These are policemen who do not understand their obligations as officers of the law. These are policemen who ought to be summarily dismissed from their jobs.
They won’t be.
(via The Lippard Blog)
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
The fact it happened two years ago does not make it any better. It is chilling.
Summarily dismissed? They should be shot in the face – with real bullets. There’s something to be said for preventing recidivism.
This is an example of the ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mentality that seems almost impossible for humans to avoid being seduced by.
I’m not sure how universal the expression is, but RCMP officers I have known refer to each other as ‘members’, equivalent to ‘one of us’. They go through extensive military style training that consciously builds team rapport.
When an officer reaches the point that ‘they’ are the opposition that he must defend himself and his team members from, he becomes a danger to the society he is supposed to be serving.
That is disgusting. Disgusting. I am so tempted to agree with Caledonian.
This is yet another reason for us non-Americans to be staggered by the hypocrisy that is the US. “Land of the free, home of the brave”, “Freedom of speech”, “democracy through invasion” ….. My arse.
The woman in red epitomises everything good about American people. The bully boys in black epitomise everything that is ugly.
I wish I could say that this was surprising, but when one looks at the history of the DNC to RNC March in 2004, the FTAA Protests in Miami, etc. it becomes merely part of a pattern.
However, one point to be made is that rubber bullets are not classified as non-lethal, but “less lethal” and are specifically not to be fired at the head nor extremities (arms and legs). The fact that these police can be so casual about having hit a woman in the head with a projectile moving fast enough to puncture a sign means that they cannot be trusted with any human life, and that is, regrettably, a pretty general condition of cops the world over.
You see, you only get the freedom when you agree with everything they say.
How funny these people (well. homo sapiens) think they are, and how brave. Of course, they risked nothing, were armed and armored and being paid.
Stick their arrogant assholes in the Sunni Triangle with their rubber bullets for a month, and transport their families over there as well, and maybe they would wonder how funny and brave they really were. Some would (probably the same few that faux-laughed at that deserves-a-bullet-in-the-ass “captain on the bus” before drinking themselves into a stupor out of self-loathing), but most, like the 30% of Bu–sh– backers, would simply gape in amazement and complain that is “wasn’t fair.”
So, two years ago? What happened? This was assault, and perhaps attempted murder.
Lesson for the day: videotape everything.
that is, regrettably, a pretty general condition of cops the world over.
I’m glad you made that point. It’s nothing inherent in police within the US. It’s inherent in the hiring practices used for police throughout the world; it’s inherent in the majority of people who apply for the position of police officer to begin with. It’s simply not the case that most who apply for positions in police work do so out of a feeling they need to “protect and serve”. More like, they want a position of authority they can abuse and be justified in doing so.
My brother once told me when I was a teenager: “Cops are just criminals with badges.” While a bit extreme, I saw his point readily enough.
If you spend time looking at the history of the trials and tribulations of the Los Angeles PD, you’ll see the problem police forces everywhere face. How do you screen out 90% of the applicants, when you are already so short on manpower to begin with?
Yes, better screening procedures are certainly underutilized, but there is a reality, just like the military faces, of ever thining manpower resources that have to be bolstered somehow.
That said, my cousin has been a cop for ten years now, and can truthfully say that the majority of cops are not like what you see here (though surely a significant enough portion of them are).
I’m just pointing out the complicated nature of this issue, and that the military faces the exact same issues when recruiting.
Perhaps if more people with legitimate concerns decided they felt the responsibility to their community to “protect and serve”, whether it be in civil service or otherwise, we would have a far smaller proportion of idiots and bigots making up our armed forces and civilian protectorates.
that goes the same for civil service in the form of government as well.
ever wonder why congress has become such a sham?
why “Chimpy McGrin” is our current commander in chief?
If more people of intelligence and worth chose to step up to the plate to serve in government, or as teachers, or any other branch of civil service… well you get the idea.
It is surely a bad case of them against us syndrome, but are we not here doing the same? Us the good people, them the cops.
The real question is what is our responsability in the liberty these cops felt of firing even rubber bullets at non menacing demonstrators.
Each time the public let fear orient there voting decisions the response of the politician class is to give more freedom to the security forces, with forseeable results. In other polical context, the cops might have feared to have to answer for their actions.
Guys, I think someone stole your Republic while you were looking the other way.
