Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

thehill.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 153 posts

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#61

Post by ben_w »

roenxi wrote: post #52
pjc50 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police exerted considerable effort precisely to prevent it ever going to court. Derek Chauvin would never have seen court without months of protests. > look to the most charitable interpretation of what happened This is not a courtesy the police extend to anyone else. > There is an expectation that the police are the sort of people who could kill someone if the need arises This is a very serious problem and not a…

> Derek Chauvin would never have seen court without months of protests. That is an uncertain counterfactual. There was widespread horror at the video. Since he was in fact prosecuted and convicted quite convincingly it obviously wan't impossible. > [police being mentally prepared to kill] is a very serious problem... It is expected. That is part of their role in society. Otherwise it'll be necessary to get the army i…

> > [police being mentally prepared to kill] is a very serious problem...

> It is expected. That is part of their role in society.

Trivially falsified by the majority of UK police not even having access to firearms.

While (fire)armed police do exist in the UK, they are the exception not the rule, and indeed surveys repeatedly show a majority of UK police officers do not even want to be routinely armed.

No matter what differences exist between nations, it is clearly possible to make a society that functions without giving the power of life and death to day-to-day policing.

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#62

Post by neartheplain »

elygre wrote: post #4
exo-pla-net wrote: post #2

These officers faced BLM hostility on the left, as well as violence against them and accusations of being traitors from the right. The public that they're supposed to serve was spitting on them and demonizing them from both sides. Add a pandemic to the mix, and anybody's mental health would be flatlining. Suicide among some of them is tragic but not surprising. I don't know how effective counseling services are, but…

I think I understand what you mean by “accusations of being traitors from the right”. However, I was unaware of “BLM hostility on the left”. Could you share some more information about this?

The Democratic Party and BLM movement entertained calls for police abolition and defunding all summer. Three times as many officers were hospitalized defending the Portland federal courthouse compared to those defending the Capitol. BLM grafitti in Portland called for officers there to be defunded, abolished, and killed. The Democratic Party mayor of Portland banned city officers from helping defend the federal courthouse, and personally appeared at the siege to show solidarity with the rioters. I could list a hundred more examples.

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#63

Post by automatic6131 »

SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #47
fn1 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Re-form the Police Triple their pay, but also enforce strict no-tolerance rules on misbehaviour and select candidates more carefully.

This is what I would do, if I were in charge: 1) Lawsuit payouts come from police pensions, not the taxpayer. Watch them keep each other in line when it's their money on the line. 2) Body cam not running? No qualified immunity, police then become liable for murder/assault/theft/kidnapping charges like any civilian would be if they committed the same acts. That would give police sufficient incentive to ensure their ca…

8 good suggestions that ought to be able to find bipartisan support

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#65

Post by nelsonfavedra »

LightG wrote: post #55
wudangmonk wrote: post #21

I guess I'm a cynic at heart since my mind went directly to this being somehow related to harrasment by their peers rather than being depressed about the public not appreciating them.

Could easily be both, compounded with personal problems. Who really knows. Sad state of affairs either way.

Or it could be "suicide." After all, there's four of them now, and a fifth one of "stroke," so what are the odds? As you said, who knows.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/02/politics/dc-metropolitan-...

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#66

Post by rob74 »

jyriand wrote: post #22
rob74 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

totally off topic, but as a European reader I'm getting the following message on that website: > Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Come…

Strange, I'm also from an European country, but can see the site fine

Sorry for generalizing, I guess you are from a non-EU European country? Or their filtering is buggy...

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#67

Post by [deleted] »

ben_w wrote: post #61
roenxi wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Derek Chauvin would never have seen court without months of protests. That is an uncertain counterfactual. There was widespread horror at the video. Since he was in fact prosecuted and convicted quite convincingly it obviously wan't impossible. > [police being mentally prepared to kill] is a very serious problem... It is expected. That is part of their role in society. Otherwise it'll be necessary to get the army i…

> > [police being mentally prepared to kill] is a very serious problem... > It is expected. That is part of their role in society. Trivially falsified by the majority of UK police not even having access to firearms. While (fire)armed police do exist in the UK, they are the exception not the rule, and indeed surveys repeatedly show a majority of UK police officers do not even want to be routinely armed. No matter what…

[deleted]

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#68

Post by Broken_Hippo »

lenkite wrote: post #39
ALittleLight wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police haven't always been as militarized as they are now. We could easily go back. I think ending the drug war with legalization and decriminalization and ending no-knock warrants without extreme circumstances would go a long way.

Go back to which era ? Just asking out of curiosity. AFAIK, gun violence has always been endemic to the USA - and most especially in places where guns are banned. I suspect this will only change with a national ban on Guns. Yet gun traffickers across the border would love that. The American continents have more guns than anywhere else in the world.

Gun traffickers would not love it: It is easy to get guns in, say, Indiana, and then traffic them other places. This is, in general, what has been happening. Chicago has more gun issues due to Indiana's lax laws (and it is right next to Indiana). In a bigger picture, Canada has more trouble with gun smuggling due to the ease of getting weapons in the US. And as others have said, the US tends to supply other places in the Americas, either directly or indirectly.

When guns are more tightly regulated, though, guns are more difficult to get and they get much, much more expensive on the black market. After all, supply has went down and the risk goes up. Australia is the usual example used here (who had a similar gun culture in the past, by the way).

I can't find where gun violence is higher where guns are banned - at least not after the ban, so long as they aren't just one town in the US, which might due to issues above, but that is hardly due to a weapons ban.

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#69

Post by vultour »

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #5

Well, yeah, police was endlessly demonized and underfunded in the past decade. There are a few bad apples, but that doesn't justify group guilt and neglect. Rioters should have never been able to attack Capitol OR government buildings in Seattle/Portland. Not saying that Jan 6 was not a bigger threat to the union of those events, although vast majority of rioters were simple hooligans with no credible plans to gain o…

Underfunded? US police does army cosplay and drives around in vehicles that one would expect in Syria and not the streets of a first world country.

Re: Fourth police officer who responded to Jan 6 attack dies by suicide

#70

Post by Broken_Hippo »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #29
ALittleLight wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police haven't always been as militarized as they are now. We could easily go back. I think ending the drug war with legalization and decriminalization and ending no-knock warrants without extreme circumstances would go a long way.

As for this - yes, I'm rather sure. The drug war is evil. I'm glad some states are legalizing psychedelics already. I would add that zero-tolerance policies by which people loose jobs and schools for trace amounts of light drugs found in their urine samples after a weekend should be banned too.

Drug tests should be banned for most folks.

Additionally: What is a trace amount after a weekend? Can you tell if someone smoked pot on Sunday rather than Monday on a Wednesday drug test? Does it matter if it is a "heavy" drug (say, mushrooms?)? Does it matter that someone did a couple of lines of coke saturday rather than be drunk and high from Friday to Sunday?

Post reply on HN