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Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

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Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#181

Post by [deleted] »

jpgvm wrote: post #90
soheil wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like asking what makes 5 greater than 5. Humans are all significant simply because they have rational minds and are rational beings. A human being cannot impose on others a value or worthiness, because we are rational beings and have independent minds. As you probably have noticed by now this is not me saying these things, it's from Immanuel Kant. I found these lectures on the topic absolutely amazing to watch:…

It's worth mentioning that all humans are -humans- just like 5 == 5. However, the fact humans are humans doesn't make them equal. Unlike a number humans have dimensionality. They can be taller, shorter, stronger, weaker, smarter, dumber, richer, poorer etc. Along with any number of other attributes like job, geographical location, father, mother etc. Equality is a very precise thing and humans are anything but equal.

[deleted]

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#182

Post by xanadohnt »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #140

This is a good reminder to always be a defensive and aware pedestrian. Just because you have the light or the right-of-way doesn't mean you are guaranteed a safe crossing of the street. Whenever I cross an intersection as a pedestrian I always look both ways (even on one way streets) and I always keep an eye on cars that are still in motion, especially those that don't appear to be slowing down. It's good to make the…

A highly engineered network of lights, signs, warnings, and all other sorts of traffic guidance actually makes pedestrian and vehicle travel less safe. It's a psychological phenomenon - discussed here: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/traffic.html - where the actors stop using situational awareness and total rely on external devices to do their decision making. Safety takes a back seat to obeying the law. Upon removing most of the signage and guidance do humans become more situationally aware, cautious, and more personally responsible for their safety. Believe it or not, the car driving down the sidewalk ultimately makes everyone safer.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#183

Post by ry0ohki »

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #74

After watching police chases on TV my whole life, I really want to know: What's the logical strategy in a police chase? Just keep driving after each other? It risks the lives of hundreds living and walking in the path of the chase all for the sake of punishing 1 or 2 individuals. It just doesn't seem to add up to me. What a shame we lost someone so brilliant for nothing.

Most jurisdictions no longer allow chases for crimes less than murder because of this.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#184

Post by nawitus »

mietek wrote: post #166
rmc wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't a EU wide police or justice system. It's all done at the national level. Policing standards can vary widely around countries.

Your statement is true. The parent poster's statement is also true.

Not really, the typical action in many EU countries is to go for pursuit. This is case in Finland and Sweden, for example.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#185

Post by JanezStupar »

Keyframe wrote: post #149
LinaLauneBaer wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@Keyframe: Are you sure Cobra 11 is a documentary series? I am from Germany as well and what can be seen in Cobra 11 is nothing that happens on German Autobahns.

It was my poor attempt to make a joke about it - it's actually quite bad tv show imo.

Cobra 11 is actually quite awesome detective series. Considering the budget I believe that everybody contributing does an awesome work. I actually really like the show.

As a disclaimer I like bad shows that they do not take themselves too seriously more than I like your average series.

I would take Cobra 11 over any american police series any day.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#186

Post by mtrimpe »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #140

This is a good reminder to always be a defensive and aware pedestrian. Just because you have the light or the right-of-way doesn't mean you are guaranteed a safe crossing of the street. Whenever I cross an intersection as a pedestrian I always look both ways (even on one way streets) and I always keep an eye on cars that are still in motion, especially those that don't appear to be slowing down. It's good to make the…

After being hit by a car when I was young, that's exactly how I navigate traffic as a bicyclist/pedestrian.

Traffic rules create a useful abstraction but, if you want to be safe, the only non-leaky abstraction is seeing traffic as a collection of objects moving at various speeds which can optionally change acceleration or direction based on things like traffic lights / your presence / cats running across the road after the required reaction time has elapsed.

It's a bit less relaxing of a way to travel, but it sure as hell beats waking up in the hospital with brain damage, a leg whose foot no longer points in the direction it should and an arm that's no longer moving or ... not waking up at all.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#187

Post by CoryG89 »

femto wrote: post #150
lostlogin wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My perception was that the comment was correct however with a quick skim I cant produce anything more than anecdata. The police do seem to be consistently breaking their rules which dictate that the chase ends when it gets dangerous. However crashes do seem to be happen after the chase has ended rather too regularly - about 30 seconds later. Citation. Here is an editorial on the poor stats we have. An interesting asi…

Is the time of the termination of a chase based on a record made by the pursuing officer? Is it also the case that it looks bad for the pursuing officer if a pursuit ends in an accident?

Obviously it doesn't look too good. I am thinking the same though. These crashes that happen 30 seconds after a chase has been halted are probably actually happening 30 seconds before the chase is actually halted; with the officer calling it in that they had quit just before the crash happened.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#188

Post by [deleted] »

derda wrote: post #118
zb wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In New Zealand the police adopted a (highly-publicised) policy of not continuing to chase people who drive away at high speed due to the danger it poses to the public, when it is trivial to just go round to their house the next day and arrest them. The consequences of this have been as follows: 1) Now everybody runs when stopped by Police. OK, not everybody , but the rate has probably tripled. 2) After the police giv…

I don't know what the official stance here in germany is, but I talked to a member of the Autobahnpolizei (Highway Patrol) and he told me that while they have high powered cars that could follow most cars at high speed they will "give up" when hey feel they pose a danger to other drivers and concentrate on blocking exits etc. . But I have to say I have not seen a police chase in germany my whole life.

[deleted]

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#189

Post by CoryG89 »

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #51
deelowe wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's more fun for them if they chase. Really, very rarely should it make sense for cops to endanger countless civilian lives to catch a criminal.

Depending on the offense, there are reasons to do it. If there are not officers immediately behind the perps wherever they stop, they can quite easily disperse into the city or go into a building and take innocents hostage. I don't think the other hypotheses offered in this thread(15 minutes of fame, it's LA's reality show, etc) have quite so much to do with it, especially when you consider how vast LA is.

I think that having them disperse is the whole point of not chasing them. As far as taking hostages, I just don't think what you suggest makes any sense. The ONLY way I would consider taking hostages for any reason and making a stand against the police force would be if I had no other choice.. ie. the police won't stop chasing me.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#190

Post by Farox »

kriro wrote: post #153
derda wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what the official stance here in germany is, but I talked to a member of the Autobahnpolizei (Highway Patrol) and he told me that while they have high powered cars that could follow most cars at high speed they will "give up" when hey feel they pose a danger to other drivers and concentrate on blocking exits etc. . But I have to say I have not seen a police chase in germany my whole life.

For whatever reason German policing seems to be better in general. Pretty much no high speed chases, no "hail of bullets showdowns" and so forth. Iirc the number of bullets fired by the entire German (Germany=population of 80 million) police in a year was roughly the same as two incidents in LA (and most of those were either warning shots or animal kills). I think it's a cultural issue and criminals in the US are gen…

90 bullets a year in total, as much as they pumped into one guy in New York in the same year
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