When did law enforcement become such WATB?
The director of the F.B.I. reignited the factious debate over a so-called “Ferguson effect” on Wednesday, saying that he believed less aggressive policing was driving an alarming spike in murders in many cities.
James Comey, the director, said that while he could offer no statistical proof, he believed after speaking with a number of police officials that a “viral video effect” — with officers wary of confronting suspects for fear of ending up on a video — “could well be at the heart” of a spike in violent crime in some cities.
“There’s a perception that police are less likely to do the marginal additional policing that suppresses crime — the getting out of your car at 2 in the morning and saying to a group of guys, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’” he told reporters.
Mr. Comey was wading back into a dispute from last fall that pitted him against some of his bosses at the White House and the Justice Department and one that roiled racial tensions over confrontations between police officers and minorities.
Show me ONE viral video in which an officer was just doing his job and following the rules. These videos only go viral when you’re doing shit like this:
Or this:
So stop acting like fucking goons and videos won’t go viral. I saw four or five cops today and never once felt the need to videotspe them as they were doing their job. Because they were doing their job.
Villago Delenda Est
These guys are their own worst enemies in many ways. The inability of the police, from Comey on down, to police themselves, leads to disrespect. I wish they could figure this out.
Ryan
Or this.
Pepper spray UC Davis
Major Major Major Major
It really is quite remarkable how thin-skinned they are.
chopper
pretty much forever. it’s just that they’re more vocal about it now since, thanks to the ubiquity of handheld cameras, they’re pretty constantly on the defensive.
but cops and especially leadership (and unions) have always been whiny pricks about their inherent right to fuck with people.
Ruckus
@chopper:
Isn’t that why a lot cops became cops? Not all of them for sure, but enough of them.
rikyrah
On Facebook, Trump’s Longtime Butler Calls for Obama to Be Killed
“This prick needs to be hung for treason!!!”
By David Corn | Thu May 12, 2016 1:40 PM EDT
Anthony Senecal, who worked as Donald Trump’s butler for 17 years before being named the in-house historian at the tycoon’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, has repeatedly published posts on his Facebook page that express profound hatred for President Barack Obama and declare he should be killed.
Pogonip
Cole, you ignorant slut.
Actually, I don’t disagree with him; I’ve just been wanting to say “Cole, you ignorant slut” for ages.
Cole, you ignorant slut, how is your brother’s dog feeling?
rikyrah
Adam Jentleson
@AJentleson
Reid on the floor: Since McConnell is “embracing Trump, you can only assume he agrees with Trump’s view that women are dogs and pigs.”
Ryan
@Major Major Major Major: Funny that. Given they have weapons. One would almost thing the causal relationship between having a weapon and being confident were a little bit off.
singfoom
Those poor LEOs and their poor fee-fees. Yeah, fuck Comey and his shitty excuse for a logical coherent thought. As those jackboot worshipping jackholes say all the time: “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to hide, right?”
Seriously, failing upwards is the only way to explain Comey being the head of the FUCKING FBI. Or maybe they lowered their standards just for him, who fucking knows.
All I do know is that looking at the big picture, I’m a bit MORE CONCERNED for our fellow citizens who might be GUNNED DOWN by the police for the crime of “whatever fucking charge they think will stick” AND/OR not being white than I am that a police officer might be uncomfortable.
JPL
@rikyrah: Imagine if someone on Hillary’s team wanted to kill the former president.
I remember in the olden days when GW was president, you couldn’t criticize a president when we had service members fighting overseas.
rikyrah
Chad PergramVerified account
@ChadPergram
Reid: Since the Republican leader is all in for Donald Trump, you can only assume he approves Trump’s calling immigrants racists & murderers
Gin & Tonic
For all you Eurovision followers, the Crimean Tatar singer named Jamala, who represents Ukraine in the contest, has just made it to the finals. Her primary song, “1944,” is about Stalin’s deportation of the native Tatars from Crimea in that year. Her entry and the whole performance are, as they say, rich with symbolism in light of the current foreign occupation and suppression of the Tatars.
Ryan
@rikyrah: What was McConnell’s response?
rikyrah
Smooth Kobra @smoothkobra 16h16 hours ago
After Civil Rights the GOP won 5/6 next national elections–68/72/80/84/88. THAT was the working class white revolution
Smooth Kobra
@smoothkobra
Working class whites were willing to dissolve unions, lower their own pay as long as we got the War on Drugs and cuts to programs for Blacks
Steve in the ATL
@rikyrah:
And on top of the inappropriate comments, he used the wrong word. It’s “hanged” in this case, not “hung.” The Trump folks can’t get anything right, not even lynching references.
raven
I don’t understand what this is supposed to mean? Does this count?
scav
So the FBI is no pronouncing on the basis of no proof but some vague anecdotes. Stellar and unmatched grasp of the underpinnings of what is needed to build a case they have, clearly.
