I feel like a bird looking up at the sky waiting for it to fall

[jinjuku]

Yet another unarmed person is shot by police. It will be interesting for the details to come forth:

http://time.com/4416880/miami-caretaker-shot-police-hands-up/

 

[its phillip]

Video footage from a cellphone shows Kinsey lying on the ground with his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply. An officer then fired three times, hitting Kinsey in the leg.

“Sir, there’s no need for firearms,” Kinsey told the news station he said to police before he was shot. “It was so surprising. It was like a mosquito bite.”

Kinsey said he asked the officer why he fired his weapon, and the officer responded, “I don’t know.”

Not much else to be said :/

 

[Midwesthonky]

Yeah, makes you want to shout WTF!! as loud as you can. No excuse for this case.

Yesterday, a group was protesting outside a gas station in a poorer part of my fair city. Teens were hanging out around the gas station (keeping paying customers away) and thought it would be great entertainment to beat on a side door and to bash stuff against the glass of the station. They actually broke the glass. So an employee comes out and fires off a gun into the air to scare the kids away because response times for police in the area for this type of crime is measured in hours. So the people were protesting and calling for a boycot of the gas station because of the actions of the employee. No one considered that shots would not have been fired had the delinquents not been vandalizing the gas station.

Getting pretty sad out there. I feel for the guy getting shot with his hands up. The city will write him a big check, the cop will get fired and probably face charges, and people will protest. I can understand why cops are quiting the force. It's a no win situation for them at times. But in this case, it looks like the cop had a major FUBAR.

 

[lovinthehd]

I think we should elevate to the next step of armaments all around, lets just carry hand grenades/bombs....all of us.....and if someone can't get along with another they're just both gone.

 

[jinjuku]

I'd settle on a less amp'd, more intelligent, law enforcement. A lot of someones didn't have their head screwed on tightly. I'm going to suggest a pair of binoculars for police departments in situations where they aren't sure if it's a gun or a toy car.

 

[ski2xblack]

The whole thing is sickening...sorry for the inappropriate humor, I'm just not sure there is an appropriate expression for my anger.

 

[highfigh]

Yeah, makes you want to shout WTF!! as loud as you can. No excuse for this case.

Yesterday, a group was protesting outside a gas station in a poorer part of my fair city. Teens were hanging out around the gas station (keeping paying customers away) and thought it would be great entertainment to beat on a side door and to bash stuff against the glass of the station. They actually broke the glass. So an employee comes out and fires off a gun into the air to scare the kids away because response times for police in the area for this type of crime is measured in hours. So the people were protesting and calling for a boycot of the gas station because of the actions of the employee. No one considered that shots would not have been fired had the delinquents not been vandalizing the gas station.

Getting pretty sad out there. I feel for the guy getting shot with his hands up. The city will write him a big check, the cop will get fired and probably face charges, and people will protest. I can understand why cops are quiting the force. It's a no win situation for them at times. But in this case, it looks like the cop had a major FUBAR.

You're in Mullarky, too, eh?

They're up in arms over a Sikh-owned station and the owner's son or nephew fired the gun- OK, he definitely shouldn't have fired a single round, but taking responsibility for the incident? Don't expect the locals to do that, here. If THEY'RE doing it, it's not bad until it kills someone they know and then, it's all "Where were the police? They should have stopped this!".

Can't have it both ways.

I'd like someone to ask the protesters "What would you do about the gunfire in your area?". I live two blocks North of Silver Spring and a bit East of Teutonia- I hear gunfire throughout the year but with the windows closed, it's obviously less audible. Doesn't mean it's not happening, though. I have been listening to a Police scanner app for the North Shore area on my phone and they get a lot of reports

 

[highfigh]

You're in Mullarky, too, eh?

They're up in arms over a Sikh-owned station and the owner's son or nephew fired the gun- OK, he definitely shouldn't have fired a single round, but taking responsibility for the incident? Don't expect the locals to do that, here. If THEY'RE doing it, it's not bad until it kills someone they know and then, it's all "Where were the police? They should have stopped this!".

