Watching the video of the cops just standing there while kids are being murdered made everyone’s blood boil, and the whole Punisher screen on the iphone was just fucking *chefkiss* and really nothing will sum up the state of modern policing more than that. But here’s the deal- it’s not surprising.
You don’t even have to go into the whole history of policing and how it stems from the slave patrol model, you just have to look at the rhetoric and training that’s been happening in my lifetime. For the past forty years, or at least since I was paying attention, the number one thing police have been telling themselves and we have been reinforcing is that the MOST IMPORTANT job they have is coming home to their family. We’ve created this fantasy world where policing is the most dangerous job in the world, when it’s not. It’s not even close. It doesn’t even crack the top ten and barely, by a hair, cracks the top fifteen.
Two quick graphs:
So it’s not even that dangerous relative to many other jobs, it’s gotten safer every year except for an increase in 2021 and 2022 (which we will talk about later), and fully half the cause of officer deaths involve something other than being involved in a shooting. Having a heart attack because you aren’t in shape and chasing someone or giving a ticket on the side of a road are as likely the cause of death if you are a cop than the off chance you are shot. That big spike in 2021 and 2022, where police deaths doubled? You know what caused that?
Fucking covid. And who was among the loudest group of people protesting mandatory vaccination of public employees? If you guessed police officers and police unions, congratulations on figuring out the obvious.
So put it all together and then let’s continue on. You have a group of heavily armed people who have spent the last couple decades being told they have the RISKIEST JOB IN THE WORLD OMEGALOL and with the majority of the American public mindlessly agreeing, and because of this fiction that we have all bought into, police are not trained in de-escalation, they are sent to bullshit academies that basically teach them a couple “important” things. The first is when in doubt shoot first, if you shoot then shoot to kill, and how to cover your bases to make sure it was a justified shoot. And you don’t even have to work too hard on the third part, because they’ll get massive assists from slavish DA’s, a compliant press heavily armed with the passive voice, and the structural and institutional racism of the United States.
Adam can tell you all about the types of academies these guys go to to learn this shit, and it’s horrifying what they are taught.
So, um, yeah. If the school shooter had been a black guy driving home from work on a backroad with a broken taillight, these guys would have been in their wheelhouse and would have easily dispatched him with 100 rounds to the body. But a school shooter? They don’t have the training, capabilities, or courage to do anything, because again, their most important mission, that has been drilled into them forever, is to come home to their family.
And that’s why we have videos of them standing, armed to the teeth, cowering in a hallway using hand sanitizer. That’s adrenaline and nervous energy and lack of training. Their bodies were telling them to do something, but they don’t know what to do, so they did anything, which in this case was wash their hands.
The entire US police force needs to be ripped apart, given a new mission, rebuilt, and retrained. And with strict tests to see which current police have the mental capacity to return to the job.
different-church-lady
Now that’s a slogan I can get behind!
bbleh
Glorification of military organizations (or paramilitary, or “militarily organized” or whatever it’s-a-magazine-not-a-clip hair-splitting you prefer) is a hallmark of Fascist political orders, just sayin’.
pacem appellant
I genuinely cannot understand how any of the officers on that godforsaken police force haven’t caused themselves bodily harm out of shame. I couldn’t live with myself if children died while I washed my hands. Psychopathy must also be part of the training, because man, these guys have no shame at all.
Wag
Nominated for a rotating tag
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I think all of this, as you allude to Cole, also comes back to the kind of firearms we allow the public to have easy access to; what does it say when even the heavily armed police are too afraid to confront someone with an assault rifle?
I can’t remember, did the shooter have body armor as well? Or did the Uvalde police think/claim the shooter did?
Alison Rose
Another aspect that pisses me off is when people use this fantasy of how DaNgErOuS the job is to defend cops when they kill people or insist that we all owe them some massive debt of respect and gratitude………………..as though these fuckers didn’t choose the damn job themselves in the first place. Like, no one fucking forced you to become a cop (and no, your daddy being a cop and expecting you to be one too doesn’t count, grow a pair, you fucking wimp). You CHOSE a job where, yes, sometimes you might be put in a dangerous situation. You do not get to turn around and say “BUT OMG IT’S VIOLENT AND SCARY!!!!!” Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. This is what you signed up for. And then like you say, they have to keep pumping up that façade of danger to justify their beatings and killings and, you know, disinterest in saving the lives of tiny children.
piratedan
if the po-po are so worried that the streets are unsafe, maybe they could come in favor of something like… gun control. For some reason the hassling of teens doing weeds and youts for being black is proving to be counter productive.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
it’s unclear at this time if the shooter had body armour or just a “tactical vest”*
*looks like body armour but just holds reloads and gear handy while providing zero bullet protection.