Guys, I think someone stole your Republic while you were looking the other way.
when? must have been before I was born. did you happen to catch the 50’s and 60’s? this is small potatoes.
take a look at the history of your own police force and tell me of it’s angelic nature.
No, that’s the sad part. They took it right out from under our noses.
Personally, I’m just waiting for Pompey and Crassus to show up.
What the fuck was the point in firing rubber bullets at the protestors? They weren’t armed, they weren’t rioting and they were behaving peacefully.
Those bastards are lucky the crowd was so restrained. I’ve been to protests where there would have been molotovs out within seconds of the cops firing rubber bullets. Where the crowd would have rushed them and trodden them into the ground.
They should all be fired, and sued until they can’t afford to feed themselves and they starve to death on the street like the scummy thugs they are.
Sorry, Ichthyic. I guess it’s just that many of us still look to the US as a beacon of hope. Here, we have no illusions that the police serve us, the public. We are, after all, still only ‘subjects’.
Did anyone else follow the link to the piece about filing a complaint to the police?
They arrest the guy who is simply asking for a complain form and won’t leave until they give it to him. This is in Independence, MO, just outside of the state capital.
I’m (for the time being) stuck in Missouri and have seen enough police misconduct and arrogance to make me sick. The fact that there’s no recourse…disgusting.
Oh, and they’re *suing* the investigative reporter who was taped.
I guess it’s just that many of us still look to the US as a beacon of hope.
let it be a lesson:
You want a beacon? don’t let somebody else hold your lamp for you.
Chimpy is just the latest in a long string of idiots who don’t know what they’re doing but want the job anyway.
the sad thing isn’t that there is no hope, it’s that the damage these idiots do while they have the power to do so is often irreversible.
However principles of freedom simply can’t be corrupted, only abused and hidden for a time.
make your own beacon; let your principles be your own beacon, don’t rely on an individual or a government to be a symbol of hope. They are inherently unreliable and easily corrupted.
“If more people of intelligence and worth chose to step up to the plate to serve in government, or as teachers, or any other branch of civil service… well you get the idea.”
It is more complicated than that. Even if they do, it can be impossible to get elected. Howard Dean was a good example, he would have been way better than the chimp based on their records, but he could not even beat Kerry.
It is more complicated than that. Even if they do, it can be impossible to get elected.
…and yet I seriously doubt you are arguing against stacking the odds. You aren’t, are you?
No, it’s really not that complicated. Yes, there will be losses and gains, and some of that will be random, some not, but if more and more truly qualified people step up, the odds favor improvement.
Wow… I couldn’t imagine something like this happening in the USA… Did the story of Blagoveschensk when the Russian police beat up several hundred innocent people in December 2004 appear on the western news?
Not surprisingly, it didn’t appear in the majority of Russian news sources. This paper wrote it about it though, if you can read Russian.
Wow… I couldn’t imagine something like this happening in the USA
again, this is NOT that uncommmon. worse happened during the protests in the 60’s, and similar things happen on a regular basis every year.
Did you guys forget about the whole Rodney King incident over there?
it sure souns like there are simply a lot of illusions about the US that exist that are simply being dispelled because of better media access and the internet.
such is life.
This fits nicely with this story:
http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_053001510.html
Florida seems to have more than it’s share of bad cops. It’s kind of hard to say exactly why but most likely a police culture that discourages civic involvement and fosters an “us vs. them” mentality – fairly common in US law enforcement.
I don’t think it’s something horrible in the nature of people who want to become police officers. It probably is something in their training, and a pathetic lack of political will to oversee police properly. Many people see this as the natural and proper way for authority to behave, as long as they aren’t on the receiving end… and the kind of apathy that let otherwise decent German citizens by and large look the other way during Hitler’s reign.
Remember the Stanford prison experiment… no one can be trusted with a large degree of power over others. We have to recognize that bad institutions make this happen, not bad people. (I am not saying this disgusting buttheads are not responsible for their actions.)
Although I consider myself someone that is generally pro-cop, these guys in particular need to be sent to Guantanamo, or renditioned somewhere, to understand what it is they are laughing about.
Where I come from the police have been known to laugh about rubbing pepper spray into the eyes of protesters.
Some of these people are really sick.
Until there are higher standards for who can become a police officer, this kind of thing will continue.