Can't have it both ways.

I'd like someone to ask the protesters "What would you do about the gunfire in your area?". I live two blocks North of Silver Spring and a bit East of Teutonia- I hear gunfire throughout the year but with the windows closed, it's obviously less audible. Doesn't mean it's not happening, though. I have been listening to a Police scanner app for the North Shore area on my phone and they get a lot of reports

At least nobody was hit, unlike the Cop who was sitting in his car on Sunday morning. Good to see he was released from the hospital yesterday. Don't know what went wrong with the guy who shot him.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Yet another unarmed person is shot by police. It will be interesting for the details to come forth:

http://time.com/4416880/miami-caretaker-shot-police-hands-up/

Of course, we don't know all the details yet, but right now, that cop looks like a complete idiot. I almost feel sorry for him.

With all of the violence we see on the news and - especially - in social media, it would appear that we're going to hell in a handbasket. It's difficult to appreciate that crime rates are much lower now than their peak a generation ago. With the recent shootings of police officers, it looks like there is a war on them. But, when you look at the big picture, it's nothing like that.

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/07/killed-in-the-line-of-duty/

“Firearms-related fatalities peaked in 1973, when 156 officers were shot and killed,” the fund says. “Since then, the average number of officers killed has decreased from 127 per year in the 1970s to 57 per year in the 2000s. The 42 firearms-related fatalities in 2015 are 26 percent lower than the average of 57 per year for the decade spanning 2000-2009.”

I think what's driving the anxiety over police and black people dying lately is the social media deluge. Years ago, many of these events would have been in the back pages of the papers. Some wouldn't have seen the light of day. The cop shooting the caretaker? If there was no footage of it, it would have been a case of "resisting arrest", or other trumped up charge.

My concern is that a vast increase in images of decreasing violence will actually fuel an increase in violence. Does that make sense?

 

[herbu]

Fortunately, BLM in Durham has the answer. Abolish the police and give their funding to community programs.
http://abc11.com/news/protestors-block-streets-in-durham/1437361/

 

[herbu]

But, when you look at the big picture, it's nothing like that.

A new assassination of police officers every week is not the big picture. We should wait and see what the annual statistics say. Right.

 

[GO-NAD!]

A new assassination of police officers every week is not the big picture. We should wait and see what the annual statistics say. Right.

Yup. As horrifying as the recent police killings have been, the numbers won't reflect a pattern for months or years to come.

 

[Chu Gai]

About only good thing is the guy isn't dead. I don't know what the investigation is going to show but this is perhaps the most troubling video I've seen.

There's a lot of ways to measure violence. Death is one and assaults are another. IIRC, assaults are noticeably up.

 

[jinjuku]

Remember "There is no situation so tragic that law enforcement can't make it worse".

There is a sentiment that civilians have control over the situation. I've seen so many videos that peace officers are escalating the encounter.

 

[herbu]

As horrifying as the recent police killings have been, the numbers won't reflect a pattern for months or years to come.

I have no words.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I have no words.

Which means...?

 

[herbu]

Which means...?

It means I have no desire for a discussion with someone who denies there is even a current pattern of police assassinations.

 

[GO-NAD!]

It means I have no desire for a discussion with someone who denies there is even a current pattern of police assassinations.

Ah, now I follow you. I hope you don't think I'm minimising the tragedy of the recent police deaths - because I'm not. But, from 2 or 3 incidents (Dallas is one incident), I don't know what pattern can be discerned. Perhaps you could enlighten me? If you know of a drastic upsurge in targeted police killings, of which I am unaware, please educate me.

 

[Chu Gai]

It means I have no desire for a discussion with someone who denies there is even a current pattern of police assassinations.

You may be misunderstanding Go-Nad's comment. He has acknowledged the recent spate of police killings (assassinations). He calls them horrific. Rightly so. But he also notes that only time will tell if this is part of a longer term trend one way or the other. That doesn't mean nothing is going to be done and police will operate as they have been. I myself don't know what law enforcement needs to do.

 

[ski2xblack]

They need to stop using deadly force against unarmed minorities for starters.