They have unchecked power so they murder, steal, sometimes rape. Falsely imprison people, threaten, bully, etc. I asked a cop for directions once and was given the response "Go fuck yourself. Get out of here before I find a reason to give you a ticket." They're usually school bullies too stupid to get a real job so they become cops which in some states though illegal is as easy as knowing someone and magically bypassing some of the major requirements. Anywho, they've been harassing fursuiters here locally, claiming they need a business or "entertainers" license to wear a fursuit in public. Lol 'MERICA.

In LA I once asked a cop for directions too and he didn't give a toss. Another time I got pulled over for jaywalking. This would not happen in Britain, and I think it gives a bad message to everyone. There are good cops out there that get a bad rep because of these guys.

My experience and most of what I hear from other people is that in this day and age there's 2-3 'good' cops for every 10. In my state the local newspaper did a story once, the average response time for a murder is 1 hour. You know what they're "busy" with in this state? Giving people tickets. They literally have nothing else to do. So why one hour to respond to a murder scene? "UUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhh think of all that paper work!"

That sucks. That REALLY sucks. I don't know why but I've always had relatively good interactions with the police (at least since my high school days...)

I even left a bar in Hollywood one time and pulled up next to this LAPD officer and asked him if I could turn left at a street... midway through I realize this is a really stupid idea because obviously I have some alcohol on my breath and I'm driving. But he just smiled and said "you sure can!"

It's probably because I'm white and non-foreign.

I am white, but I am also not American so I don't know what they're thinking XD In the UK I tend to get on fine with the fuzz, though I've heard some criticisms directed at them too from time to time.

Jaywalking is a 'crime' in one locality and a 'human right' in another. Los Angeles proper has a very strict set of statutes that do the former. In New York City, one of its former mayors (Cuomo I think) literally called jaywalking the latter.

I guess everything varies from state to state.

Btw if you're worried about your country devolving, buy an AK or something before they come to grab them. No harm in keeping a gun in the closet, even if you never take it to the range or anything. The ultimate goal is to make you a slave, and slaves can't defend themselves thus have no way to insure the existence of their rights. Free men are armed men. Think about how many laws exist and are enforced that are a direct violation of the bill of rights. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone

I hope it never gets to something that brutal. But rather than seeing all of America enslaved by a out-of-control power-sick government, I'd rather see the entire population standing with AK's on one side and the police / CIA / army on the other side. Let's see if the "shadow governments" will still win then... I think not

Armed citizens made the cronies at Bundy's ranch back down, we'll see what the future holds.

See it's posts like this that reinforce my thoughts about this: In any time of need, the guys with the privately owned AKs are going to be on the wrong side. Yes let's go into an armed standoff over someone trespassing on someone else's land and refusing to pay what amounts to rent.

And completely ignore- or shit on- people getting killed by the police elsewhere for no good reason..

Umm first you clearly don't understand the Bundy case for one, second what the fuck are you going on about? I'm talking about defending yourself in the event of extreme government tyranny and you say "And completely ignore- or shit on- people getting killed by the police elsewhere for no good reason.." wtf? Thanks for the moronic display of ignorance.

Bundy is grazing on BLM land - i.e. land that isn't his- without paying for it. For two decades. He's a classic moocher. If that was an example of extreme government tyranny" Bundy and his supporters would all be dead.

Meanwhile...does that group of armed protesters show up when the police are gassing news crews? When a man is boiled alive by prison guards? Or at any number of other protests where the police violently overreact? No. Do they show in support of times where the police kill without justification? No. Only for one old tax-dodger. Funny that.

So you're saying going to someone's home, tasering their family and threatening to kill various members of someones family then pointing M4s, shotguns, and handguns at everyone who showed up in support of him because his cattle were detained isn't government tyranny? If they cared so fucking much about the land that he'd been using his entire life why would they wait so long for prices to jack up before declaring they wanted the money and then taking such extreme actions? Also I don't hear anyone ignoring Ruby Ridge or Waco. Also people people don't ignore the police attacking and gassing protests people are watching and taking notes. But it's not like every case of riot police reacting isn't not justified, do you think flipping cars over and smashing and looting store fronts and targeting everyone who isn't black is justified every time a street thug gets arrested or shot who has a violent record or is threatening police?

