After Ferguson: Stop deferring to the cops

[mick silver]

After Ferguson: Stop deferring to the cops The case of Michael Brown shows that America is far too protective of those who have been entrusted to enforce order
By Damon Linker (http://theweek.com/author/damon-linker) | November 26, 2014


1762

(http://theweek.com/article/index/272660/after-ferguson-stop-deferring-to-the-cops#disqus_thread)




https://7e8c.https.cdn.softlayer.net/807E8C/origin.theweek.com/img/dir_0129/64558_article_full/a-healthy-dose-of-suspicion-when-it-comes-to-power-is-our-civic-duty.jpg?209

A healthy dose of suspicion when it comes to power is our civic duty. (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)



Several years ago, a friend of mine was pulled over by the police a few blocks from her house in Milwaukee while driving home from the airport following a business trip. Her crime? A few unpaid parking tickets. When my friend expressed dismay that they would bother to pull her over for such a minor infraction, the cops called for a paddy wagon. When it arrived, they told her to exit her car, handcuffed her, and shoved her into the van. Stunned, my friend first offered to write a check for the unpaid tickets. When that didn't win her release, she became agitated, asking about her rights as a citizen and suggesting that they must have something more important to do than arrest her.
That's when one of the officers turned around to address my friend: "Does anyone in the world know where you are right now? You better shut up or they're going to find you face down in the river."
My friend is white. She has a Ph.D. She earns a decent living at a world-renowned university. And for the remainder of her ride in the back of the paddy wagon, she had very good reason to fear for her life.
Americans are known the world over for their suspicion of state power. The War for Independence began as a tax revolt and coalesced around fears of a tyrant's "long train of abuses and usurpations." Today the liberal left warns about government surveillance and overweening executive power. The post-Reagan conservative right rallies around the slogan that government is the source, and not the solution, to our problems.
But then why do we increasingly allow the cops to behave like unaccountable overlords?
Yes, Ferguson is about race. (I've explored (http://theweek.com/article/index/267092/after-ferguson-we-dont-need-another-dialogue-on-race) that aspect of it myself.) But it's also, and maybe more fundamentally, about our disproportionate deference to the cops.
I should be clear that I'm not at all a cop-hater. I have great respect for the crucially important, often dangerous work they do to keep order in an often chaotic country.
But that doesn't mean that cops deserve an unconditional benefit of the doubt, which is what we too often give them.
As Ben Casselman at FiveThirtyEight has pointed out (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ferguson-michael-brown-indictment-darren-wilson/), grand juries nearly always decide to indict — unless the perpetrator is an on-duty law-enforcement official. In such cases, the jury goes in the diametrically opposite direction and nearly always lets the perp off without a trial. This is true even when the act of violence leads to death, even when the confrontation was the result of police error, and even when the victim was (like Michael Brown) unarmed and therefore of no serious threat to the officer in question.
How often does this happen? Chase Madar of The Nation reports (http://www.thenation.com/article/190937/why-its-impossible-indict-cop) that last year there were 461 "justifiable homicides" in the United States — that's how the FBI (revealingly) categorizes deaths at the hands of law enforcement — which is "the highest number in two decades, even as the nation's overall homicide rate continues to drop." Since those figures are tabulated based on data voluntarily submitted to the FBI by local law enforcement, the true numbers are probably higher. (A crowdsourced website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_th e_United_States,_August_2014) and wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_th e_United_States,_August_2014) attempt to compile more accurate data, while muckraking (http://www.copblock.org/) journalists do their best to publicize (https://www.facebook.com/policethepoliceACP) acts of police violence when they happen.)
This means that the police killed at least 461 people last year — that's an average of more than one person per day for every day of the year. And because grand juries nearly always side with law enforcement, those deaths were, by definition, "justifiable homicides."
If you're a cop in the United States, you can quite literally get away with murder.
Let me be clear: this doesn't mean with any certainty that all, most, many, a few, or even any of those 461 deaths were unjustified. Maybe none of them were.
But here's the dumbfounding fact: we just don't know.
The refusal to indict the perpetrators — the granting to cops of an a priori presumption of virtue that no one else in our culture enjoys — guarantees that there will be no trial, no public presentation of evidence, no verdict, and therefore no accounting made of how many people end up dead (or seriously injured) by mistake or malice at the hands of law enforcement.
How on earth can a nation that claims to care about individual rights to life and liberty permit such a travesty to continue?
It's especially galling when the solutions are so obvious.
For starters, we might put video cameras (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-11-25/the-verdict-from-ferguson-put-video-cameras-on-cops) on cops to record their interactions and altercations with citizens.
Then there are the incorrigibly pro-cop attitudes of ordinary citizens, which have to change. Of course there's nothing wrong with admiring and expressing gratitude for the work police officers do. But shouldn't it also be part of our civic education to inculcate a healthy suspicion of people we empower to enforce order on our streets with live ammunition? Shouldn't we expect that citizens impaneled on grand juries will usually opt for indictment in cases where a cop is implicated in the death of an unarmed man or woman, if only to establish the facts and enable our society to take public stock of what happened?
Otherwise we're in the land of ominous conspiracies, mysterious disappearances, and well-armed, unaccountable agents of the state.
And that sounds downright un-American to me.



