The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Caliga]

I watched the video the other day and it's quite sickening.  I know being a cop isn't an easy job but that dude's actions were callous and evil assuming I clearly understood what I was seeing.

[derspiess]

I watched the video the other day and it's quite sickening.  I know being a cop isn't an easy job but that dude's actions were callous and evil assuming I clearly understood what I was seeing.

Yep.  Pretty damning.

[grumbler]

Here they generally remain in service till reaching legal retirement age.
Getting new blood for the street cops has become a bit of a problem in Germany (high requirements, shitty pay for hard work and terrible hours), so we would be pretty much screwed without the veterans.

The differences between the German and US approach to police careers makes me wonder if maybe the exceptionalism generally applied to the US police career (especially as it isn't seen as the only career one will have) might not be a cause of, rather than (as I had assumed before this conversation) a result of, the greater disconnect between the populace and the police in the US.

[MadImmortalMan]

The differences between the German and US approach to police careers makes me wonder if maybe the exceptionalism generally applied to the US police career (especially as it isn't seen as the only career one will have) might not be a cause of, rather than (as I had assumed before this conversation) a result of, the greater disconnect between the populace and the police in the US.

It probably started out the one and evolved into the other over the years.

[jimmy olsen]

Now that's some frontier justice.

Shouldn't we rename this thread by now?
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-officers-pummel-man-repeatedly-after-chase-stolen-horse-n338881

California Sheriff Investigates 'Disturbing' Video of Suspect Being Beaten

By M. Alex Johnson

The San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff's Office opened two investigations Thursday only hours after an NBC Los Angeles helicopter recorded deputies using a stun gun on a man on a stolen horse and then beating him repeatedly.

In the video, a sheriff's helicopter can be seen landing next to the man, who falls off the horse and is stunned by one of the deputies. Two deputies begin punching him in the head and kneeing him in the groin. Then, three others arrive and join in the pummeling, which lasts about two minutes.

The sheriff's office identified the man in a statement as Francis Jared Pusok, 30, of Apple Valley. It said Pusok was being treated at a hospital for undisclosed injuries.

The sheriff's office said deputies were serving a search warrant in connection with an identity theft investigation about 12:12 p.m. (3:12 p.m. ET) when Pusok fled in a vehicle. At some point, he stole a horse from a group of people in San Bernardino National Park and rode off through dirt trails into steep, rugged terrain, the statement said.



About two hours after the chase started, three deputies landed in a sheriff's helicopter, spooking the horse, which threw Pusok off, according to the statement. "A Taser was deployed but was ineffective due to his loose clothing," it said. "A use of force occurred during the arrest."

Cynthia Bachman, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, said that two deputies were being treated for dehydration and that a third was injured. That deputy was kicked by the horse, which was also injured during the pursuit, the sheriff's statement said.

"The video surrounding this incident is disturbing and I have ordered an internal investigation be conducted immediately," Sheriff John McMahon said. He said a special detail was also conducting a criminal investigation.

[11B4V]

The Ole Wood Shampoo

[The Brain]

Surely the horse thief would hang under frontier justice.

[lustindarkness]

Now that's some frontier justice.

Shouldn't we rename this thread by now?
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-officers-pummel-man-repeatedly-after-chase-stolen-horse-n338881

California Sheriff Investigates 'Disturbing' Video of Suspect Being Beaten

By M. Alex Johnson

The San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff's Office opened two investigations Thursday only hours after an NBC Los Angeles helicopter recorded deputies using a stun gun on a man on a stolen horse and then beating him repeatedly.

In the video, a sheriff's helicopter can be seen landing next to the man, who falls off the horse and is stunned by one of the deputies. Two deputies begin punching him in the head and kneeing him in the groin. Then, three others arrive and join in the pummeling, which lasts about two minutes.

The sheriff's office identified the man in a statement as Francis Jared Pusok, 30, of Apple Valley. It said Pusok was being treated at a hospital for undisclosed injuries.

The sheriff's office said deputies were serving a search warrant in connection with an identity theft investigation about 12:12 p.m. (3:12 p.m. ET) when Pusok fled in a vehicle. At some point, he stole a horse from a group of people in San Bernardino National Park and rode off through dirt trails into steep, rugged terrain, the statement said.



About two hours after the chase started, three deputies landed in a sheriff's helicopter, spooking the horse, which threw Pusok off, according to the statement. "A Taser was deployed but was ineffective due to his loose clothing," it said. "A use of force occurred during the arrest."

Cynthia Bachman, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, said that two deputies were being treated for dehydration and that a third was injured. That deputy was kicked by the horse, which was also injured during the pursuit, the sheriff's statement said.
"The video surrounding this incident is disturbing and I have ordered an internal investigation be conducted immediately," Sheriff John McMahon said. He said a special detail was also conducting a criminal investigation.

The horse got injured? that's what will get them in big trouble.

[Sheilbh]

Euros are generally wusses on armed cops in the first place, though.  We don't have that luxury.  Over here an unarmed cop on patrol would mean a dead cop.

No they're not. Brits are but I think most continental police carry guns.

I was very freaked out as a kid when I saw armed police holding guns running through Gare du Nord on my first trip to Paris.

[The Brain]

All Swedish cops carry guns.

[Iormlund]

Same here.

Though not a common sight any more, anti-terror road-checks feature cops with shotguns, SMGs and assault rifles. The same goes for guards at Guardia Civil or military residential blocks. As a kid I crossed paths every day with two Air Force guards with SMGs on the way to school.

