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The Human Toll of Flashbangs

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91–100 of 262 posts

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#91
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a more hilarious use of military tech by police, see this video by Doraville, GA police of their "track-y fun-box" (a.k.a. "tank," sorry for the ear-splitting levels): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajhu7qgojU You have to wonder what threats they face among their population of 8,000 citizens in north-central Georgia.

I grew up in Ellijay, GA and many police offers were bullies in my highschool. The city doesn't really have the cream of the crop or the pay to choose otherwise.

Small world: My grandparents have lived there for a fair length of time. I remember driving by the county courthouse where a klan rally was being held in the mid 2000's with a Grand Wizard in red robes and everything. I've been told that the county/town even had a celebration when the census came back with no minorities at one point. As such, it's no stretch of my imagination what kind of gray areas the law enforcement in that area is in.

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#92
post #2

The use of flash bangs by law enforcement is horrifying. These tools were design for to support direct action missions by special operations forces, and are, essentially, burning thermite [1] (e.g. able to melt through an engine block). To be clear, a direct operation mission is the use of lethal force to kill or capture one or more individuals or perform high risk hostage rescue. In these types of military operation…

For a more hilarious use of military tech by police, see this video by Doraville, GA police of their "track-y fun-box" (a.k.a. "tank," sorry for the ear-splitting levels): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajhu7qgojU You have to wonder what threats they face among their population of 8,000 citizens in north-central Georgia.

"in north-central Georgia"

While this sentence is technically a correct description, it conveys the impression that Doraville is a rural town which it certainly isn't (Doraville is "ITP" - inside I-285).

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a chicken and egg problem. They barely deserve the salary they get now with all the incidents going on, but they won't get more intelligent people applying until the wages are increased. Probably best to start with the teachers so theres a larger pool if educated people to hire from.

According to BLS, coders make something like $93k/yr [1], while policemen make about $57k [2], and primary school teachers make $53k [3]. How much of a pay cut would you take to accept one of those jobs? How much more in taxes would you pay to hire/train better people to do those jobs? [1] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/S... [2] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Protective-Service/Police-and-detecti.…

Cops make crazy money. A relative is a lieutenant, make $120k, and overtime brings that up to almost $200k. If he doesn't make the next promotion in a year or two, he'll be retiring at 42 making around $100k.

Unless you work for some hick department, a cop will easily make more than 80% in coders outside of the Bay Area, and unlike in software, you don't get nuked when you get old. That said, it's a brutal job that takes a toll on you.

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#94
post #24

> “If she hadn’t been selling illegal items out of the home, no warrant would have been served,” he said. “What you call extreme, we call safe.” Disgusting. The militarisation of police is a blight on our societies progress. And now where I live is succumbing to it too, albeit far more slowly than what those in the US have to deal with. The fact that SWAT teams are using flash bangs and automatic weaponry to raid a w…

And yet, American citizenry at large and the justice system in general gives the police the benefit of the doubt in all matters versus the populace. Are we really that dumb as a country? If you have to ask...

As horrible as police brutality it, it still directly hurts less than ~20% of society (more in some really bad areas, less in others). So only those, plus the few percent of others who have a sense of compassion, are opposed to the brutality. The rest are either ignorant or complicit or in cognitir dissonance.

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#95
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a more hilarious use of military tech by police, see this video by Doraville, GA police of their "track-y fun-box" (a.k.a. "tank," sorry for the ear-splitting levels): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajhu7qgojU You have to wonder what threats they face among their population of 8,000 citizens in north-central Georgia.

I grew up in Ellijay, GA and many police offers were bullies in my highschool. The city doesn't really have the cream of the crop or the pay to choose otherwise.

[deleted]

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a chicken and egg problem. They barely deserve the salary they get now with all the incidents going on, but they won't get more intelligent people applying until the wages are increased. Probably best to start with the teachers so theres a larger pool if educated people to hire from.

According to BLS, coders make something like $93k/yr [1], while policemen make about $57k [2], and primary school teachers make $53k [3]. How much of a pay cut would you take to accept one of those jobs? How much more in taxes would you pay to hire/train better people to do those jobs? [1] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/S... [2] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Protective-Service/Police-and-detecti.…

I think that police get lots of overtime in addition to the basic salary, and there are often perks, like extra pay for motorcycle cops to clean and polish their motorcycles, etc...

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#98
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on where you live, that's exactly what happens. In Kentucky, they'll send (usually) 3 state troopers, and knock on your door. If the person that they want isn't at home, they'll take your word for it, and let you be on your way. In Ohio, it's usually six or more officers with guns drawn. They'll try to open the doors of the house to gain entry without knocking or announcing their presence. When the person t…

Not criticizing you for ending your friendship; but, as a side note, this contributes to another effect- basically the only people that thuggish oppressive cops can actually relax around, and be casual friends with, are other cops. Which only contributes further to "us vs them". If a sci-fi novel portrayed a society where the police were a separate race of creatures who lived in walled compounds and survived by robbi…

Not to mention the fact that many police officers don't live in the communities they, er, police (I can't bring myself to use the word 'serve' any more in relation to the police :-( ).

An ex-cop I know justified this on the basis that you don't want people who would probably have a grudge against you to know where you live, which would be reasonable enough if police didn't have so many other protections in place. I don't think his attitude is universal, but there is clearly a significant cohort of police officers who are fully engaged in a 'race to the bottom' and consider themselves the rightful beneficiaries of a secular antinomianism.

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#99
First, the Albequerque incident was cold blooded murder and the indictment is very appropriate.

Second, flash bang use is already dramatically declining so this sory is about three years to late. But nice effort.

Re: The Human Toll of Flashbangs

#100

I'm so past fed up with police in America. The drug war is pathological. The notion that a cop can kill an unarmed suspect with impunity (especially if they're black or homeless or mentally ill) is disgusting. The belief that "law and order" is a value worth allowing one group the exclusive privilege of breaking any law and causing any disorder they like without consequence simply has to end. I'm at the point where I…

America isn't the problem, Americans are. Everyone who voted for this is to blame. From what I understand you can even vote for some of the local judges or prosecutors too! There's no excuse but to recognize that your neighbors are responsible for the problems due to their own selfishness. They want the police to be brutal because the drug raid isn't going to be on their home, it'll be on some poor person's home and they don't care about poor people.

This might sound harsh, but it's what most American voters do. That's why they continually vote for police violence. If they don't understand the consequences of their vote then they're as negligent as the policeman who doesn't understand the consequences of throwing a flashbang into a bedroom.

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