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In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

nytimes.com

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Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#121

Post by goblins »

txsh wrote: post #97
bob_theslob646 wrote: post #12

Why is there not more transparency? It makes zero sense. What is going to stop something like this occuring again? Officers going to jail?

There should be a body cam on every officer and their police powers and privileges should deactivate the moment its turned off deliberately or “accidentally”. A time delayed feed should be made public and an independent federal agency should randomly audit the recordings for civil rights abuses. Police should be treated like other political officials and there should be a democratic mechanism for the public to remove…

I wouldn't say sensible, unrealistic or implausible is closer.

"Sorry madam the last person I dealt with broke my camera, I'm not a cop at the moment"

Political policing departments... Hhmm you think the police equivalent of trump are going to be any less corrupt?

I'm also sure housing the police where they work would definitely no in anyway make them, their family and property, any sort of target being as everyone loves the police.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#122

Post by leesalminen »

smnrchrds wrote: post #119
leesalminen wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anyone been charged with the false report of the scissors hijab attack?

If you want to charge children for lying, everyone would have a thick binder full of criminal records by the age of 12. Maybe, of we want to blame anyone, it should be the media for but doing their due diligence before publishing a price of news.

I think there’s a difference between lying to your mom about cleaning your room and filing a false police report.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#123

Post by manfredo »

olivermarks wrote: post #56

Adding to this common problem in larger metropolitan police forces in the US is their rapid militarization. Shaking down kids while cruising around in a black and white is one thing. Being equipped with military gear including armored cars opens up a whole new level of control issues. http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-the-rook-armored-cater...

I don't think corruption has much to do with "militarization". It doesn't take a tank to plant evidence and steal money.

Also, much of the equipment that people point to as evidence of "militarization" is either generic equipment that has valid police use (e.g. armored trucks. Brinks security, for example, uses them for their secure transport services), or is not military equipment at all. Riot shields, gas masks, and tear gas aren't commonly used by the military and they are designed to resolve things like riots non-lethally. In the old days, soldiers were broke up riots by clubbing people with sticks and shooting wooden bullets. Today's riot police are much better equipped to safely disperse a crowd with their "militarized" equipment.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#124

Post by [deleted] »

ColanR wrote: post #107
jacquesm wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Shaking down kids while cruising around in a black and white is one thing. Being equipped with military gear including armored cars opens up a whole new level of control issues. I'm not sure which one of those two does more damage to society in the longer term. The second obviously has problems but the first chips away at the foundations and I suspect that long term that one will have far more potential to do damag…

The big problem is when the police officers that enjoy shaking down kids are equipped with military gear. That is a scary thought.

[deleted]

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#125

Post by jrs95 »

southphillyman wrote: post #35

Baltimore police were stealing drugs from Baltimore dealers and selling the stolen drugs to dealers in Philadelphia. Hard to believe actions like that were taking place in the U.S. Sounds like something straight out of a Narcos episode.

How high up did this sort of thing go, though? It seems like in more corrupt places, this sort of thing basically goes all the way to the top and the entire department is engaged in this kind of activity. Whereas here we have small groups of individuals exploiting their position in this way and hiding it from people above them. Although, if it actually is basically the same, I guess it shouldn't be particularly surprising given that the conditions many are living in are pretty "third world".

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#126

Post by jrs95 »

patmcc wrote: post #49
southphillyman wrote: post #35

Baltimore police were stealing drugs from Baltimore dealers and selling the stolen drugs to dealers in Philadelphia. Hard to believe actions like that were taking place in the U.S. Sounds like something straight out of a Narcos episode.

>>Hard to believe actions like that were taking place in the U.S. Is it? I'm a Canadian and everything I hear about the US police terrifies me - SWATing leading to innocent people being killed, unarmed black men being shot, no-knock warrants, civil forfeiture, the impossibility of convicting police for just about anything. If the worst thing they were doing was selling drugs that'd be an improvement as far as I can t…

You're mostly right, although the killing is typically overblown and taken out of context in many circumstances. But when it does happen, you're right that it's damn near impossible to get a conviction of a police officer. And civil forfeiture is probably even worse than what media coverage would lead you to believe. Ironically Loretta Lynch, the second Attorney General under Obama, did this extensively in her career in NY. It's sad when the people who are allegedly representing the interests of the underprivileged have done so much to exploit them. (And don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to be partisan or suggest that the GOP is better or anything like that. It's just disappointing how much of this crap runs through all layers of our government.)

