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Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

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Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#201

Post by D9u »

mililani wrote: post #120
D9u wrote: post #115

Here in Hawai'i, we're lucky to have small communities, from which many of our police officers are enlisted, thus maintaining more of sense that we are all part of the same class, as well as the fact that many officers are related to people in the communities, so there is less disconnection and stratification than one would see in larger metropolitan areas. I've been on both sides of the law here, and have always bee…

I find that hard to believe. I grew up in Hawaii, and I have come across lots of dick head cops engaging in some heinous activities. I have several friends from Oahu who would also agree with my statement.

O'ahu is NOT the Big Island...

But the Big Island is Hawai'i, and I've lived on this island for my entire life, with the exception of military service.

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#202

Post by SilasX »

calibraxis wrote: post #102
rayiner wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Crime is at an all-time low yet spending on police is near an all-time high. Two words: public unions.

This is why tech workers need unions. When Facebook does something nasty, they can blame the unions; the billionaires and millionaires were merely cowering behind their desks. We shouldn't contort ourselves to avoid the simplest answer: the state is getting what it paid for. The US incarcerates its population more than any known state on earth. That isn't unions' fault — other countries with more powerful unions don'…

>That isn't unions' fault — other countries with more powerful unions don't jail themselves like this.

Well, actually, prison guard unions did lobby for things like three-strikes laws to increase incarceration rates. [1] And yes, unions in general are weaker in the US, but public employees' unions haven't waned in power anything like their private sector counterparts.

[1] http://caprogressivemessage.com/2011/03/04/the-california-pr...

(I know, I know, "it's a left-wing California site!" But it's well-sourced and one of many articles saying the same thing when you google for who is lobbying for three-strikes laws and whatnot.)

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#203

Post by _pmf_ »

nostromo wrote: post #80

Crime is at an all-time low yet spending on police is near an all-time high. (Those factors could have a causal relationship, but I doubt it's the primary cause based on reading "The Better Angels of Our Nature".) http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1950_2010... Having big budgets but less crime means these swollen budgets end up being wasted on a lot of "fun" things like military gear. (Did you know t…

> Crime is at an all-time low yet spending on police is near an all-time high.

Devil's advocate: that shows they are effective and crime would be even lower with increased budgets.

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#204

Post by angersock »

schrodingersCat wrote: post #29
angersock wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a new header type in the HTTP/2.0 spec.

And people say the standard isn't interesting

See! You used it right there, and my browser didn't even display it--must be conforming.

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#205

Post by Myrmornis »

chc wrote: post #55
dobbsbob wrote: post #21

Google the story about 7 cops in VA that went after a 17yr old girl because she was carrying non alcoholic fruit soda the cops thought were wine coolers. They handled this by breaking through her car windows guns drawn like they were seals going after bin laden lol.

Actually, it was a 20-year-old college student with a 12-pack of water, and they failed to break her windows because she drove away when the crowd of large men ran up and started beating on her car, and then they charged her with assault.

Driving away from American police officers is not a good idea.

http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/03/culpeper-cop-who-shot-and-...

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#206

Post by throwawayyyyyy »

dubcanada wrote: post #200
stefantalpalaru wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>as common as fires and doors being deadbolted closed with child 911 callers Are there any statistics on the number of cases on which a firetruck was really needed?

Fire trucks do more then put out fires by the way. People seem to forget that a lot. They also have car tools, ladders, and other stuff.

a fire truck costs $250000. for the truck. If you don't need a 150 foot ladder and 1000 gallons of water, then a tool-truck like many contractors have would probably do for much less cost.

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#207

Post by nwombosi »

davidw wrote: post #143
Arjuna wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Today in the US, if you call 911 about an emergency medical condition, they will often send a fire engine along with an ambulance [...]" This is SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). 1. Imagine a scenario where an ambulance arrives as a first responder, and the EMTs [1] find that they cannot gain access to the emergency scene, because the home or other structure is locked or otherwise blocked. In this case, a firetruc…

Good points. Interesting anecdotal data: here in Italy you have to call the fire department to get a fire truck out, whereas they're part of the standard package described above in the US. Fires aren't that common here because of construction materials, so while you see plenty of ambulances and police cars whizzing around, fire trucks are a far rarer sight than in the US.

I think the same goes for most of Western Europe. You rarely see fire trucks, but police cars and ambulances are common.

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#209

Post by enko »

tptacek wrote: post #146
enko wrote: post #75

You can't make this shit up. > Police in North Dakota borrowed a $154 million MQ-9 Predator B drone from the Department of Homeland Security to arrest a family of anti-government separatists who refused to return six cows that wandered onto their farm.

The MQ-9 doesn't cost $154MM; more like 1/10th of that, list.

You're right. The error is from here: http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/predator-drones-seek...

I thought it sounded awfully high. Egregious errors like that don't auger well for the reliability of the rest of the article.

Re: Too Many Cops Are Told They’re Soldiers Fighting a War. How Did We Get Here?

#210

Post by yk »

alan_cx wrote: post #155

Not a flippant comment...... I blame Hollywood. I honestly do. They glamorize and hero worship mega violent law breaking cops, while at the same time portraying criminals as super beings with government like resources, who always lose due to the violent law breaking cops. The people in the end believe this to be a vaguely true, even though in their lives they rarely see it, most cops are in fact fairly decent profess…

You are missing a news industry, who secretly want a Micheal Bay like special effects budget .
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