Although I consider myself someone that is generally pro-cop, these guys in particular need to be sent to Guantanamo, or renditioned somewhere, to understand what it is they are laughing about.
I have no problem with cops doing their jobs (good thing, since they’re omnipresent here in L.A.), but daaaaamn! These fucktards actually fired upon an American citizen for exercising a constitutional right! As my dad would’ve said, these guys deserve to be “under the jail” for their actions. How threatening can a middle-aged woman in a red suit BE for fuck’s sake?
How threatening can a middle-aged woman in a red suit BE for fuck’s sake?
I’m not sure… does Coulter ever wear red suits?
talk about an excuse for peppering somebody with rubber bullets…
For those of us who lived through the VietNam and especially Kent State, this is chilling. Alas, similar police behaviour occurred in Montreal and in Vancouver within the past three years.
“I put pepper on my plate.”
“…Independence, MO, just outside of the state capital…”
“I’m (for the time being) stuck in Missouri…”
Perhaps you could take some of that apparently horrific ‘time being’ and observe at a map; Independence is some 150 miles from Jefferson City.
I agree with you though, the Independence Police department needs some serious public service lessons.
/Kansas Citian and Proud
I echo an earlier comment: Anytime you plan to participate in a protest, get MULTIPLE video crews in and around it.
I read the story on this incident recently, and I think I recall that not one of the officers was reprimanded. In fact, I think at least one of them was commended.
Speaking only for myself, I think the level of gutlessness displayed by these shooters is incredible. Prison terms would be too lenient. Not only do they injure the individuals they practice the wanton violence against, they injure the social contract, destroying the trust that we MUST have in order for law enforcement to work. And that’s worse than murder, because the echoes can wreck the entire society.
And this points out an ongoing serious flaw in ANY law enforcement activity. New laws get passed every day, increasing police power, but there is almost NEVER any punishment or control that restrains that power.
People in my home city have been trying for TEN YEARS to get a civilian oversight board established, and only recently managed to get a weak body in place. Internal investigations, and discipline records of the individual cops is still treated like state secrets. There is no way for citizens at any level, not even the mayor, to see those records.
Just FYI, anytime you donate to the Police Benevolent League (or whatever it’s called in your area), what you’re actually donating to is the cops’ UNION. They then use that money to strong-arm your local government for the best pay, the best benefits, you ever heard of. Whatever job you have, you probably have no frickin’ idea how much better their bennies are than yours.
Can you imagine donating money to a plumber’s union? Or a taxi-driver’s union? Donations to the PBL amount to a shakedown by uniformed thugs … so you can have a bumper sticker on your car and hopefully avoid the next ticket.
The problem with corruption and callousness in police departents is that people really do die from it.
Hey there Ichthyic,
I was going to say that the NZ cops aren’t too bad (at least they don’t carry weapons as a matter of course), but then I remembered the Red Squad in action during the 80’s protests against apartheid in South Africa (and the against the Springboks coming to play the All Blacks).
Scratch a uniform wearer with authority and you’ll find either someone with fascist tendancies or someone trying to do good against the machine.
You are right about holding one’s own moral beacon/compass, however the good ole US does have a tendancy to promote itself as the judge, jury and executioner of morality, democracy, and good taste in movies (think Snakes on a plane!).
think Snakes on a Plane???
ouch.
there, i just thought of it.
now i have to scrub my brain with copious amounts of alcohol.
happy now?
;)
as to the US…
moral beacons are fickle things. How the US advertises itself entirely changes depending on who’s the acting CEO.
Didn’t you get the last company memo?
HAs anyone there heard about the shooting/murder of Jean Charled de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, In London, last year.
What got me was not the apalling set of cock-ups and communiocation failures that led to his shhoting, but the concitent set of lies told by the police, after the shooting.
He was a known Terrorist – NO
He came from the terroists flat – NO – same building but not same flat.
We followed him all the way – Not quite.
He ran into the UndergounD station – NO, he didn’t.
He jumped the ticket barrier – NO – he put his ticket through the machine, as usual.
He was wearing a padded jacket – NO
He was carrying a rucksack, and was fiddling inside it _ NO rucksack at all – just a tool-bag.
Not good at all …..
Certain members of the Old Bill over here are capable of much the same:
Why do all these cops look like the fat redneck pigs one so often sees in then movies and on television? They all seem to have the collective mental ability of a sea snail.
