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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Lets see... from above stats it looks like if we made drugs legal and alcohol illegal we would eliminate 3/4ths of all crime in one fell swoop. :)
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa y Perrito Ruby
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Recent reporting has cast some suspicion on the FBI's ability to handle numbers.
"Nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000,"
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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"What did the other 8,000,000 people do to get arrested?"
Hope Solo, goalie for the US Womens' Soccer Team, was arrested for having a fight with her
sister. WTF? Isn't she ever allowed to use her hands? Despite her sister refusing to press
charges the local dickless attorney is going ahead with the case. And they wonder why
nobody respects the justice system?
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Clicked on the link and then randomly selected a person to see the story--I got one of the terrorists who intended to murder people at the "draw Mohammed" event in Garland, TX. If that's an example of a cop being "trigger happy," I hope they're all happy as can be.
Then I clicked on some more--most of the ones I got seemed to be clearly justified (as far as I can tell from the snippets at least), seems like the cops are doing a good job, probably better than I would have guessed before the recent media focus.
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crankster
Trad climber
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recent media focus.
This is because of the increase in cell phone videos showing these incidents.
Without the video, Officer Michael Slager would not be sitting in jail. It's not all cops or anything close; the vast majority of police are doing the best they can under tough circumstances. Part of the job. But it is alarming, nonetheless, and shows the need for better police training.
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jonnyrig
climber
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Just passed a bill requiring highway patrol to wear body cameras here in Nevada. Now if we could just pass a bill requiring criminals to do likewise...
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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If you have a problem with cops, you are likely to bring that problem with you when dealing with them.
The responsibility for your personal safety is yours alone.
You asked if we knew many cops, but I have to ask if you know many blacks.
The for-profit prison system is out of control. Look at the size of their lobby. I've heard it called the new Jim Crow.
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philo
Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
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K man you are 100% correct.
Incarceration is a revenue generator in UhMurika.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Apply the same level of policing to the posh suburbs...
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Caveman
climber
Cumberland Plateau
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“Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge about Governing Bodies”
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Our growing anti-cop movement is causing cops to be reluctant to do their jobs. CYA trumps pursuing suspicious activity, which translates into more crime.
Be careful what you ask for. Have you READ the actual reports? I read about 2 dozen of them this morning, more or less at random. There were only a few where anyone besides the dead man/woman were at serious risk.
If you think cops are becoming reluctant to do their jobs I counter with they're certainly not reluctant to shoot unarmed civilians dead on the spot.
It's apparent that for a number of LEOs their training and/or reflexes are to shoot first and ask questions later. I'm sure most of them will regret their actions the rest of their lives.
One of the most tragic deaths was late last week in Long Beach when a "scrawny" 20 year old college student (in excellent standing) ate some mushrooms, went wacko (what did he and his friends expect?), jumped through a 2nd story window and crashed on the ground. He was unarmed and failed to stop approaching the police even after being tasered (his friends have a more chilling account).
If our cops can't deal with a kid like that other than shooting him dead there's something seriously wrong.
This strikes a bit near to me as I've got two friends who ride weekly at the velodrome very nearby.
There've been two this year in San Jose (one with a gun, one with a knife) within a mile of another young friend's residence.
You face a cop with a gun in your hand, you're likely to get shot. Fair enough. Otherwise the police had better have a dammed good reason to shoot at all.
Read the reports. Quite a few of these murdered persons (yes they were murdered and yes they were Real People) had done nothing seriously wrong. Certainly nothing justifying their deaths. But hey, I'm just one of the "growing anti-cop movement".
What am I asking for? Well trained, competent, careful police who aren't going to shoot you or me on minimal provocation.
It's a sad irony that it takes a Left Wing English newspaper to create a database and make it public. And to shame America into action.
Senators Boxer and Booker today started legislation to require police to report to the FBI all deaths at the hands of cops.
It's bloody well about time.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Ouzounian, who had several self-inflicted stab wounds, confronted deputies responding to a call that reported he was preparing to kill himself, according to officials. One shot him dead I read that one too. So who was he threatening besides himself? Note that "deputies" is plural.
Also note that most of these reports are from The Police.
And I repeat, I'm NOT anti-cop nor anti cops with guns.
I want to walk the streets of San Jose or San Francisco or Berkeley at night in safety, from thugs and from ill trained trigger happy cops.
I was taught as a boy to go up to a policeman if I was concerned about something or even needed directions. These days I get decidedly on my guard when approaching a policeman on the street. I can only imagine the reaction in African Americans and Indians.
Don't go ragging on Mick.
Great Britain certainly has their criminals, some of them very nasty indeed. It's a nation with many more people than California. 51 million to 39 million. It's a really big deal when a copper shoots an unarmed civilian.
46 people in the UK have been killed by police since 1920.
Killed for any reason, whether the copper was on duty or not.
Only 2 killed in the past four years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_Kingdom
There've been 4 killed in San Jose and 3 in San Francisco so far this year.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Read the reports. I'd second that to anyone who's interested.
I did click on a bunch of them (tried to be sorts random, but as Kos pointed out, perhaps I wasn't).
Here's my take.
-Most of them seemed A-OK and the cops should get a commendation (and likely will, as far as I know)
 a number of them seemed to be "suicide by cop," where the cops weren't reluctant to play along. Not sure how I feel about that, but hard to see how anyone thinks that's a horrible problem in the US that urgently needs to solved
some of them like the the man on mushrooms suggest instances where a violent trouble maker gets shot, and I suppose someone could think that the cop would have a reasonable chance to try engage the trouble maker in a fistfight of soemething. Again, to the extent there's a problem, seems to me to be primarily with the violent trouble makers and only secondarily with possibly somewhat trigger happy cops. But if you're looking to go crazy and start attacking people and are worried about getting shot, I can see how you may think this is a serious problem. (And interesting how HT refers to the 20 year old man as a "kid"--how old do you have to be to graduate from kid status these days?)
We had a pretty similar case in Boulder a few weeks ago where a drugged-out college student went crazy and wandered around the neighborhood trying break into homes, until he finally got into one and was promptly shot by the homeowner. Certainly a sad situation and in some sense the homeowner in retrospect didn't "need" to shoot the intruder. But maybe people planning to take drugs that may cause them to go in insane attack mode can plan ahead and get a babysitter or something?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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If the FBI #'s are correct the number of drug related arrest fell by more than 1/2 from 2010 - 2012.
2010: 3.2M
2012: 1.5
the other categories list by GL stayed about the same...
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Suicide by cop?
What purpose is there in letting the cops collude with the potential suicide by shooting them?
As I said, if the suicidee is armed the cops MAY have a reason to shoot. But only if someone's life is in imminent danger.
Why did I call the 20 year old a "kid"? If you had looked at his photo you'd have seen a very youthful, happy, optimistic young man. I know "kids" exactly his age. Having known them since they were in pre-school I still see them as kids.
Were you an "adult" at 20? I doubt it, I sure wasn't.
Of course to some, eating mushrooms is a criminal offense. So I suppose Feral Morad could have been a violent, murderous Threat To Society.
Nahhhh......you never got stoned or raving drunk in college........did you?
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