Be *very* careful with that line of thinking.

The decision to "back down" was not just tactical, it was also strategic.

Even though the FBI and DOI strike teams were more than ready to splatter those people, it was decided that it wasn't the right time.

Besides, as you saw yourself, all they had to do, was let the old fart flap his gums long enough and show his true colors. The moment the media got ahold of that, most of those armed citizens realized they'd been played for suckers and started vanishing.

Don't ever make the fatal mistake of thinking you have enough guns to take on the federal government.

Well no shit the government has tanks, helicopters, etc. But people can make a stand. Though it's hilarious that Harry Reid reacted by going 'WELL WE CAN'T LET PEOPLE GET AWAY WITH DOING ILLEGAL THINGS, WE'LL TRACK THESE PEOPLE DOWN." when he let's people jump the border and steal everyone else's money every day.

Of course it's hilarious?

Those people aren't stealing the money of him, or his friends.

Just look at what happened to Bernie Madoff? He didn't steal from poor or middle-class people, he stole from the wealthy.

The only rich, white man in US history to go to jail for theft.

'mericaaaaa fuck yeahhhhh

Given how badly "arm yourself" turned out here in my country last year (hundreds of deaths in a three-way war between citizens, government, and bandits), I would say that an armed populace frightens me more than our police, and our police is fucking scary.

That sounds like pretty much the situation we have here in Italy, with cops beating the hell out of protesters being fired with no reason by foreign companies, or killing young prison inmates to satisfy theyr own sick sadism thirst.

When i see those things and sarcastically say "Wow, cops are really nice people" my parents always reply "they just do theyr job, there are good ones too", i mean, yeah, after all Nazis were doing theyr job doo torturing and exterminating people, and i'm pretty sure many of them were going to the church too but that is no excuse.

Imo there are no good policement in the world, as there are no good army men eighter because in the moment you decide to join a group in which you might have to "obey orders" that involve hurting other people who did nothing bad but just express politely and publicly theyr disagreement to those in charge, then you are one bad (and sometimes sadist) person, because you know you might have to hurt others but you eighter don't care or wait for it to fulfill a sick thirst for violence and blood.

In a democracy you can vote against the politicians that allow these practices.
The problem is, that in many countries it does not matter anymore who you vote for as the political parties differ only in stupidity and how little they care about the citizens after the election.

In short, the 'choosing lesser evil' is still choosing evil simply because there are no good choices.

My Uncle is a Sergeant for the Criminal Investigation Department here in germany and he says that things are going into the negatives more and more. At some point he thinks it is getting like it was when we still had the Socialist Regime here in East Germany.

Unrelated, but I LOVE your avatar!

Oh, so Police Violence in another country is automatically not related to Police violence in the USA? Interesting.

No, I meant my comment was unrelated to the journal's topic of discussion, because I wanted to say how much I love your avatar.

Ah I see x3

I have a distrust of the police because when I was a victim of GBH the cops didn't give a damn, and moreover they tried to charge ME with "disturbing the peace" because I yelled for help and "caused a scene" while lying on the ground covered in blood.

Sure, because it is totally your fault to be there when this happened :/

It´s easy to blame the victim when you don´t want to do your job as a Cop.

Fight the power (corrupt power that is)

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Nemo.

Nemo watches the watchmen?

Nemo= Nobody

And here I was thinking Nemo was just a fish. :-P

there are many municipalities around the country that are requiring cops to wear camera's while on duty. the number of complaints over Abusive Of Power have dwindled to about 5% what they used to be...

this should be mandatory.

yeah never mind the fact they can delete the footage or their friend back at the station can... it's happened multiple times before doesn't mean anything

I've already seen this happen in a case I'm working on. The officer said "don't you worry I'm recording every second on my body camera!" Then when it came time to write the report, he conveniently "realized" his body cam had been malfunctioning during the stop...