[MadImmortalMan]

Same here.

Though not a common sight any more, anti-terror road-checks feature cops with shotguns, SMGs and assault rifles. The same goes for guards at Guardia Civil or military residential blocks. As a kid I crossed paths every day with two Air Force guards with SMGs on the way to school.

People with SMGs walking around in public would be an odd thing to see even for Americans. Why the British seem so twitchy is curious to me. However, I have even encountered people in the USA who also have that condition where just seeing the object is enough to be frightened. Like it's some kind of cursed talisman with a will of its own. Or the Ark that will melt your face off if you look at it.

[The Brain]

SMGs.

[Sheilbh]

Why the British seem so twitchy is curious to me.

When we started to introduce police there was a desire to have a very clear distinction between soldiers and police because in the British mind continental examples of police forces were largely, I think paramilitary: the gendarmes, carabinieri, guardia civil etc. They were associated with tyranny and repression. The idea of 'free' Englishmen hosting a military police force was anathema. And possibly I suspect traditional Parliamentary cheapness. The ideology behind our police force was 'policing by consent' as Robert Peel put it, 'the public are the police and the police are the public'. They wouldn't be, as gendarmes and guardia civil, outsiders posted into a community to keep order.

The notable exception was Ireland which was a repressive, paramilitary force (with the exception of the Metropolitan Dublin force which was based on the Met in London). Obviously since then the Police have often failed at policing by consent - sus laws and the routine clampdowns on every possible black member of the IRA in the 80s spring to mind - but that's still the principle. Same reason why, until recently, we didn't have water cannon or, I think, rubber bullets on the mainland.

[jimmy olsen]

Do tasers really feel so similar to firearms that this mistake is plausible?

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-deputy-sheriff-robert-bates-charged-suspects-shooting-death-n340821

Oklahoma Deputy Sheriff Robert Bates Charged With Manslaughter in Suspect's Shooting Death

A Tulsa, Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy was charged with second-degree manslaughter Monday for the shooting death of an unarmed black man.

The charges against Robert Charles Bates came hours after the family of the dead man, Eric Courtney Harris, accused deputies of treating him inhumanely after he was shot at the conclusion of an April 2 foot chase stemming from a sting operation in which Harris had allegedly arranged to sell a gun to undercover officers from the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office Violent Crimes Task Force.

Video footage of the incident showed Harris writhing on the ground and complaining that he was having trouble breathing. An unidentified officer can be heard responding, "F--k your breath."

Harris' family release a statement Monday calling the response "appalling." The relatives added, "No human being deserves to be treated with such contempt."

Bates, 73, an insurance agent who'd served as a reserve deputy since 2008, thought he was using a Taser on Harris, but shot him with a gun instead, sheriff's officer investigators have said.

In the video, Bates can be heard shouting, "Taser! Taser!" before firing a single round from his sidearm, hitting Harris, who was pinned to the ground by officers.

Bates quickly realized his mistake: "I shot him! I'm sorry!" he is heard saying.

Harris was taken to the hospital, where he died about an hour later.

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office defended Bates last week, saying he committed no crime, noting that officers chasing Harris had good reason to fear that he was armed. Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clarke, who reviewed the incident for the sheriff's office, called the shooting an accident attributable to a faulty response to stressful situations called "slip and capture."

They then turned the investigation over to Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler, who on Monday announced the second-degree manslaughter charges.

Underpinning the charge is a finding of what he called in a statement "culpable negligence," which Kunzweiler defined as "the omission to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the lack of the usual ordinary care and caution in the performance of an act usually and ordinarily exercised by a person under similar circumstances and conditions."

Harris' family accused Clarke and the sheriff's department of seeking to protect Bates, who, according to the Tulsa World newspaper was a chairman of Sheriff Stanley Glanz's 2012 re-election campaign, to which he donated $2,500.

In an interview with the paper, Glanz said he had been friends with Bates for about 50 years, and that Bates had been his insurance agent. But Glanz said he had not given Bates preferential treatment.

It is common practice for supporters to be hired as reserve deputies, who undergo police training and are assigned to accompany sworn officers on law enforcement operations, Glanz has said.

Harris' family questioned the wisdom of having a 73-year-old insurance executive, who'd served briefly as a police officer in the 1960s, involved in a undercover sting operation, let alone someone who'd given political donations to his boss.

"We do believe something is deeply wrong with the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office," the family statement said.

Such arrangements are not unheard of, in Oklahoma or elsewhere. In Michigan, for example, some small town police departments, strapped for cash, have hired volunteer cops to help fight crime. Sometimes the hires pay for their uniform and gun.

"In this state and many others, you have to have a license to practice law, to practice medicine, to cut hair and do nails, yet this subsection of my industry exists almost unchecked," said Dave LaMontaine, prseident of the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Michigan.

He added, "In some places, it's pay to play."

The hiring of volunteer reserve sheriff's officers dates back to the days of the Wild West, when sheriffs sought help from citizens enforcing the law, experts said.

In the modern versions, reserves must complete some sort of training, depending on the state and agency where they work. In some states, reserves can carry guns, and additional training earns them the ability to work closely with police officers. Certain categories of California deputies can patrol areas on their own, Police Foundation President Jim Bueermann said.

Jonathan Thompson, deputy executive director of the National Sheriffs' Association, said the hiring of reserve officers has increased since 9/11, with fears of terror attacks that could strain local departments. With a generation of baby-boomer officers retiring, there is a large pool of former officers to recruit from, he said.