http://theweek.com/article/index/272660/after-ferguson-stop-deferring-to-the-cops

[Ares]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IlY9C6pzxKc

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IlY9C6pzxKc

[midnight rambler]

What utter horseshit. That stupid fucking thug committed a strong armed robbery then drew attention to his dumbass directly afterward by jaywalking down the middle of the street as if he was invincible, then committed suicide by cop while he continued being stupid in a no stupid zone (by assaulting a cop and attempting to take his gun, TWO felonies committed in a matter of seconds). Good. We lost another moron (who won't be passing on his stupid fucking moron thug genes).

ANYONE who takes up the cause of that dumbass loser thug Michael Brown is nothing more than a lost tool.

[Ares]

What utter horseshit. That stupid fucking thug committed a strong armed robbery then drew attention to his dumbass directly afterward by jaywalking down the middle of the street as if he was invincible, then committed suicide by cop while he continued being stupid in a no stupid zone (by assaulting a cop and attempting to take his gun, TWO felonies committed in a matter of seconds). Good. We lost another moron (who won't be passing on his stupid fucking moron thug genes).

ANYONE who takes up the cause of that dumbass loser thug Michael Brown is nothing more than a lost tool.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I don't buy the bullshit from Grand Juries.

How about Eric Garner? Was that his fault too?

[Twisted Titan]

That's when one of the officers turned around to address my friend: "Does anyone in the world know where you are right now? You better shut up or they're going to find you face down in the river."


If a cop ever told me something like that.

Me and him will square at a later time.

A threat like that...is a threat on my family.

No one is allowed to threaten my family.

Not without severe consequences.

[midnight rambler]

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I don't buy the bullshit from Grand Juries.

There's NO OTHER WAY for Brown's DNA and blood to get inside the police cruiser and all over Darren Wilson than for Brown to insert himself INSIDE the police cruiser while assaulting Wilson. I really don't see how you're unable pick up on this.


How about Eric Garner? Was that his fault too?

Two ENTIRELY different sets of circumstances, each on the far ends of the spectrum. Again, how can you ask such a question?? ???

[Ares]

There's NO OTHER WAY for Brown's DNA and blood to get inside the police cruiser and all over Darren Wilson than for Brown to insert himself INSIDE the police cruiser while assaulting Wilson. I really don't see how you're unable pick up on this.

Because cops NEVER plant evidence right? I mean they wouldn't have any reason to do that this time would they?

The thug most likely did assault the cop, and in the end he got what he deserved. But I find the entire case completely stupid. You have people like you who feel the cop was right, and morons who think the thug was innocent.

But no one, not even you ever questioned the evidence on either side was using to base their claim. If you did question it I apologize up front as I may of missed it.


Two ENTIRELY different sets of circumstances, each on the far ends of the spectrum. Again, how can you ask such a question??

Easy, because the outcome was the same. No indictment. The system is BROKEN.

Grand juries do not determine guilt, they determine if there is a case or not.

[midnight rambler]

Because cops NEVER plant evidence right?

So the gunshot residue INSIDE the wound to his thumb was planted there?? Pretty nifty trick. /sarc


You have people like you who feel the cop was right

If YOU (as a non-cop) were to find yourself in the very same set of circumstances, i.e. a thug assaulting you and trying to take your weapon from you, you'd have two choices and only two choices - kill or be killed.

I've actually been in a serious fight with a crazy fucking nigger thug that did his very best to try to kill me (I was very seriously injured and had help not arrived in a timely fashion I would have exsanguianted in about 10-12 minutes for sure)...and I just missed blowing his head clean off with 00 buck from a distance of 7 yards AFTER I was injured (the county sheriff later expressed his disappointment in me not blowing the varmint's head clean off). I get it with respect to what Darren Wilson experienced, and it appears to me that you don't.