If they’re uncomfortable and unwilling to do their jobs while being possibly filmed it sure sounds like a) they damn well know they’re doing something most people would objet to and B) they don’t know or don’t want to know how to do better. Detect obvious.
singfoom
@raven: The videos that go viral of police aren’t the ones where they’ve covered themselves in glory like Officer Schill. The videos that go viral are of the kind where they kill or shoot people with nary a reason.
Peale
If only there was a way to figure out why people were murdering other people. I guess we’ll never know because there’s no point in asking or bothering to collect statistics or anything like that.
Ryan
@rikyrah:Ok, and since 88? 04? Buehler?
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
I read that earlier. I can only hope and believe that the Secret Service will be paying this guy a call. It would be nice to have some guilt-by-association rub off on Drumpf, but I doubt that’ll happen.
A couple of months ago, I read that NYTimes Magazine tongue bath on the same butler/historian, whatever the fuck his job is when he’s not posting vile threats on Facebook. Funny that the giants of journalism at the NYT never came across anything in their research that might have provided a more nuanced article.
Trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
You might as well stand in front of the mirror in a darkened bathroom and chant, “Hodor!” three times.
scav
I mean god damn it, if they expect to produce evidence and witnesses
and evidence(ETA: I’m that incoherent) to stand up in court but they don’t won’t anyone to see how they produce it or go about it. Jesus Absolutist Crap.singfoom
@Peale: It’s almost as if we need a Federal Bureau to keep statistics on violent crime nationwide and Investigate the reasons why and suggest solutions based on verifiable and repeatable data.
Who could do that?
raven
@singfoom: Yea, well that sort of makes the premise pretty iffy.
Origuy
@SiubhanDuinne: They’re on the case.
(H/T LGF)
debbie
Depends on how you define less aggressive policing. I define it as using non-lethal force, like shooting someone in the leg rather than the head. I think Comey’s defining it as what’s happening here in central Ohio, where police are staying out of troubled neighborhoods altogether and letting people and kids just shoot it out amongst themselves.
Ryan
@singfoom: These guys? https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr
TooManyJens
Cops hardly ever get disciplined for the shit on viral videos, so I think the problem is that they are following the rules and doing their jobs as the job is defined. Which means the rules and the definition of the job are fucking anti-human shit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Origuy:
Thanks. That was quick.
singfoom
@Ryan: Heh, yes, they do keep statistics, which knew but was being fascetious about. But there’s one thing missing from that. They don’t keep statistics on how many people are shot by LEOs, which is usually the content of the viral videos that Comey was referring to.
But thank you for the link.
smith
@singfoom: When it comes to police shootings that result in death, the Guardian has done the work the FBI just can’t get around to doing itself.
? Martin
@debbie:
Maddow had a good segment a few years ago noting that non-lethal weapons were almost never used in lieu of lethal weapons, only in lieu of talking to people. So we don’t taze people instead of shooting them, instead we pepper spray students instead of talking to them.
However, I don’t ever see anyone questioning whether the push for every citizen to be armed 24/7 might have something to do with aggressive policing. If I were a cop today, I’d pretty much assume everyone I was talking to was carrying, and I don’t think that would have been the case 20 years ago. Consider this statement from an elected official:
That’s the culture law enforcement are facing.
singfoom
@smith: Exactly. It kind of boggles the mind that the Guardian had to do that and the FBIs Uniform Crime Reports division hasn’t been tracking that for years.
Regardless of which statistics are properly gathered or not, the reality is that the ubiquity of cellphones with video recording capability means that the police are no longer able to do the dirty shit they’ve ALWAYS done in the shadows anymore. Someone will see and record them.
Then these things usually happen.
1)The family of the wrong files a lawsuit for damages against the police department and the city/municipality/taxpayers pick up the tab.
2)The individual officer or officers involved in the incident are reprimanded lightly, maybe prosecuted but most likely not. They leave that department due to their notoriety and become a LEO somewhere else.
3)The police union the individual officer or officers belong to complains that even the slap on the wrist or the lawsuit itself is awful and nobody appreciates how they put their life on the line every day.
4)Not a single goddamn thing changes.
Until the money starts coming out of police pensions and/or LEOs are held to the same or even more stringent standards of behavior (given they are a death wielding avatar of the state) than civilians, rinse and repeat forever.
scav
@? Martin: One can just as well posit that people are more likely to feel the need to arm themselves when faced with LEOs because of their increasingly violent and adversarial relationship to the public. We may very well be in an arms race so there’s a lot of feedback. Nevertheless, one side is being paid to be professionals and, moreover, expect public recognition and respect but seemingly won’t accept oversight and criticism.
? Martin
@scav: Oh, I know we’re in an arms race. That’s obvious.
