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Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

harvardlawreview.org

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Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#11

Post by rmxt »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #5
boards2x wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> But equally the non-violent public do not deserve to face potential threats to their life and violent coercion in routine interactions with law enforcers. It is really not "the public" at large, at least not in many cases. The police seems to be profiling and directing excessive force towards non-Caucasians, as it was so obvious in the shocking incident in Texas. This case, which sort of crystallized the problem,…

The incident in Texas in only shocking when one considers the slanted reporting that the media is doing. Those kids were trespassing, were violent with minors, and flatly refused to listen to police officers. The reporting of this is nothing more then a propaganda piece. We have large populations of minorities who feel entitled to behave badly without any consequence because the color of their skin.

How does one get from "a few kids being rowdy and not listening to police officers" to "x group of people has entitlement issues"? Seems like quite a disingenuous stretch.

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#12

Post by angersock »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #7

Cops need to stop dressing like they are mercs in Iraq circa 2004. Tactical vests, cargo pants with a shitload of shit hanging off them-the average (non SWAT) cop now looks like they are ready to go off on a patrol in a hostile village. I'm an Army vet, and cops dressing like that does intimidate me a little bit-I can't imagine that they present the image of a friendly ally to the average person. Men should also grow…

Generally agree, but the short-cut hair makes a great deal of sense if you don't want a suspect pulling on your scalp.

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#13

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

angersock wrote: post #12
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #7

Cops need to stop dressing like they are mercs in Iraq circa 2004. Tactical vests, cargo pants with a shitload of shit hanging off them-the average (non SWAT) cop now looks like they are ready to go off on a patrol in a hostile village. I'm an Army vet, and cops dressing like that does intimidate me a little bit-I can't imagine that they present the image of a friendly ally to the average person. Men should also grow…

Generally agree, but the short-cut hair makes a great deal of sense if you don't want a suspect pulling on your scalp.

Yet female cops get by just fine without high and tights.

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#15

Post by spiritplumber »

jmnicolas wrote: post #2

Judging from the outside, US law enforcement has a "no accountability" problem, not a warrior one.

That's the big issue.

The great advance of cameras being cheap and ubiquitous has effectively been countermoved by "Yeah, we saw the video, we investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong" or district attorneys that either decline to prosecute police abuse or treat grand juries in police-abuse cases completely differently than they would in any other case.

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#16

Post by angersock »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #13
angersock wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally agree, but the short-cut hair makes a great deal of sense if you don't want a suspect pulling on your scalp.

Yet female cops get by just fine without high and tights.

Have you seen catfights? If they're serious about this "warrior" business, they should probably get buzzed down too.

EDIT:

Wow hivemind. It's for a similar reason that, in less hostile environments (say, machine shops), people with long hair put their hair back. It's like nobody's ever seen Bomb Girls before (much less any of the much more graphic images of, say, lathe accidents).

I'm not suggesting that the warrior mindset is acceptable...merely that, if they are going to carry themselves that way (i.e., as jackbooted thugs), they should probably go all the way.

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#17

Post by remarkEon »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #7

Cops need to stop dressing like they are mercs in Iraq circa 2004. Tactical vests, cargo pants with a shitload of shit hanging off them-the average (non SWAT) cop now looks like they are ready to go off on a patrol in a hostile village. I'm an Army vet, and cops dressing like that does intimidate me a little bit-I can't imagine that they present the image of a friendly ally to the average person. Men should also grow…

Another Army vet here and totally agree. I remember looking at pictures of Ferguson and seeing how they were setting up their kit and thinking "what are you guys doing? getting ready for an ambush?" They look so absurd...the one picture of the guy on top of the MRAP with a sniper rifle was equally absurd. Beyond how they look, it's like they're at times forgetting these are citizens and not enemy combatants.

Edit1: Here's the picture I was talking about[1]. Looks like an M110? With some kind of compensator?

Edit2: That Tac light on the end of your sniper rifle just screams "I have no idea wtf I'm doing but imma sit here and look cool."

[1] http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/0...

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#18

Post by LordKano »

boards2x wrote: post #4
simonh wrote: post #3

If police officers here in the UK started talking about having a Warrior midset there's be an outcry. It would be a major scadal that would put the credibility of the police force into crisis. (Brit here, so obviously I have no real right of a say in US internal affairs, but I visit the US from time to time). I can see where it comes from, US officers are armed, and need to be so because they frequently face armed cr…

>> But equally the non-violent public do not deserve to face potential threats to their life and violent coercion in routine interactions with law enforcers. It is really not "the public" at large, at least not in many cases. The police seems to be profiling and directing excessive force towards non-Caucasians, as it was so obvious in the shocking incident in Texas. This case, which sort of crystallized the problem,…

The police seems to be profiling and directing excessive force towards non-Caucasians

Law enforcement has always directed this kind of treatment towards non-whites in the US. What has changed is that there are now cameras everywhere so the officer's word isn't enough anymore and they have begun to subject middle and upper middle income white people to the same kind of treatment that used to be reserved for black and brown people.

For the outsider, the US looks a very unpleasant place to be if you're not white.

Racism isn't a US-only problem. There are incidents of European soccer fans making monkey noises when black players come onto the field. In some parts of Africa, there are issues with the government seizing land owned by whites.

It's not even always about race. Every Irishman with whom I have ever spoken has told me stories about how they and/or their (grand)parents were treated by other Europeans.

I don't know if it's possible to fix the underlying cause of these problems. Whenever people think in terms of "Us vs Them", they find justifications for doing all manner of terrible things to each other. It's just that police are the ones tasked with enforcing the laws of a society so when the laws reflect this conflict, so does the behavior of the police.

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#19

Post by knodi123 »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #5
boards2x wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> But equally the non-violent public do not deserve to face potential threats to their life and violent coercion in routine interactions with law enforcers. It is really not "the public" at large, at least not in many cases. The police seems to be profiling and directing excessive force towards non-Caucasians, as it was so obvious in the shocking incident in Texas. This case, which sort of crystallized the problem,…

The incident in Texas in only shocking when one considers the slanted reporting that the media is doing. Those kids were trespassing, were violent with minors, and flatly refused to listen to police officers. The reporting of this is nothing more then a propaganda piece. We have large populations of minorities who feel entitled to behave badly without any consequence because the color of their skin.

I was right there with you until your last sentence veered off into racist territory.

Re: Law Enforcement’s “Warrior” Problem

#20

Post by azernik »

angersock wrote: post #14

I really like the way commentary is noted in the gutters of the article and referenced from the text. That's a very cool trick.

And on mobile it's also very nice - footnote icons that expand blockquote-style text when clicked and turn into "close" buttons to collapse it.
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