[7th trump]

Because cops NEVER plant evidence right? I mean they wouldn't have any reason to do that this time would they?

The thug most likely did assault the cop, and in the end he got what he deserved. But I find the entire case completely stupid. You have people like you who feel the cop was right, and morons who think the thug was innocent.

But no one, not even you ever questioned the evidence on either side was using to base their claim. If you did question it I apologize up front as I may of missed it.



Easy, because the outcome was the same. No indictment. The system is BROKEN.

Grand juries do not determine guilt, they determine if there is a case or not.

Obviously you hadn't seen this video of Michael brown robbing and beating up an old man.

Well here you go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC52g6PC84w&app=desktop

[Ares]

Obviously you hadn't seen this video of Michael brown robbing and beating up an old man.

Well here you go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC52g6PC84w&app=desktop

Yep I saw it, I already said he most likely assaulted the cop and got what he deserved.

[Ares]

So the gunshot residue INSIDE the wound to his thumb was planted there?? Pretty nifty trick. /sarc

Well the county coroner did have the body to perform the first autopsy..... :)



If YOU (as a non-cop) were to find yourself in the very same set of circumstances, i.e. a thug assaulting you and trying to take your weapon from you, you'd have two choices and only two choices - kill or be killed.

Been there done that. I had some stupid low life thug put a gun in my face as I was working 3rd shift at a gas station. I didn't back down then and I sure as hell wouldn't now. He left an opening for me and I took it.


I've actually been in a serious fight with a crazy fucking nigger thug that did his very best to try to kill me (I was very seriously injured and had help not arrived in a timely fashion I would have exsanguianted in about 10-12 minutes for sure)...and I just missed blowing his head clean off with 00 buck from a distance of 7 yards AFTER I was injured (the county sheriff later expressed his disappointment in me not blowing the varmint's head clean off).

So what? I grew up in a suburb of Chicago. Suffice it to say I was 1 of 4 white kids in the school in the late 80s in the rise of early gang culture. So save me the fight to save your life shit. I've been jumped, shot at, and stabbed.


I get it with respect to what Darren Wilson experienced, and it appears to me that you don't.

Nope I guess I don't. Darren Wilson is nothing more than a fucking pussy. There is video of him abusing his authority before that incident even happened. Nothing more than a state sponsored thug who ended up killing a free market thug. In all honesty I don't see a difference between either.

[midnight rambler]

Don't think that's the dead stupid thug, just doing TNB like the dead stupid thug (because of his size he thinks he's invincible like the dead stupid thug).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC52g6PC84w&app=desktop

[midnight rambler]

There is video of him abusing his authority before that incident even happened.

Post it, let's see it.

[Ares]

Post it, let's see it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBS_is2DQiU

link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBS_is2DQiU

Published on Nov 15, 2014

Video Shows Officer Who Shot And Killed Michael Brown Arresting Man For Recording Him. Darren Wilson is seen telling Mike Arman ‘I’m gonna lock your ass up’ if he does not stop

Mike Arman’s recording of his encounter with Darren Wilson.
Video footage has emerged showing Darren Wilson – the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri – threatening and arresting a resident who refused to stop filming him with a cellphone.

Wilson is seen standing near his Ferguson police SUV and warning Mike Arman: “If you wanna take a picture of me one more time, I’m gonna lock your ass up.” Arman, who had requested Wilson’s name, replies: “Sir, I’m not taking a picture, I’m recording this incident sir.”

The officer then walks to the porch of Arman’s home and apprehends him, after telling him that he does not have the right to film. The 15-second clip was uploaded to YouTube on Friday but recorded in 2013, according to police documents.

Arman, 30, was charged with failing to comply with Wilson’s orders. He claimed in an interview on Saturday that the charge was dropped after he told his lawyer he had video footage of the incident. Arman, who runs a small housing non-profit, has a criminal record and has previously been charged with resisting arrest.

“I was working on my porch with my toolbelt on and was being cordial,” Arman said of the incident. “But I wanted to safeguard myself by recording what happened.” Filming police officers carrying out their duties is widely considered to be legal and protected by the first amendment of the US constitution.

Court and police officials in Ferguson could not be reached for comment. When asked on Friday whether the officer in the video clip was Wilson, a spokesman for the Ferguson police department told the Guardian in an email: “I don’t think that is him.” The spokesman did not respond to further questions.