Maybe the Hollywood stereotype is not so far off.
Is there any site that lists the names and departments of rogue cops? Now that would be a public service.
My brother, the cop, explains it this way:
Do assholes become cops, or do cops become assholes?
It’s a chicken and egg thing, really.
None of us are “anti-cop”; we’re anti-asshole with a badge and a gun.
Think again. All too many of them- a minority, but still far too many- were juvenile delinquents who faced a career choice between becoming cops or petty criminals. That kind of personality is naturally attracted to a job in which you get to abuse people with impunity. Many departments need better hiring processes to screen these types out.
Am I the only one reminded of Alex’s droogs from
‘A Clockwork Orange’?
Damon B.,
My apologies, it was late and I thought that the video was talking about a place outside of Jeff City. I know Kansas City is not the capital.
I don’t go west past I-170, generally, so my geography is very much limited to the city.
And I didn’t say it was horrific. Just that I’m stuck. It’s not fun being in a homophobic red state.
As a cyclist, I’m just ashamed that even the so-called police officers on bicycles turn out to be utter shits in this clip. My experience has been that officers who set up or volunteer for patrols en vélo liked the idea of improving contact with the general public. In Melbourne they seem OK when Critical Mass is on…
Flex, I was just about to post exactly that.
How very Clockwork Orange.
Wake up, people. This is not “bad cops.” Cops are fascist pigs, period. They’re all evil.
Is that America??? I hop it’s not!!!
thickslab:
“Wake up, people. This is not “bad cops.” Cops are fascist pigs, period. They’re all evil.”
You’re out of line man. I know a few cops. Focus on the bad ones and not your conspiracy theories, PLEASE.
cops are just punks who got picked on in high school. anyone who is standing up for the fascist state is part of the problem. anyone who is attempting to justify the use of the political system to change the problem is part of the problem. your faith in a ‘system’ is remarkable. it is easier to believe in Sky Daddy than to believe in Ground Daddy. governments have always and always will resort to playing who has the most guns. alas this is the liberal fatal flaw, some unjustified humanist faith in humans to work towards utopia.
don’t do it.
I used to wonder why the black bloc at protests wore goggles and gas masks, all the protests I had been to were peaceful. Then I started seeing videos of stuff like this and I realized the difference. The protests I have been to have not had riot cops breathing down our necks. I think there might be something specific to riot cops versus John Law on the beat in the neighborhood. Maybe they they expect and maybe they want a violent confrontation.
I friend I have that was arrested at an anti-war protest in DC a few years ago overheard a comander telling the cops that these people aren’t patriots, they are no better than the terrorists and that they didn’t deserve to be Americans. As if being American was something one had to earn rather than it just being where you came out of your mother.
Anyone know what the protest in the video was about? I’d be interested to see the correlation between anti-war protests, or protests against political issues law enforcement officials might disagree with, and unprovoked violence against protesters.
Even in Missouri–to mitigate my earlier comments a bit–we demonstrated against an ‘ex-gay’ event and found the cops to be very supportive and helpful. I wonder what the atmosphere would be had it been a rally against the Iraq war.
I think he covered that attitude nicely, even if the circumstance he sings about is different. This song is about a specific encounter he had while touring.
Wayne’s a friend of mine, so my opinion is biased. However, anyone who has any interest in western swing music should definitely check him out — especially live. He’s no friend of the establishment, that’s for sure.
cops are just punks who got picked on in high school.
Au contraire. Those cops are the punks who did the picking in high school. Those who were picked on tend not to become cops.
Signed,
One of the Picked-On (Not a Cop)
A relative of mine suggested some time ago that what we really need is to make two seperate departments of police officers. Two wholly seperate organisations, who don’t have the same leaders, didn’t go to the same school, don’t go to the same gyms, don’t drink the same coffee, and so on, and then dump all charges of police brutality etc. with the other department.
I like the idea in principle. It appeals to my taste for division of power in a democratic society.
– JS
“Remember the Stanford prison experiment… no one can be trusted with a large degree of power over others. We have to recognize that bad institutions make this happen, not bad people. (I am not saying this disgusting buttheads are not responsible for their actions.)”
So if we take power out of the equation then we’ll have a more just society? That sounds pretty radical to me, anarchist.
