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Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

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101–110 of 247 posts

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just unreasonable. Humans have a natural desire to preserve their own lives. First responders aren't any different. The idea that first responders are superheros is a fallacious trope. The vast majority of police never use their gun over their entire career.

If a soldier goes AWOL because they're "scared" of fighting or consistently straight up neglects to do their job, I'm sure "natural self preservation" will be a stunning and effective defense at the court martial regardless if they're ina combat role or not.

Soldiers are not first responders.

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of a few crimes that they could be charged with, but without evidence it certainly makes it harder.

Like what?

Like a lesser degree of manslaughter. If they prevented people from entering that could have saved lives.

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting themselves in harms way is the deal. It’s why they get to retire over a decade earlier than the rest of us with a nice pension. It’s why they get qualified immunity for a whole bunch of actions. They aren’t holding up their side of the deal here.

Yes, it's expected that first responders may do things that are generally dangerous but they're not on kamikaze missions, it's completely normal for them to back out when they believe their own life is in danger. This is not any different for any first responder. Firefighters will run right back out of your house if they think it's required to save their own lives.

19 cops (in the hallway alone; more outside!) with rifles, armor, and complete control of the scene against one shooter is not a "kamikaze mission".

What's the point of militarizing the police if they can't handle 19-on-1 situations?

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#104
post #13

I’ve wondered if someone could run for mayor of Uvalde on the simple platform of firing everyone in their police force, and eliminating pensions for any police officers deployed to the school.

In Texas ? Likely not.

we are here in this debate over and over after columbine, sandy hook and countless others because there is strong minority who either don’t care or believe gun freedom is worth the cost. I don’t think uvalde is going to change that overnight

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accountability is the issue. If they can tax you by force, they're not going to put themselves in harms way. They already got paid. (Generalization of course, but true in many life-and-death situations.)

Most people won't willingly die at work for any amount of money or accountability, and I don't blame them. These kinds of situations are outrageous because people want to believe in superheros, but they don't exist.

An antiquated notion of a profession is some "job" that has a primary responsibility to the public: nurse, doctor, lawyer, police officer, firefighter, etc.

You should not go into a profession that entails personal risk if that prevents you from meeting your obligations to the public. I surely wouldn't call actually following the department's policy and training in response this event superhuman in any way, though pretending it is serves to absolve those who failed in their duty.

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#106
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just unreasonable. Humans have a natural desire to preserve their own lives. First responders aren't any different. The idea that first responders are superheros is a fallacious trope. The vast majority of police never use their gun over their entire career.

If you're not willing to put your life at risk, you should not be a first responder. Plain and simple.

Calculated risks, yes, like going in to the same building as an active shooter. They're not going to jump in front of a bullet to protect anyone else, though. The primary responsibility of any first responder -- police, fire, or EMS -- is to preserve their own lives.

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police were doing something. They were threatening the parents with tasers and arrests if they interfered. Does "all bets are off" mean that parents should have enough tactical force to subdue the police? In evaluating potential scenarios, is a shootout with the police on the table of possibilities? The police even threaten parents with obstruction of justice and violating probation for merely talking to the medi…

If I happened to be on the jury for a case assessing the murder of an Uvalde police officer by an Uvalde school parent I would not vote "Guilty" under any circumstance. Realistically, I think what this situation means is that the police, at least in Uvalde, need to be disbanded and reformed and serious steps need to be taken to ensure their failure is not repeated. I think such serious steps include charging the cowa…

You're basically asking for a Supreme Court shakeup and an overturning of stare decisis. That's the only way any criminal charge would even be on the table for discussion.

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#108
post #10

It sort of blows up the whole pro gun control argument that citizens shouldn't be expected to have to protect themselves but instead rely on law enforcement :p

if there was good gun control, or heaven forbid no guns in the first place, this shooting would have had a much lower chance of happening

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#109

I thought body cam footage was public data, discoverable and releasable under the law. There is no one left to prosecute here since they killed the shooter so there is no reason to delay disclosure. That thin blue line looks more and more like a line for cowards to hide behind while they seek to escape accountability for actions they know would have them arrested if they had no badge. Simply holding their noses while…

-- bottom link in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31729913 :=) --

So if the person ends up dead, the police can hide the videos. That seems ripe for abuse...

Re: Texas police want uvalde bodycam footage suppressed

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just unreasonable. Humans have a natural desire to preserve their own lives. First responders aren't any different. The idea that first responders are superheros is a fallacious trope. The vast majority of police never use their gun over their entire career.

If a soldier goes AWOL because they're "scared" of fighting or consistently straight up neglects to do their job, I'm sure "natural self preservation" will be a stunning and effective defense at the court martial regardless if they're ina combat role or not.

It's almost as if civilians (read: police) and soldiers are trained, equipped, and deployed to different environments, with different rules.
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