Alison Rose
@pacem appellant: I know someone who hit a child with their car, and the kid died later. They were 100% not at fault–not speeding, not under the influence, not messing with the radio (it was a few decades ago), the kid had darted out into the road from between two parked trucks right in front of them. They hit the brakes but it was a nanosecond, basically. They stayed and tried to help, were cooperative, etc etc. Everyone, including the kid’s parents, told them they were not to blame for it. And yet they told me recently that it still haunts them, that they still feel guilty whenever they think about it. I know I’d be the same way if it were me.
Too bad most cops are apparently sociopaths who are completely unaffected by anyone else’s death. Except perhaps another cop, but only some of them.
Leto
Pennsylvania town broke the law by hiring police officer who killed Black 12-year-old, AG Shapiro says
Timothy Loehmann, who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland in 2014, withdrew two days after being sworn in as the lone police officer in a rural Pa. town.
It’s not just their training is horrible, it’s the overall culture that thinks this is permissible and should continue.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@piratedan:
TBF, many law enforcement officials have come out against the loosening of gun laws, saying doing so would make their jobs harder and more dangerous. That never ever stopped the so-called “pro-law and order” GOP.
Something else that should thrown into Republicans’ faces that shout about “Blue Lives Matter” and fly their “Thin Blue Line” flags about why they support laws that endanger the lives of police officers
Baud
FWIW, in terms of messaging, I don’t think we get much mileage about how police work isn’t that dangerous. While it’s technically true, as the stats show, I think most people view getting killed by a criminal to be qualitatively “worse” than dying from other types of job-based risks.
Of course, the police do themselves no favors by classifying all police deaths (like covid) the same as getting shot.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Leto:
Welp, there’s your answer. Imagine mocking a young child’s death on FB and to this day leaving that post up for the world to see. I’m surprised he and his wife actually resigned. The conservative thing is to never admit when you’re wrong or make mistakes; y’know, personal accountability
Omnes Omnibus
All the respect, etc., that cops get is supposed to be because, when the chips go down, they are going to put their lives on the line. More and more, it seems that this is not so.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
I agree. I think in the minds of the public, police work is dangerous and that’s just the conventional wisdom at this point; the Uvalde police are an outlier to them
Lavocat
FUCK YEAH! Preach it, brother! Hallelujah and pass the Tylenol! [hat tip to classic Chevy Chase rant in “Christmas Vacation”].
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Do you think this will begin to filter down to the public? That people will begin to see this, if they haven’t already? In the wider pop culture?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
Okay, thanks Jay
Roger Moore
I kind of agree and kind of disagree. Yes, we need to replace our current model of policing, which will involve replacing many of our police and retraining the rest. But none of that will do any good as long as the law itself is designed to make life hell for poor people trying to go about their lives. We need to completely recreate our entire criminal justice system, from the laws up, if we really want to fix things. Police reforms will never succeed in the long term when the law itself is crooked.
Starfish
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You have to be sufficiently wealthy and connected to avoid accountability like that. A small town that would let both you and your wife serve on council at the same time probably is not paying the town attorney or manager enough to deal with this crap.
Ohio Mom
I have nothing to add but BRAVO! Every word is true.
My BFF Martha’s cop BIL died, unvaccinated, from Covid. He was a raging MAGA nut. So predictable
When she told me, I asked her, Do I have to say I’m sorry? She said No.
Roger Moore
@pacem appellant:
I think this is the real reason behind all the rationalizations the police department has offered for waiting so long. Every lie they’ve told the public by way of justification is one they first told themselves to maintain their self-image.
MagdaInBlack
I watched the video, and I thought of the mom who went in on her own and got kids out.
Mike in NC
We’ve seen all of the ‘Police Academy’ movies. I thought they were documentaries.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MagdaInBlack:
She truly did have more courage then all those cops combined, truly
japa21
@Omnes Omnibus:
The current policy that many (by no means all) police officers operate from is “My personal safety is more important than the safety of anyone else.”