“Just FYI, anytime you donate to the Police Benevolent League (or whatever it’s called in your area), what you’re actually donating to is the cops’ UNION. They then use that money to strong-arm your local government for the best pay, the best benefits, you ever heard of. Whatever job you have, you probably have no frickin’ idea how much better their bennies are than yours”
The real problem is that the money goes to defend the officers against lawsuits filed against them for actions like these, not that they get benefits.
“I used to wonder why the black bloc at protests wore goggles and gas masks, all the protests I had been to were peaceful. Then I started seeing videos of stuff like this and I realized the difference. The protests I have been to have not had riot cops breathing down our necks. I think there might be something specific to riot cops versus John Law on the beat in the neighborhood. Maybe they they expect and maybe they want a violent confrontation.”
As someone who has been a part of a black bloc I have to say you hit the nail on the head. The point of the outfit is to overcome the fear imposed by the police. Even if only with a mask. As for the “riot police,” they are your regular everyday police but geared up all special. They are the cop on the beat.
I forget who said it, but I once read something along the lines that cops tend to divide society into three classes (in descending order): cops, citizens and scum. When they’re fresh out of the academy, imbued with a “protect and serve” mentality, they regard citizens as being almost (but not quite) on a par with cops, and both far above scum. But given enough time, they come to regard all citizens as potential perps, and citizens drop on ladder to barely above scum.
I suspect that a large factor in this is the emphasis placed by the relevant national and local governments’ emphasis on drug enforcement, since this more than anything fosters an “us against them” (“them” being everybody else) mentality among cops. Note that the police force in question was the sheriff’s department of Broward County, and really, just the word “Florida” goes a long way to explaining shameful conduct on the part of the executive branch of government. (FARK even has its own category for Florida news…)
This happens in the Land of Freedom or which used to be……….Now it is the Land of Fascist George W. Bush Jr. and his Fascist Group.
Read all about how this guy is changing this beautiful land to a horror land
http://the-fascist-george-bush-jr.blogspot.com
Don’t just pick on fascist cops. There are some fascist judges that are helping them.
“A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that if a motorist is carrying large sums of money, it is automatically subject to confiscation. In the case entitled, “United States of America v. $124,700 in U.S. Currency,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit took that amount of cash away from Emiliano Gomez Gonzolez, a man with a “lack of significant criminal history” neither accused nor convicted of any crime.
On May 28, 2003, a Nebraska state trooper signaled Gonzolez to pull over his rented Ford Taurus on Interstate 80. The trooper intended to issue a speeding ticket, but noticed the Gonzolez’s name was not on the rental contract. The trooper then proceeded to question Gonzolez — who did not speak English well — and search the car. The trooper found a cooler containing $124,700 in cash, which he confiscated. A trained drug sniffing dog barked at the rental car and the cash. For the police, this was all the evidence needed to establish a drug crime that allows the force to keep the seized money.”
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/12/1296.asp
How nice to live in the land of the free.
BlueIndependent: There’s no conspiracy. The fascist pig behaviour of police is right out in the open, as demonstrated by the video referenced in this post.
Bernarda, as a forensic scientist I was particularly outraged that a big deal was made of the drug dog alerting. That’s total unscientific crap, not evidence at all. Those judges are unfit for the bench. I bet I can guess who appointed most of them…
I forget who said it, but I once read something along the lines that cops tend to divide society into three classes (in descending order): cops, citizens and scum.
They have a code: NHI “No Humans Involved” for low-income people who make around the same crappy pay that many cops make. You’d think they’d figure it out sometime. Yes, it’s like the nice girl/whore continuum–at any point, any woman can be called a whore for any reason (or for none).
Who needs Al Qaeda? No one beats Americans at hating/maiming/killing other Americans.
My understanding is that this episode happened in Florida, which is practically a Third World country as far as I’m concerned. But assuming they still practice something like English Common Law, I hope that some of the stricken protestors got themselves to a lawyer, and sued whatever jurisdiction was stupid enough to hire a uniformed gang instead of a police force. Steep punitive judgements are, sadly, probably the most effective way of getting those goons into a more appropriate line of work.
I’ll bet these cops get the Medal of Freedom from Bush for this.
An interesting side note:
The courts have ruled over and over again that the police have no legal obligations to protect anyone.
So protect and serve whom?