But a police incident report confirms that Wilson arrested Arman at his home on Redmond Avenue on 28 October 2013. The report states Wilson had arrived to issue a court summons regarding derelict vehicles that were being left on the property in violation of city rules.
Wilson wrote in his report that Arman became upset and said he wanted to record the encounter. Wilson said he told him “a voice recording would be acceptable” but Arman “refused to answer any questions or co-operate as he lifted the phone to begin a video recording of myself” and “stated that I must state my name to him” as Wilson asked for more information on the vehicles.

Arman disputed Wilson’s account of the start of their encounter, saying that he “began recording within moments of Wilson approaching the property” and that Wilson only mentioned a voice recording being acceptable after Arman had been arrested.

Despite being shown at the other end of Arman’s garden path, Wilson wrote in his report that he told Arman “to remove the camera from my face”. He claimed to have asked Arman to place his hands behind his back, which is not visible or audible from the recording. “I was forced to grab his wrists one at a time and secure them into handcuffs,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson drove Arman to the Ferguson police department headquarters where he was charged with failure to comply and breaching regulations on pit bull dogs. The officer noted that he had been unable to enter the rear yard of Arman’s property “due to the pit bulls”. Arman claimed that the charge relating to pit bulls was dropped when he proved his pet was a bulldog.

A grand jury in St Louis is considering whether Wilson, now 28, should be charged for killing Brown in Ferguson on 9 August. Wilson shot Brown repeatedly after an altercation that followed Wilson stopping him and a friend for jaywalking. The officer has reportedly told investigators that he was assaulted by Brown and the 18-year-old threatened him further. Several witnesses said Brown was shot from some distance away after surrendering.

Successive nights of protests over Brown’s death were met with a militarised police presence and crackdown. The grand jury is due to announce its decision in “mid-to-late November”, according to Bob McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for St Louis County. The city is braced for potential unrest if Wilson is not indicted.

Like I said, one thug killed the other thug, that's all that happened in Ferguson.

[midnight rambler]

If this video didn't exist then I'd have my doubts about Darren Wilson's account, however this video very clearly shows the dead stupid thug's mindset only about 10 minutes before his suicide by cop.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7WIju-nAoQ

[crimethink]

The elimination of Michael Brown was a public service. I saw all I needed to see in the video of him assaulting the store clerk. I don't care if he was killed by a cop or an armed citizen: good riddance.

[crimethink]

In all honesty I don't see a difference between either.

Darren Wilson still has a chance of becoming a decent human being, if he isn't already.

Michael Brown was born a thug and died a thug.

The odds are far, far greater that I'd make it home alive if I encountered Darren Wilson, with badge & gun, instead of Mikey Brown, some dark night. This is an indisputable fact.

[Ares]

Darren Wilson still has a chance of becoming a decent human being, if he isn't already.

Well he did resign, so there's hope.


Michael Brown was born a thug and died a thug.

Nor have I ever contested that fact.


The odds are far, far greater that I'd make it home alive if I encountered Darren Wilson, with badge & gun, instead of Mikey Brown, some dark night. This is an indisputable fact.

Eh, I'm not so sure on that one anymore.

Here are the state sponsored thugs shooting an unarmed homeless man who was camping on "the kings land".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tpAZObNZfI

Neither thug is to be trusted.

[midnight rambler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBS_is2DQiU

link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBS_is2DQiU

Published on Nov 15, 2014

Video Shows Officer Who Shot And Killed Michael Brown Arresting Man For Recording Him. Darren Wilson is seen telling Mike Arman ‘I’m gonna lock your ass up’ if he does not stop

Mike Arman’s recording of his encounter with Darren Wilson.
Video footage has emerged showing Darren Wilson – the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri – threatening and arresting a resident who refused to stop filming him with a cellphone.

Wilson is seen standing near his Ferguson police SUV and warning Mike Arman: “If you wanna take a picture of me one more time, I’m gonna lock your ass up.” Arman, who had requested Wilson’s name, replies: “Sir, I’m not taking a picture, I’m recording this incident sir.”

The officer then walks to the porch of Arman’s home and apprehends him, after telling him that he does not have the right to film. The 15-second clip was uploaded to YouTube on Friday but recorded in 2013, according to police documents.

Arman, 30, was charged with failing to comply with Wilson’s orders. He claimed in an interview on Saturday that the charge was dropped after he told his lawyer he had video footage of the incident. Arman, who runs a small housing non-profit, has a criminal record and has previously been charged with resisting arrest.

