" type deals (though I get where you are coming from). And for those it fails to sink in on, we now have documentation that they received the correct training should they flagrantly disregard it, allowing for them to more easily fire the officer with cause and press potential charges.

[Themius]

They have to learn it somewhere, de-escalation is just a bit more complex than, "Don't pat your female colleague on the ass as she walks by" type deals (though I get where you are coming from). And for those it fails to sink in on, we now have documentation that they received the correct training should they flagrantly disregard it, allowing for them to more easily fire the officer with cause and press potential charges.

Given history I am pessimistic.

For instance... the officer in Florida who was forging confessions who the DA gave the choice to move or face charges who moved and then "solved" every robbery.. magically the entire department learned a ring of unrelated black people were all responsible for every single robbery.

Then we can look to the Taylor case where the DA just lied... also what the fuck is going on with that case? Is it just over? Nothing?

having documentation doesn't mean much when the entire apparatus can simply just ignore it.

[Edge-]

having documentation doesn't mean much when the entire apparatus can simply just ignore it.

Sure, but it's a step in that direction. Even if it's not bulletproof, it's better than what exists now.

[Themius]

Sure, but it's a step in that direction. Even if it's not bulletproof, it's better than what exists now.

My reaction to that is basically a *shrugg* I guess.

Only because proper steps are nice but we'll have to see whether it means anything since we have decades of clear illegal activity being ignored. So making something illegal, doesn't necessarily matter when no one is there to charge them.

There's also language in the bill that says the board can waive the training requirement if either the officer has an emergency situation or the course isn't available which... I don't love... why not language to ensure the course is always available?

[Breccia]

Chauvin defense seeks to shift talk to Floyd drug use

The day featured a back-and-forth over whether Floyd, who died last May after Chauvin knelt on top of him for almost nine minutes, said he “ain’t do no drugs” or “ate too many drugs” as he was pinned to the ground.

The defense also zeroed in on the potential influence bystanders at the scene had on Chauvin during the arrest, as well as the defendant’s knee placement on Floyd while he was being detained.

This is also known as "victim blaming". I've heard it before.

In all honesty the last two I backed over with my car. Luckily they turned out to be drug dealers

You don't get an after-the-fact free murder, just because it turns out he had a history of drug use. The history that matters is his history of saying "you're killing me" while you're killing him.

[Masark]

Ah, LAPD again. Call them about a white domestic abuser and they home in on the nearest black guy, then when the woman who called the cops says they have the wrong person, they arrest her too.

https://abc7.com/lapd-bodycam-video-...dent/10495220/

---

And in Fort Lauderdale, a guy called police about his car being vandalized and they beat the shit out of him. They claim they were skeered of the star trek phasers on his wall.

[The cop] allegedly hit Raymond Purcell, who is 62 years old and disabled, with the butt of his gun, slammed him on the ground, pulled his arm so hard that it snapped and punched him in the face “with so much force that it knocked Raymond’s acrylic partial dentures out of his mouth,” the lawsuit states.

[The other cop involved] has been with the force for four years and has been reviewed by the department’s internal affairs unit for use of force 79 times.