Then get the dept. to investigate the causes of the 'malfunction.' You can't just lay there and let it slide.

that is where Infernal Affairs comes in. the cameras are REQUIRED and transmit to the cars, then back to the station. if they stop working it's the officer that gets in trouble

You do realize there are entire jurisdictions that 'cover their own asses?' Like nothing would ever happen to somebody going rogue? That's when the FBI needs to be called in, and even then with enough money thrown at it that can go away too. Some jurisdictions an individual can do anything with enough money. How do you think Ted Kennedy got away with murder? I know people who were there at the time of that incident, several higher ups in the police department suddenly got very rich and the case was almost completely ignored and nothing came of it.

the day Ted Kennedy died I lost one of my childhood dreams... of bring him up on charges for the Murder of Mary Jo Kopechne

Pretty much every Kennedy murdered someone, but hey they slept with everyone in sight and had accents, surely they're American heroes right? I love how every scumbag in Boston thinks the Kennedys were on par with Ghandi and Jesus. JFK almost started WW3 and nothing but dumb luck saved him and that makes him a hero to morons everywhere.

well, at least we agree on one thing

Actually, many of the systems are specifically designed to prevent any potential police tampering. One common way involves having a third party keep custody of the main copy of the recording.

When they get deployed in Toronto, it wouldn't surprise me for the master copies to be in the hands of the Special Investigations Unit, (a non-police agency that investigates all cases of death or serious injury involving police as well as accusations of rape made against police officers).

I agree. Even if the cameras aren't 100% perfect, they're certainly better than making no attempt to record the events. Not every cop is going to risk getting fire and/or sent to prison for tampering with evidence, even when trying to avoid another charge (such as excessive force).

I live in North Dakota and have never seen or experienced anything but a positive interaction with the police. Over the last few years, I've had about a dozen interactions with law enforcement, most of them dealing with disorderly people at the bars and hotels I've provided security for. Every instance was resolved without violence or weapons of any kind.

However, even I think arming the police with military equipment (like the mine-proof combat vehicles used in Ferguson this year) is unwise (with the exception of purely defensive items like bulletproof vests). Police need, like anyone else, encouragement to avoid thinking in "us vs. them" terms. Giving folks leftover military equipment can make them feel like they'll need it, like they're an occupying force, and intimidate regular folks. It's always dangerous to give someone power over others and have no means of verifying they used it for the common good. Even in my time as a private security guard, I've seen coworkers could've used a body cam because they get swept up in even the feeble power we were given.

Honest law enforcement officers can certainly benefit from cameras too. Every time a suspect's story differs from that of the officer, the court can simply view the recording to see who's telling the truth. I'm not a big fan of surveillance, but I think everyone benefits from having cops use cameras when responding to something.

I also feel the best thing we can do is exactly what we're doing: talking freely over the Internet with friends from around the world. Through worldwide information sharing, we can come up with practical solutions (like body cameras) and organize to insist on their use, though votes and/or protests.

Rock on. Don't let anyone ever convince you down.

Any excuse to "Play Counterstrike IRL" for them is good enough

Well said... sadly it seems to be a lot like that.

I'm from Europe, and even I'm fully aware of how the US is turning into a police state. Funny to think about the lies we were sold about America being the land of freedom, or the #1 democracy... when in reality people are terrorized by their own government like most European countries under the USSR were. I hope the people will become more able to defend themselves against a growing fascist state, until they can take that state out of existence.

All the things we were trained to fear about communism have happened under a democracy.

You do realize a lot of the politicians in power right now are admitted Marxists?

I feel ya man I have been arrested three times all of them false I even had a gun drawn on me an a warning shot fired,if said cop was less of an idiot (and yes he was an idiot)he may have killed me or I killed him which if he did not shoe me a badge prior I would have as soon as he pulled the gun. After being shot at I demanded to see his superior see the whole incident which I of course filmed because smartphones are a thing. He was fired no the sport his superior is now one of my best friends and a total hero and badass (Results not typical) he even called me for support once as I am former law enforcement despite the fact I kind of hate law enforcement, none the less if a guy kills a kid your bet your ass I will keep my gun trained on his face so I did, in fact i wanted the thing to go all pear shaped and just kill him but he molested a child and had a death wish and refused protective custody. If you know anything about jail you know anyone that commits a crime against a kid is marked for death, so I will not say more as this is a ranty rant of a rant.

