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Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

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Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#111

Post by Clubber »

RickJWagner wrote: post #80

For those in countries outside the USA-- please be assured this is sensationalist rubbish. Cops are the most under-payed, overworked, least respected workers in the country. They put their lives on the line every day and have to put up with hostile press. They are told to wear body cameras, then are told to take them off when the results are not to the liking of the agitators. Cops are simply a political football, an…

I think you meant to say teachers. Cops in my town get over $100K after 10 years with full health an pension. My neighbor cops down the street put their kids in private school. The FOP is a powerful union.

Hackers released a bunch of FOP/city contracts a few years ago across the country.

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#112

Post by talldan »

krapp wrote: post #100
talldan wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is citing real events. When some cops are corrupt, does it matter that the rest might be decent? An individual police officer represents the entire force. They wear the colours and the badge as a representative of the whole establishment. Would you call the police if you knew there were such troubling corruption issues? It would definitely make me think twice - you just don't know which officer will turn u…

>When some cops are corrupt, does it matter that the rest might be decent? Of course, if you replaced "cops" here with "black people", you basically arrive at the attitude of the corrupt cops themselves, and those who justify their "zero tolerance" policies, including those mentioned in TFA.

But I didn't replace "cops" with "black people", you did.

An ethnicity is a completely different thing to a law enforcement agency.

edit: If you want me to explain why, I can. A law enforcement agency is a group of people who have decided to perform a particular duty. An ethnicity is a group of people who are born that particular way.

A law enforcement agency has a strict set of rules governing behaviour, which when broken purposely constitute corruption. An ethnicity does not a have a particular set of rules, they follow the same rules as wider society. If they did have a specific set of rules, it would be considered an apartheid style society.

A member of a law enforcement agency has far reaching powers beyond a typical citizen. A member of an ethnicity is supposed to have the same powers as everyone else.

What's interesting is that by comparing the two you get a good idea of why police corruption is a terrible thing.

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#113

Post by SaintGhurka »

jopsen wrote: post #16

Why not clean house? At this point I can't imagine the local community, particularly minorities, have any trust in the authorities. Isn't that failure, why not train a new police force with new uniforms and then phase out the old?

Since the Freddie Gray case in 2015 and the subsequent riots, Baltimore and its police force have undergone significant reforms. The murder rate is up 50% since then for the third year in a row.

Dropping the hammer on police may sound like it would be satisfying, but if I lived in a place where the community suddenly decided to cast the whole police force as villains, I'd move my family out for fear of the spike in crime that will certainly result. I can't think of a city in the US that hasn't endured a murder wave once the vilification of police became fashionable.

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#114

Post by rando444 »

sho wrote: post #19
minxomat wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I changed it now. But wow, that was quite the reaction. Your interpretation is correct and at least in my cultural circle, quotes around nouns serve as a way to express the lacking quality of the thing. Ie. this is a rant pretending to be a news piece. But that's just my opinion. Equally IMO, the actual source is more important than an opinion on the source.

The use of quotes to question the authenticity or true nature of something is accepted in English. You could have said "journalism" and I wouldn't have jumped on you. On "article" though it's inappropriate. The other comment notwithstanding, an article is an article, no matter if it's written by a journalist, an amateur, or a monkey banging its head on a keyboard. There is zero credibility implied by the word. Exampl…

Example:

> The "food" from that restaurant was awful

Incorrect. No matter what you thought of the food, the fact is that it is food (ie, something that can be digested as a source of nutrition). This usage betrays a lack of sophistication and should be avoided.

> The food from that "restaurant" was awful

Correct usage. You are (humorously, snarkily) questioning if the establishment you visited qualifies as a restaurant.

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#115

Post by Clubber »

guildwriter wrote: post #102
Clubber wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that "Whataboutism?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Er no. It's not. I'm not saying police conduct in Chicago isn't an issue. I'm saying that the issues of inner city Chicago are much larger than just police conduct. To properly understand the issue you need to consider all the angles.

Yes, but Chicago seems to be a fairly unique place. Also, most of the police shooting incidents don't come out of Chicago. What are you trying to say by pointing out that gang violence is bad in Chicago?

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#116

Post by krapp »

talldan wrote: post #112
krapp wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>When some cops are corrupt, does it matter that the rest might be decent? Of course, if you replaced "cops" here with "black people", you basically arrive at the attitude of the corrupt cops themselves, and those who justify their "zero tolerance" policies, including those mentioned in TFA.

But I didn't replace "cops" with "black people", you did. An ethnicity is a completely different thing to a law enforcement agency. edit: If you want me to explain why, I can. A law enforcement agency is a group of people who have decided to perform a particular duty. An ethnicity is a group of people who are born that particular way. A law enforcement agency has a strict set of rules governing behaviour, which when…

The same rationale used to blame police as a whole for the corruption of a few is also used to justify the attitudes of the police presented in this article, on the basis that any random black individual is more likely to be violent or prone to criminal activity.

That the police and black people are not precisely the same sort of entity is irrelevant.

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#118

Post by davrosthedalek »

Clubber wrote: post #115
guildwriter wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Er no. It's not. I'm not saying police conduct in Chicago isn't an issue. I'm saying that the issues of inner city Chicago are much larger than just police conduct. To properly understand the issue you need to consider all the angles.

Yes, but Chicago seems to be a fairly unique place. Also, most of the police shooting incidents don't come out of Chicago. What are you trying to say by pointing out that gang violence is bad in Chicago?

The post guildwriter answered to specifically called out Chicago.

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#119

Post by lsaferite »

duck wrote: post #69
andrepd wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem outraged, but is anything they said wrong?

Not the OP, but I would say that is implying that _all_ cops could do this. I don't think that is the case. As with anything, you have a small group that thinks it is above the law and acts that way.

The unfortunate reality is that the other LEOs that don't do something about the bad LEOs make themselves just as culpable. Worse, the LEOs that try to do something get punished by their fellow LEOs (even the 'good' ones) and their union. With that situation being the case, a blanket statement about LEOs being bad is not totally off base.

Re: Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person

#120

Post by musage »

krapp wrote: post #97
pornel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is about people literally trying to get away with murder. The last two sentences are references to well-documented cases of police officers killing non-dangerous citizens. There's no reason to be polite about this.

>There's no reason to be polite about this. There is - the tone of the article affects the tone of the thread. Hacker News is supposed to be about intellectually gratifying discussion, but an article whose purpose is to spark outrage results in comments full of invective and tedious boilerplate. Cathartic for people who want to rant about Americans and guns and ACAB... but we've already been there and done that and r…

> Cathartic for people who want to rant about Americans and guns and ACAB

How are such straw men intellectually gratifying? How is that not tedious boilerplate? How is you reading something a hundred times even a factor compared to hundreds of murders swept under the rug? Don't wanna read about it, put an end to it.

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