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Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

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Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#121

Just a reminder that none of this is factual or evidence. It COULD be, but just because somebody writes something doesn't make it true. You are not given any of the context of what happened in these situations. If there's video the video starts when the conflict is already full swing, you're not seeing anything that led up to the situation. You can read "Police showed up and fired tear gas and agitated the crowd and…

"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." -George Orwell

Less snidely, it seems like these cries for 'we need more context!' stretch further and further into absurdity. The example of police assaulting the old man give us all of the context we need, but people attempt to justify it by taking victim blaming behavior to the extreme.

The police have all the tools they need to dispel these stories. Conveniently, they seem to turn them off when the story doesn't go in their favor. And even with context, none of it justifies the police's behavior.

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#122
post #116

I think at the very least the title should be Git Repo of Alleged Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests. Like another commenter downthread, I spent some time looking through incident reports in my own State, and found some of them to either be simply unsubstantiated claims, or videos of police reasonably appearing to be doing the very dangerous job of managing a riot. There are valid concerns of the…

The "vast majority of police" turn a blind eye to crimes their coworkers commmit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_wall_of_silence

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#123
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this repo limited to police violence against journalists? No, but it does _include_ it. Is it your opinion that only journalists should not be shot in the face? What are your feelings re: knees on necks for 8 minutes and 46 seconds with hands in pockets looking around like nothing's wrong even though the guy with the neck went completely unresponsive minutes before the knee moved? Maybe we should ask how many po…

I don't think any human, regardless of who they are, should be committing violence against any other human. You, and whoever else is downvoting this, are acting is if my comment is pro-police. It is not. It is pro-data. How can any reasonably intelligent person be against fact-based decision making?

No, it's just enlightened centrism. Where one put two things that shouldn't be compared against each other, and then dismiss the core issue by saying "see, both sides are just as bad".

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#124
post #116

I think at the very least the title should be Git Repo of Alleged Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests. Like another commenter downthread, I spent some time looking through incident reports in my own State, and found some of them to either be simply unsubstantiated claims, or videos of police reasonably appearing to be doing the very dangerous job of managing a riot. There are valid concerns of the…

The "vast majority of police" turn a blind eye to crimes their coworkers commmit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_wall_of_silence

I appreciate the link to the Wikipedia article, but I don't see anything about statistics indicating a majority. Did I miss something in my perusing of the article?

Edit: I was able to pull this citation from a previous discussion regarding police and perjury:

Myron W. Orfield, Jr., Deterrence, Perjury, and the Heater Factor, supra note 13, at 83:

> Respondents, including prosecutors, estimate that police commit perjury between 20% and 50% of the time they testify on Fourth Amendment issues.

It should also be noted that many of these respondents did not consider lying at a suppression hearing perjury, infra text accompanying note 47, which would have the effect of artificially deflating these percentages.

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before we filter for truth lets train our police force to be less violent because that breads more violence on the other end and we all loose except for the powerheads in charge as well as the real gangsters. Police have no right to be violent, they do get a paycheck for fsake, and they have the law on their side as well. I will respect all cops when they earn it. So far I respect only those I interacted with and wer…

Please refrain from cursing, even if abbreviated. Having civil discourse about a serious issue is easier when we are polite and respectful to each other

What tartoran posted was fine. There's no rule against profanity on HN and it isn't necessarily disrespectful.

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#126
post #116

I think at the very least the title should be Git Repo of Alleged Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests. Like another commenter downthread, I spent some time looking through incident reports in my own State, and found some of them to either be simply unsubstantiated claims, or videos of police reasonably appearing to be doing the very dangerous job of managing a riot. There are valid concerns of the…

> The vast majority of police are heroes.

Define "hero". As has been noted many, many times across HN these past few weeks, "police officer" isn't even among the top 15 most dangerous professions in America. And even then police aren't legally required to do their job[1]. Most police are never called upon to do anything heroic, so we can't say if they are heroes or not.

This type of blind veneration for police is weird and unhealthy. If you tell a child, or even an adult, they are great and perfect just for who they are, they're going to turn out spoiled rotten. Why do you think this is any different?

Police are regular people. Some good, some bad, but mostly mixed. The systems they work in allow the bad police to get away with horrific crimes and punish the good police who try to do anything about it.

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/justices-rule-po...

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#127
post #116

I think at the very least the title should be Git Repo of Alleged Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests. Like another commenter downthread, I spent some time looking through incident reports in my own State, and found some of them to either be simply unsubstantiated claims, or videos of police reasonably appearing to be doing the very dangerous job of managing a riot. There are valid concerns of the…

You could submit a PR. And if you're commenting here instead because you know the change would not be accepted, well, there's your answer.

edit: Downvote away, but the fact that you can't simply correct the record might be a clue that the distinction between police brutality and "necessary riot control" is not as objective as you suppose it to be.

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#128
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent post may be hinting at selective censorship by the platforms, which is their right as a private org. There's a lot of angst around that on both sides in America. Parent post used bad language if this is their reason for posting. Otherwise it's just antagonistic and unwelcome

>> selective censorship by the platforms, which is their right as a private org So, just because they are not government they are allowed to lie and manipulate? Because "selective censorship" is just this: manipulation.

Another name for "selective censorship" is "asserting one's property rights". Do you not care about property rights?

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#129
post #116

I think at the very least the title should be Git Repo of Alleged Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests. Like another commenter downthread, I spent some time looking through incident reports in my own State, and found some of them to either be simply unsubstantiated claims, or videos of police reasonably appearing to be doing the very dangerous job of managing a riot. There are valid concerns of the…

> The vast majority of police are heroes. Define "hero". As has been noted many, many times across HN these past few weeks, "police officer" isn't even among the top 15 most dangerous professions in America. And even then police aren't legally required to do their job[1]. Most police are never called upon to do anything heroic, so we can't say if they are heroes or not. This type of blind veneration for police is wei…

Since when is hero defined as "the person who does the most dangerous profession"?

Also, there is a world of difference between professions where accidents are common, and a profession where humans may be actively trying to kill you.

A hero might be a person who knowingly risks life and limb for the safety and wellbeing of others. Even more heroic when those others are strangers (ie it is more heroic to rescue a stranger's child from a house fire than it is to rescue your own child from a house fire). Even more heroic than that is when you do it day in and day out(ie it is more heroic to be a firefigher, saving strangers every day, than it is to save a stranger once).

So, if that is a reasonable analysis of heroism, some police can definitely be heroic. I'm not sure about the percentages though. I'm sure some police got into the profession because they wanted to be a big man with a gun. Others did it because they want to help the community they live in.

Re: Git Repo of Police Brutality During the 2020 George Floyd Protests

#130

As a person that makes decisions based on data, rather than emotions, it would be interesting to see a comparison of the volume of such incidents on both sides. Is there a similar repo of the looting and violence committed by protesters? I think that would give a more accurate picture of all of this. We would then know if the police brutality incidents paled in comparison to violence/looting by the public, or vice ve…

> Is there a similar repo of the looting and violence committed by protesters?

Does it matter? They're being investigated and prosecuted regardless[1], because they're criminals. We expect police to behave better than criminals.

Society is always going to have some crime, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute it. But there should be zero tolerance for crimes by cops. Otherwise we can't trust them, and everyone becomes less safe.

1. https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/18/21295301/philadelphia-pro...

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