I know exactly how you feel. I was arrested last year because I was protecting myself and another, and in my opinion never got a fair trial. I'm in the middle of trying to find the right people to solve this issue because, even though I have a job, it's still a hindrance to me. They never listened to my side because they said "you're 23, you're young, so you're lying to us." Even at my trial, the judge at least was smart enough to realize I wasn't as "crazy" as the police thought I was, and even though I studied criminal justice in high school and college, the judge asked me something I never knew about and that's what got me off. But even then, the judge refused to hear my witness (who happened to be my mom), even in the jail for the few days I was in there the police wouldn't listen to me. So yeah, I've lost faith in our entire system, and I think the only thing capable of changing it is people in my generation getting into offices of power and changing things. We wouldn't be having all these problems if the current government didn't keep trying to control us. Next thing you know, we won't be able to fart in our own home without being prosecuted, and it has to be changed or we'll turn into a country where every thing is controlled, and we've fought too many wars on that to keep others from going to that, so why are we letting ourselves get that way?

Good luck, I hope there is somehow a positive end to all this. This is not just your local police, this is ten years of a dangerous trend of militarizing the police and their mindsets.

Law enforcement and justice is a business like everything else. There is money to be made in arresting and processing people.

but how were your rights violated?

What happened man? Note me or message me when I'm online later. I may know a guy...

What happened?

Sorry to hear about this happening to you. Take care of yourself and be careful! And on the note of this, Yeah the friggin' CHP needs to learn how to use their turn signals. What ever happened to lead by example? They drive worse than most of the other people I commute with. Sheesh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVmGWLsn0iM

The badge is no longer a symbol of 'protect and serve'. More like an abuse power.

I have a nice pretty scar on my face from police, never trust em ever. No charges... guess its one more reminder to add to my growing collection.

I should also add that a lot of cops are infantry or other military jobs that "FAP" or transfer to military police for gate guard and other jobs for their last six months of contract time. Officers will never get tickets and if they do, they call PMO and have it shredded, along with you usually getting a nice ass chewing. This is important because a lot of these chumps (usually dirt bags to begin with), get hired on the spot for their local PDs. They bring all the abuse and corruption with them.

when i was growing up, they could get away with stuff, but mostly they didn't do it.
you left them alone and they left you alone and pretty much people got along ok.

civil disobedience wasn't a big thing yet. people didn't think it was the only way you could change anything.
and it wasn't. well it was a different world. kids could ride in the back of a pickup and no one ever heard of a seat belt.

cops had guns, but they didn't have armoured personelle carriers.

instead of terrorism we had mccarthyism and segrigation.
we didn't have civilians going postal with smg's.

you could have a hunting rifle, but nobody walked into town with one.

that was america when the phone company was the only corporation that got away with getting too big to fail.

america from fdr to raygun was a different country then it has become since.
there was a lot wrong with it then too, the whole culture was in many ways less brutal, not just the cops.
it wasn't idealic. there were some really bad things that went on.
but it wasn't like everywhere.
some things were about money and some things just weren't.
and people just didn't think that everything should have to be.

there were a lot less people, which meant a lot more places people could easily get away from having to be around each other all the time.
places where the homeless could camp without getting underfoot. and places where even sub minimum wage, you could afford to flop.

in other words, a lot closer to the kind of freedom its still trying to pretend to be,
but no longer seems to give a dam about keeping up the appearance of.

i'll be the first to grant its not a simple issue. but there's nothing complicated about the simple fact that it HAS gotten way out of hand.

What happened o.o;;

At least your fighting back.