“I was working on my porch with my toolbelt on and was being cordial,” Arman said of the incident. “But I wanted to safeguard myself by recording what happened.” Filming police officers carrying out their duties is widely considered to be legal and protected by the first amendment of the US constitution.

Court and police officials in Ferguson could not be reached for comment. When asked on Friday whether the officer in the video clip was Wilson, a spokesman for the Ferguson police department told the Guardian in an email: “I don’t think that is him.” The spokesman did not respond to further questions.

But a police incident report confirms that Wilson arrested Arman at his home on Redmond Avenue on 28 October 2013. The report states Wilson had arrived to issue a court summons regarding derelict vehicles that were being left on the property in violation of city rules.
Wilson wrote in his report that Arman became upset and said he wanted to record the encounter. Wilson said he told him “a voice recording would be acceptable” but Arman “refused to answer any questions or co-operate as he lifted the phone to begin a video recording of myself” and “stated that I must state my name to him” as Wilson asked for more information on the vehicles.

Arman disputed Wilson’s account of the start of their encounter, saying that he “began recording within moments of Wilson approaching the property” and that Wilson only mentioned a voice recording being acceptable after Arman had been arrested.

Despite being shown at the other end of Arman’s garden path, Wilson wrote in his report that he told Arman “to remove the camera from my face”. He claimed to have asked Arman to place his hands behind his back, which is not visible or audible from the recording. “I was forced to grab his wrists one at a time and secure them into handcuffs,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson drove Arman to the Ferguson police department headquarters where he was charged with failure to comply and breaching regulations on pit bull dogs. The officer noted that he had been unable to enter the rear yard of Arman’s property “due to the pit bulls”. Arman claimed that the charge relating to pit bulls was dropped when he proved his pet was a bulldog.

A grand jury in St Louis is considering whether Wilson, now 28, should be charged for killing Brown in Ferguson on 9 August. Wilson shot Brown repeatedly after an altercation that followed Wilson stopping him and a friend for jaywalking. The officer has reportedly told investigators that he was assaulted by Brown and the 18-year-old threatened him further. Several witnesses said Brown was shot from some distance away after surrendering.

Successive nights of protests over Brown’s death were met with a militarised police presence and crackdown. The grand jury is due to announce its decision in “mid-to-late November”, according to Bob McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for St Louis County. The city is braced for potential unrest if Wilson is not indicted.

Like I said, one thug killed the other thug, that's all that happened in Ferguson.

Now that's really some funny shit. And you buy into this without researching it further??

This Mike Armand character very carefully edited his video to suit his agenda and *attempt* to make Wilson look bad when it was ARMAND who was being the dick and getting lippy with Wilson over some derelict automobiles (you can't fight City Hall lol). The summons over the derelict cars is what got Armand arrested for 'failure to comply' and NOT the video recording of Wilson.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/246727189/Ferguson-police-incident-report-Darren-Wilson-arrests-Mike-Arman

[Ares]

Now that's really some funny shit. And you buy into this without researching it further??

This Mike Armand character very carefully edited his video to suit his agenda and *attempt* to make Wilson look bad when it was ARMAND who was being the dick and getting lippy with Wilson over some derelict automobiles (you can't fight City Hall lol). The summons over the derelict cars is what got Armand arrested for 'failure to comply' and NOT the video recording of Wilson.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/246727189/Ferguson-police-incident-report-Darren-Wilson-arrests-Mike-Arman

So who was the injured party again with that summons? Oh yeah... No one. No jurisdiction. The cop lied about Mike having A pit bull. What idiot can't tell the difference between a pit bull and a bulldog?

[crimethink]

Eh, I'm not so sure on that one anymore.

For every killer cop, there are literally thousands of killer Niggers.

And killer cops don't generally just go off and shoot any random someone. The victim usually gains their attention, and often mouths off, before the application of deadly force. That doesn't excuse the behavior, but it must be understood they don't just find someone to beat or shoot to death randomly.

[Ares]

For every killer cop, there are literally thousands of killer Niggers.

And killer cops don't generally just go off and shoot any random someone. The victim usually gains their attention, and often mouths off, before the application of deadly force. That doesn't excuse the behavior, but it must be understood they don't just find someone to beat or shoot to death randomly.

You mean like Kelly Thomas?

[crimethink]

You mean like Kelly Thomas?

Someone called the cops on him, alleging he was vandalizing cars, so, no, not random.