Ex-Atlanta cop gets 5 years for beating Walmart customer over "stolen" tomato

[evlbzltyr]

"Do you know how logic works?" Are you taking the piss? Hilton and I already pretty succinctly pointed out that your logic is flawed man, keep ignoring us if you want but don't pretend that you're some kind of paragon of logic. I can't believe that "deciding to become a cop is somehow comparable to being born into a specific racial group" is the hill you're doing your damnedest to die on

[Mr. Someguy]

Then maybe we should try to solve that problem by increasing police funding, but nobody wants to do that because that means higher taxes and more money going toward "the enemy", it's easier to just keep bitching about their perceived low standards (about the highest they've been in the history of our country, but people have an idealistic view of the past). If anything, it's really sad that our highest standards are still set below comparative nations because they do not get the budget necessary for advanced training that other nations require. This is partially due to our police not adhering to any federal standards (like a National Police Agency) and partially due to our conservative ideas on taxation.

[SleepyAl]

Depending on the local police force, cops can either be a bunch of hard working heroes or gang members on the blue team. It is dependent on who's watching the watchmen, but there are other factors at play that are imp ortant as well.

If police training isn't comprehensive enough, if disciplinary action isn't taken in appropriate circumstances, if the culture promotes the job as enforcement rather than peace keeping, if training doesn't root out the sociopaths and the morally questionable, if the laws are written in ways that allow for abuse of authority, and if actions aren't made to ease the divide between the community and the police, then dirtbags can start to abuse their position and people keep quiet out of fear of reprisal. But, these things require funding, require a populace that actually wants to become police officers or have them around, and are not the only required solutions to the issues at hand.

There are institutional problems in certain police forces around the country, but there are also issues outside the police force that affect the relationship between police and populace. It shouldn't need to be stated that #notallcops are corrupt or abusive, but there are definitely issues in the departments in high crime areas as a result of a wide variety of issues, including what amounts to compassion fatigue. Police start to see the people they protect as criminals, begin to lose empathy for them, begin to justify the harsher methods of control they use to keep crime under control, and the high amount of crime and shit the cops have to deal with numbs them to the humanity of criminals, and they don't understand why people choose to be criminal or are forced into a criminal lifestyle other than some sort of moral failure on the criminal's part or "a series of bad choices".

Crime is a complex issue that's closely related to poverty, and that affects the culture of how police and citizens view each other. The war on drugs heightened tensions because people's "livelihoods" were destroyed by cops enforcing the law, so the populace begins to mistrust the police and feel they are the enemy. But people are driven to the drug trade because it is more profitable, and more likely to result in an escape from poverty and possibly a chance to be rich. compared to low paying low skilled jobs that can't make ends meet and are in high competition in these impoverished areas. Crime is a risk/reward choice that people take, and figuring out why someone would rather risk their life running drugs compared to other options is neccessary to understand why crime is high in certain areas. For instance, education might lag behind due to lack of government funding, affecting the incoming work force and causing a lack of skilled labor or opportunity, or companies move out due to unprofitable business or changes in the market destroying the livelihoods of citizens who don't "flee" the city, or there are too many people and not enough jobs, or the jobs simply can't make ends meet for people, etc.

Various multifactorial causes intersect, causing poverty to rise, which then affects crime. Police are an important tool in stopping crime, but they're fighting a fire that's getting fuel poured on it by various outside forces. Without comprehensive economic, social, and criminal reform, it will just continue to burn.

[Mr. Someguy]

A deactivated artillery piece that was donated to the sheriff's office for promotional use. It's not really any different than the DARE sports cars from the 90's. It's meant to be eye catching and cool, and that's about it. And before you bring up the donated MRAP's which actually are used, those are literally just glorified armored cars, and not any different from the donated M113 APC's that SWAT have been using since the 90's; or better, the civilian made armored cars they've been using for decades. Military surplus going to law enforcement goes all the way back to the end of the Civil War when police departments received surplus Union Army uniforms (to be converted to police uniforms) and equipment.

Looking into it, Maricopa County (the one that owns that promotional vehicle) was actually suspended from the program because they "lost" some of the rifles they received. The Defense Logistics Agency requires all borrowed equipment to be continuously logged so they can continue tracking it, requires a use for the equipment (although many get by this by putting down the ever-relevant "war on drugs" or "counter terrorism" excuses), and confiscates equipment that goes unused or is misused.