WhatI've noticed in the majority (if not vast majority) of cases of police and judicial abuses, is that the victims give up and let the cocksuckers get away with it. If EVERYONE fought back tooth and nail instead of being cowards the abusers would be far less likely to try their games.

Most people do not just "give up" they are usually forced into giving up. The system and way things work, bad police and the judicial system will actually work against you because they see citizens as lower humans than the bad police officers. Bad police also disproportionately harass poor people that cannot afford the lawyer(s) needed to fight back with in the first place.

bad cops or good cops?

Sock it to them Foxer!

The use of fire hoses and police dogs on peaceful civil rights protesters back in the 1950's.

The beating of Rodney King that was caught on tape back in the early 90's, leading to the cops getting off completely innocently, and subsequently leading to the 1992 LA riots.

The tear gassing of occupy Wall St. protesters in Oakland in 2011.

Or, the one that hits home with me the most, the shooting of Paul Boyd. See, Paul Boyd was this Canadian guy who was the lead animator for "Ed, Edd, n Eddy." One day, he went out into public without taking his medication, and he started acting off kilter with random pedestrians. Naturally, the Vancouver PD showed up and tried to stop him. He ends up punching one of the cops in a fit of anger, and what do the other cops do?

They shot him 9 times. For punching a cop.

That shit might be ok for the cops in Grand Theft Auto to do, but I'm pretty sure that that's the point where you pull out a fucking TAZER. You do not unload an entire clip into the guy's ass, Jesus!

Now, I do know that there are good cops out there, who catch a lot of flack over shit like this, but it doesn't make police brutality any less of a heinous crime. It's kinda dated, and not that original, but I think that NWA said it best back in 1988:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5fts7bj-so

Cops around here where I am are rather nice, but then again it seems that the more populated an area the shittier the cop, there are a few cop furs who are nice however.

Hopefully they can do something.

Sadly abuse of power has become such a major problem that groups like the ACLU are overburdened.

I have a police Ranger friend I have known since high school that worked in California Highway Patrol and even local sheriff, and he comes from a long line of cops and said that it was scary being a "good cop" there until he finally got acceppted into the rangers and search and rescue. Some of the things he has told me over the years range from comparing police to organized crime like the Mafia to human trafficking, drug use, lying, cheating, stealing, falsifying evidence, monetary quotas, confiscation of vehicles because a cop really liked someones car and the list goes on.

Police in America need to be demilitarized and forced to wear public record cameras everywhere they go on duty.

Ah, LAPD. Gotta love 'em.

The police in my area respond to calls quickly, actively patrol the area, are very easy to approach and get along with, and help the public with things like jumpstarts and key lockouts. They don't have any sort of power trip, because they have a job to do- protect the public and they do a fantastic job of doing it. Putting themselves in the line of fire and getting injured or killed in the process.

There are definitely departments out there that need some cleanup, but I don't think that is the true of most agencies as I see people eager to believe here. The problem with taking a negative view is that is all you'll ever see and will be blinded by any other possibility.

If you really distrust the police, do something about it, and I don't mean hiring lawyers, starting protests, or causing general disruptions. Go on a ride along. Most departments have them. Go ride in a patrol car during a shift and see what the officers have to deal with. You may be quite surprised by the experience. You may also find more evidence to back your comments up, or you might have your mind enlightened. Either way, check it out. Seriously.

I've been on both sides of the patrol car, a citizen on a ride-along, and as part of the police department as a volunteer. You sign your waiver, get covered by the agency's insurance and you go out on patrol with the officer. They don't pick and choose what calls you get. If sent to a dangerous position, they'll tell you to stay in the car, which is the safest location. But most calls are about domestic violence, suspicious person, disorderly conduct, and MVA (Motor vehicle accident). It was really interesting to ride with an officer and see how they approach any situation, going down the road, through alleys, etc. Always vigilant, always paranoid because they have to be. Is that person walking up to the patrol car there to ask questions or to whip out a pistol and shoot? Give the officers space and keep your hands visible and make no sudden movements. They are high visibility targets for criminals and have to act accordingly. No offense, but there are a lot of people whom want to take them out, so they have to do what they can to take control of any situation for the safety of everyone.