But a key difference here is that law enforcement, in spite of being paid professionals, still need to deal with the reality that pulling some angry drunk guy out of a truck with a gun in his belt also means that in all likelihood the gun is legal and licensed and they can’t take issue with that. This is a situation where in spite of them being professionals, politicians are making it increasingly impossible for them to do their job safely and effectively by making that gun legal in more circumstances for more people. This is no different than an employer making a job more dangerous for their employees – and you don’t see us blaming the worker for that, do you? That’s not how we roll.
raven
@? Martin: This jackass was legal
Gun-carrying Georgia lawmaker arrested for drunk driving with 4 teens in SUV
Mnemosyne
@raven:
Name a case where a cop lost his job after a viral video shooting. The only one I can think of was the Oscar Grant shooting, and he was an MTA cop, not a city cop.
If bad cops were at a minimum losing their jobs after killing a civilian, I think people would be a lot less pissed off. But when Cleveland decides that the cop who killed a 12-year-old with a BB gun can keep his job, that makes people assume the department is corrupt and can’t be trusted.
And when cops defend the cop who shot a 12-year-old who had a BB gun, they look like assholes at best, and usually racist assholes.
Mnemosyne
@? Martin:
Except the cops aren’t shooting those guys. They’re shooting unarmed black and brown men, not white guys with guns.
Somehow, their stated fear of guns is leading them to shoot the people who are less likely to be carrying a gun, and many times it turns out that the person who is shot didn’t have a gun at all. Why is that?
scav
@? Martin: I’m just not willing to exclusively pity the poor police in the current reality, when there are sub-populations of citizens who not only are but have been for a long time dealing with the reality of obviously sub-standard and dangerous policing. Moreover, there are many other factors (and not just the mean mean public) feeding into the militarization of policing, including the giveaway of equipment, but with seemingly no strings of training and in an environment where no statistics of quality of the services are being gathered. There are other methods of dealing with an aggressive and suspicious public than shooting them first, but apparently we’re not even going to explore training police in them.
smith
@? Martin: The problem with cops long predates the current rash of idiot ammosexual laws, and persists in localities that don’t have those laws. As an example, the recent Homan Square scandal in Chicago is just the latest in a long-standing local tradition, the most notorious example of which is Jon Burge, who was active from the 70s to early 90s. The abuses he perpetrated and oversaw were actively covered up for a long time. He’s unusual only in that the abuses ultimately came to light and he finally was prosecuted for lesser crimes than the torture he practiced. Cover ups, little or no discipline for cops who are violent, and unfailing defense of them by their fellows and their unions are constants over many years. The only real change has been the ubiquity of video cameras that allow the rest of us to see how frequently these defenses are employed.
scav
Furthermore, while I believe absolutely there are good policemen doing an important job, I am increasingly aware that I am unable to distinguish them from the others because of the repeated intransigence of the police infrastructure to allow oversight or statistics to be gathered. Please distinguish criticism of the police infrastructure (and the bad apples it seems to openly jealous to protect) and Hypothetical Officer Joe at the crosswalk.
raven
@Mnemosyne: Uh, my point is that there in no other way a video would go viral. It’s the same reason the goddamn local news spends the first 10 minutes on murder and mayhem. I didn’t say this shit doesn’t happen far too much.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gin & Tonic: BiP denounces this vile fascist who dares to dis Mother Russia.
Han
@raven: I think you’re misunderstanding the point John was making. Comey is trying to say the recent spike in viral crime is due to police reluctance to do their jobs, because they are afraid they will wind up in a viral video. John is pointing out that police doing their jobs do not end up in viral videos. If police don’t want to be featured in viral videos, they should do their jobs, and refrain from doing stupid shit. Stupid shit as depicted in the viral videos he linked to.
raven
@Han: ok
steve herl
One of the things I’m looking forward to with the HRC administration is getting rid of these Bush administration holdovers like Comey. Obama wanted to show how reasonable he was with Gates and Comey etc. Hillary knows better I hope.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@steve herl: The FBI director can serve for 10 years. Comey will be there until 2023 unless he resigns.
Cheers,
Scott.
steve herl
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: You’re right and that’s just freaking great
steve herl
I’m sure Comey will be a great help to Hillary for the next 7 years.
Mike Toreno
There are videos in which cops are doing their jobs and following the rules, and they come off very well. The videographers engage with them and comment positively on their doing their jobs properly.
Pseudonymous Bosch
Not really disagreeing with the point of the post, but the first thing I thought of when reading “Show me ONE viral video in which an officer was just doing his job” was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUJY82svsog
Ella in New Mexico
@Mnemosyne:
Justice DOES happen, sometimes: these two came to mind as the most recent examples:
Walter Scot case https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/05/11/former-north-charleston-officer-who-shot-walter-scott-indicted-on-federal-civil-rights-violation/
Eric Harris ://www.aol.com/article/2016/04/27/oklahoma-deputy-who-killed-suspect-found-guilty-of-manslaughter/21352234/
That being said, what the fuck is going on at Justice that Comey gets to spew his crap without any correction from above?