Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows • Hacker News Board

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#31

Post by malvosenior » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:21 PM UTC

Having grown up in a poor community I got to know a lot of police officers and their children. Racism and thuggish behavior was definitely a huge problem. These posts sadly don't surprise me.

That being said, Buzzfeed and their ilk routinely make excuses for people on the left posting the same type of racism and thugish messages. "Ironically" calling for old white men to be punished, routinely calling for violence against Trump and Trump supporters (not ironically), sexist comments against men and so on.

I feel the need for freedom of speech is so great that we shouldn't censor any of this stuff but neither should we endorse or support it in the media regardless of what side of the political spectrum it's being perpetrated on.

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#32

Post by HarryHirsch » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:21 PM UTC

daeken wrote: post #28

throwaway1492 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely there's a segment of the population with similar personality traits predominant to police officers that don't become police officers. One would think they'd also have similar incident of domestic violence if this were a personality trait? Personally, I would have no interest in dealing with the horrible things people do to one another, on a regular basis, as part of my job. No thanks. Reading the news is bad e…

No one is claiming it's a personality trait, though that absolutely could be a part of it. More likely, it's because police officers can act with impunity in pretty much every scenario. Add in a high-pressure job, and you've got a recipe for abuse.

Nevermind the fact that steroid abuse is common in the police. The BMJ has a lovely factsheet on anabolic steroid abuse: https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/987

Risk factors: "employment as nightclub bouncer, professional male dancer, professional wrestler, or law enforcement officer"

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#33

Post by adolph » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

pizza wrote: post #8

> "Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10% of families in the general population," the National Center for Women & Policing says. "A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24%, indicating that domestic violence is 2-4 times more common among police families than American families in general." http://womenandpolici…

Not as a counterpoint to the domestic violence issue but to broaden the picture of symptoms of widespread mental illness, the suicide rate is also higher than the general population.

> “The Ruderman Family Foundation, a philanthropic institution, also found that first responders die by suicide at a higher rate than people in the general population, according to an April 2018 report.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-third-straight-year-polic...

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#34

Post by sorokod » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

> "A Facebook page called Chicago Code Blue attracted attention for inflammatory comments — such as “Every Thug Deserves a Slug” — after an officer was found guilty in the death of Laquan McDonald."

Oh dear, speaking of "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#35

Post by deogeo » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:25 PM UTC

some-guy wrote: post #22

adolph wrote: post #16

Given a lack of per capita numbers and comparison to the general population this seems like concern trolling by an advocacy organization.

From the article: Of the pages of officers whom the Plain View researchers could positively identify, about 1 in 5 of the current officers, and 2 in 5 of the retired officers, made public posts or comments that met that threshold — typically by displaying bias, applauding violence, scoffing at due process, or using dehumanizing language. The officers mocked Mexicans, women, and black people, celebrated the Confederat…

That's an incredibly broad range of subjective infractions. Looking at the examples from the article, one is the "I would of pulled the trigger." - that's in response to an armed robber, a clear case of hypothetical self-defense. The other is "Execute all involved," - is it wrong to believe the death penalty is appropriate punishment for the murder of a six year old child?

I wouldn't characterize using lethal force when someone pulls a gun on you, or advocating for the death penalty for child murderers, as unreasonable positions.

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#36

Post by phxrsg » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:27 PM UTC

malvosenior wrote: post #31

Having grown up in a poor community I got to know a lot of police officers and their children. Racism and thuggish behavior was definitely a huge problem. These posts sadly don't surprise me. That being said, Buzzfeed and their ilk routinely make excuses for people on the left posting the same type of racism and thugish messages. "Ironically" calling for old white men to be punished, routinely calling for violence ag…

I don't think its a hard distinction to make that the bar is higher when you are issued weapons and authority by the state.

Leftist asshole talking about "old white men" online = bad

Cop who has the power to use force against you or arrest you talking about how "thugs deserve slugs" = worse

This isn't hard.

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#37

Post by empath75 » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:29 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #17

Do we have evidence around whether this is a selection effect or a transformation effect? That is, do racist assholes disproportionately gravitate towards the police force? Or does the police force disproportionately turn ordinary people into racist assholes?

The drug war is what ruined policing in this country. If a large part of what you do is brutally enforce laws against essentially harmless behavior disproportionately against minorities, you’re only going to get sociopaths and racists who want to do the work.

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#38

Post by dahfizz » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:30 PM UTC

As it turns out, when you have a position in society that allows people to get away with hateful violent actions, it will attract hateful and violent people.

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#39

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:32 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #26

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #17

Do we have evidence around whether this is a selection effect or a transformation effect? That is, do racist assholes disproportionately gravitate towards the police force? Or does the police force disproportionately turn ordinary people into racist assholes?

There's 120,000 law enforcement officers in the US. It'd be pretty easy to find 10-15 people blowing off steam and joking on FB about their jobs in ways non-officers may find offensive. Combined with a couple straight up racist ones. I wouldn't be surprised if you could find similar relative numbers in Canada and the UK. These individuals should be punished no doubt and likely will be as a result of this article.

> I wouldn't be surprised if you could find similar relative numbers in Canada and the UK

I don’t have the source on hand. But the elevated rates of domestic violence (like 4x baseline) in policing households is unusually prominent in the United States.

Re: Police Post Racist and Violent Messages on Facebook, a Review Shows

#40

Post by dantheman0207 » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 7:35 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #37

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #17

Do we have evidence around whether this is a selection effect or a transformation effect? That is, do racist assholes disproportionately gravitate towards the police force? Or does the police force disproportionately turn ordinary people into racist assholes?

The drug war is what ruined policing in this country. If a large part of what you do is brutally enforce laws against essentially harmless behavior disproportionately against minorities, you’re only going to get sociopaths and racists who want to do the work.

I highly recommend David Simon’s talks on policing (he is the creator of The Wire).

He talks at length about how the skill sets necessary to investigative work and community policing have largely been lost as a result of the focus on meeting drug war quotas.