Being arrested is NOT a big deal. It simply means that an officer has taken custody of you for the situation. This may be for your own protection or their own until they can get things stabilized to find out exactly what is going on. With too many things happening at once, sometimes it's safer for all to put you in the back seat of the patrol car for a few minutes while things get calmed down and they can figure out the who, what, where of the situation.

I found it fascinating enough to volunteer later and when I was trained and certified, I was responding to motor vehicle accidents, public assist calls, disabled parking enforcement, park patrols, and being visible in our patrol cars. Sometimes just having a police car in the area is enough of a deterrent. The halo effect of a patrol car in traffic helps keep everyone honest.

I have to say my favorite thing to do was respond to accidents. Yes, they are horrible, but I was trained to know what to do when you arrive. You roll up on the accident scene, do a very quick assessment of the situation, park your patrol car in a blocking manner to safeguard the scene, get access routes ready for arriving rescue apparatus. You go to each vehicle, count all the people involved, do a very quick check for airbags deployed, gender and approximate age, type of visible injuries, and get license plate numbers of all involved. You are doing all of this while still on your radio, relaying this to dispatch so that rescue personnel have a heads up on how to approach the accident, what way is clear, type of injuries, severity (air bags deployed tells you the speeds involved), and you start getting tow services engaged. While waiting for rescue, you comfort those present. When rescue does arrive, you shift to secondary tasks- getting witnesses, pulling info on each driver, getting them accident forms to fill out, etc. There is a lot to do, but after a while, you become efficient at it. Yes, you do have to get over seeing blood and gore from accidents. You learn not to freeze up. You learn valuable skills in emergencies. The Incident Command Structure (ICS) method handling these emergencies is applicable to many things. It teaches you to take charge and effect control over any situation. This is important in natural emergencies as well. I know if there was a tornado or accident in my area, I will be ready to respond accordingly.

There are cases of power tripping officers. That happens in nearly any department. Don't let it stay that way. Write to your police department and mayor's office. Keep copies of the records. Give them time to respond. Then do a followup in the next city council meeting. Right before an election is a great time to bring up such things. The mayor and chief of police do not want to have issues like this over their heads and they will take action.

In our department, even if a patrol car was seen making a right turn at a stop light without coming to a complete stop, a citizen would call it in. That earned you a talking to by the duty seargeant, getting your name put on the agenda for the staff meetings, and if you got caught doing it more than a couple, then mandatory retraining. It went into your record and affected your promotion options. It seems like a simple and unimportant thing, but it is taken seriously. I know I didn't enjoy my talk with the duty seargeant and made sure I came to a full stop at all intersections from that point on! :)

Society differences by region are rather shocking when you visit different countries. The US is very laid back and relaxed about a lot of things. When you talk about vehicles being hit by mortars, that is just an alien concept to me. That can't be happening, and yet I read the same news and know it does.

I'm not sure there is such a disconnect as stated, so much as the people whom feel offended are much more vocal about it, yet not willing to do anything about it. There are some people that just live to be offended. Unless someone is willing to take action and back up their words with the willingness to make changes, then I have to treat their comments accordingly.

I thought the police were abusive and power mad. I was challenged to learn about what I was ranting about instead of just mouthing off. Once I was exposed to the situation from the police side, I learned a lot more and now consider myself educated. I got involved instead of just complaining.

Enough said at this point.

I am scared of the direction the USA (and the UK, then canada to follow) have been going. I wish i knew how to help.

Get involved in the process. Go to your local city council meetings and make your concerns known. Ask them what they are planning to do to address these issues. Task your city council and mayor with this duty. It *IS* their job to serve you, the public. You can ask them to take action.

Film every encounter with police, no matter the circumstances. I've been pretty fortunate to have only gotten 2 tickets after 15 years of driving and the cops were reasonable. but I feel it's only getting worse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XExqABO4kc This viral video happened right in my own freakin' back yard!

I have every respect for good cops, I have little respect for bad cops

*hugs tight*