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#127

Post by CamperBob2 »

manfredo wrote: post #123
olivermarks wrote: post #56

Adding to this common problem in larger metropolitan police forces in the US is their rapid militarization. Shaking down kids while cruising around in a black and white is one thing. Being equipped with military gear including armored cars opens up a whole new level of control issues. http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-the-rook-armored-cater...

I don't think corruption has much to do with "militarization". It doesn't take a tank to plant evidence and steal money. Also, much of the equipment that people point to as evidence of "militarization" is either generic equipment that has valid police use (e.g. armored trucks. Brinks security, for example, uses them for their secure transport services), or is not military equipment at all. Riot shields, gas masks, an…

It's not about the tanks. Once the cops start thinking of themselves as "warriors" and the rest of us as "civilians," the necessary lines have been drawn in their minds to justify mistreatment of the outside group.

One difference between our militarized (and unionized) police forces and the real military is that if you're in the military and you shoot someone who didn't need shooting, you are in very deep shit.

The police are demanding -- and getting -- all of the perks of the Heroic Warrior job title, accompanied by few of the responsibilities that should go with it and essentially none of the accountability.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#128

Post by jrs95 »

ams6110 wrote: post #118
patmcc wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Hard to believe actions like that were taking place in the U.S. Is it? I'm a Canadian and everything I hear about the US police terrifies me - SWATing leading to innocent people being killed, unarmed black men being shot, no-knock warrants, civil forfeiture, the impossibility of convicting police for just about anything. If the worst thing they were doing was selling drugs that'd be an improvement as far as I can t…

Don't judge all the the US by its corrupt big cities. I recognize nothing in this story in my town's local police (we're about 65,000 population, and the cops are quite relaxed and civil as a default).

Which of it's big cities aren't corrupt, though? This isn't just a localized problem, these people often end up in federal positions. Plus, there's a huge percentage of the population that lives in large cities. It's too big of a problem to avoid judging the U.S. as a whole by it.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#129

Post by manfredo »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #127
manfredo wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think corruption has much to do with "militarization". It doesn't take a tank to plant evidence and steal money. Also, much of the equipment that people point to as evidence of "militarization" is either generic equipment that has valid police use (e.g. armored trucks. Brinks security, for example, uses them for their secure transport services), or is not military equipment at all. Riot shields, gas masks, an…

It's not about the tanks. Once the cops start thinking of themselves as "warriors" and the rest of us as "civilians," the necessary lines have been drawn in their minds to justify mistreatment of the outside group. One difference between our militarized (and unionized) police forces and the real military is that if you're in the military and you shoot someone who didn't need shooting, you are in very deep shit. The p…

I see this assertion made about police thinking of themselves as "warriors" but I have yet to see this substantiated by evidence. It doesn't correspond to the rate of people killed by police (that rate essentially mirrors the overall rate of street crime).

I am even more dubious of the second claim you make. A US citizen has vastly better ability to attempt to exact justice for their own police force's actions than someone in northern Iraq or Afghanistan's tribal regions. Especially when the military is more likely to use indirect weapons and weapons with drastically longer range (artillery, airstrikes, etc.) the notion that an unnecessary killing is more likely to result in disciplinary action in the military is very unlikely - there's a substantial chance such loss of life isn't even detected.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#130

Post by CamperBob2 »

manfredo wrote: post #129
CamperBob2 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about the tanks. Once the cops start thinking of themselves as "warriors" and the rest of us as "civilians," the necessary lines have been drawn in their minds to justify mistreatment of the outside group. One difference between our militarized (and unionized) police forces and the real military is that if you're in the military and you shoot someone who didn't need shooting, you are in very deep shit. The p…

I see this assertion made about police thinking of themselves as "warriors" but I have yet to see this substantiated by evidence. It doesn't correspond to the rate of people killed by police (that rate essentially mirrors the overall rate of street crime). I am even more dubious of the second claim you make. A US citizen has vastly better ability to attempt to exact justice for their own police force's actions than s…

It doesn't correspond to the rate of people killed by police (that rate essentially mirrors the overall rate of street crime).

That's not an accurate characterization. Suggested reading: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-Ameri...

I am even more dubious of the second claim you make. A US citizen has vastly better ability to attempt to exact justice for their own police force's actions than someone in northern Iraq or Afghanistan's tribal regions.

A deployed soldier may be more likely to succeed in hiding the evidence of crimes they commit. They'd better succeed, because that's the only way they'll escape punishment. The differences come into play when the rogue cop or soldier is actually caught. Military personnel are held to higher standards than civilians in many respects, while police continually demand to be held to lower ones.

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