When I say “by no means all” I am saying there are a lot of really good cops out there who are willing to disregard their own safety when the situation calls for it. I am just beginning to think that the percentage who fall into that category is lower than I thought it was.
Leto
@MagdaInBlack: and the cops have been non-stop harassing her since.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Starfish:
Sadly, probably true. I’m guessing the “serving on council at the same time” is a conflict of interest, huh?
Lapassionara
@Roger Moore: Yes. I don’t know how they live with their shame.
Delk
For about 15 years I lived around the corner from the Chicago Police Academy. Everyday I came in contact with cadets. Oddly, they were the most polite people. My husband and I used to wonder how long it took once they were on the job to turn into assholes.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Leto:
Fucking seriously!? Just for trying to save heir child/children? Boo fucking who she made you guys feel inferior that’s your problem
MagdaInBlack
@Leto: I was thinking of that too. Thank you for bringing it up.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Roger Moore:
I think the “best” part was the Mayor of Uvalde calling the leak of the video itself “one of the most chicken things” recently. That’s really the icing on the cake isn’t it? The dude, from what I can tell, has been defending the department from the start. Like, even the state government has concluded there was wrongdoing here on the police force’s part
Grumpy Old Railroader
We used to have railroad police (Commonly called Bulls) in our switching yard. The main mission of a Bull was to roust trespassers off the property. I remember one Irish Bull that would not just roust out trespassers, he would assess their situation before deciding the kind of help they needed. Some he dropped off at a local shelter, the Migrant farm workers he just overlooked that they were even there, and occasionally he would take one to the Denny’s restaurant at the Truck Stop off the Freeway on the other side of town where he would buy them a meal and admonish them to find highway transportation. He was a real gentle man but I do remember him taking down a couple of hobos who thought they could take him down and then skeedaddle
HumboldtBlue
Speaking of cops and crime, Rep. Jayapal was threatened by an armed man outside her home in Seattle last weekend. I didn’t hear a fucking thing about it on cable news.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
No chalk must have been involved.
I agree it’s atrocious.
ETA: for whatever reason, it doesn’t sound like Jayapal wanted to publicize the incident.
Leto
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): and there’s one of the overall problems with cops: they get to abuse their power with virtually no consequences. Power doesn’t corrupt, it reveals.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose : My dad killed someone with his car, in a similar circumstance, before I was born. They walked right out in front of a stopped bus and there was nothing he could do, nothing he could have done.
He never drove again.
How these officers didn’t at least quit their fucking jobs – realizing they do not have what it takes to protect and serve – is beyond my comprehension.
edit: My dad was such a gentle soul. What a terrible thing to have to live with.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@HumboldtBlue:
I wonder why the judge refused to issue that anti-harassment order? Clicking on the link to the Seattle Times doesn’t explain why
Leto
@Grumpy Old Railroader: hmm, seems like I remember an old folk song about those Bulls. Coming up on its hundredth anniversary.
jnfr
@Wag:
+1
Starfish
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): “The State Attorney General has noticed your town and has sent you a letter” is probably not a good sign.
WaterGirl
@Leto: Un-fucking-believable.
zzyzx
I have a friend who is ex-police and her constant refrain to the police not rushing in has been to acknowledge that there was reason to be afraid but, “Some days it’s a bad day to be a cop.”
I wish she had stayed on the force but I understand why she had reached her limit.
Sister Golden Bear
In addition to everyone Cole mentioned, one much-needed structural change is consolidating all the tiny police departments into larger units that can actually have adequate training and supervision, as well as pay enough to get someone more qualified than the local meatheads. Ulvade was what, 11 LEOs total. A friend of mine lives near Pittsburgh and tells me about all the little towns that have maybe 2-4 LEOs.
Yes, I’m aware that in Ulvade, Ferguson, etc. the police departments take up an enormous percentage of the city’s budget. But I’m guessing that — aside from buying all the toys for the boys — part of that is the lack of efficiencies of scale that comes with a larger department. E.g. East Bumfuck and West Bumfuck both having their own dispatchers and other support personnel when the same number of people could support both departments.
California’s Lakewood Plan enables cities to contract services from county agencies and/or special districts, enabling small cities to provide key services much more efficiently by taking advantage of economies of scale. E.g. using sheriffs deputies instead of a collection of tiny local PDs. (Or in my case, there’s a single fire district that services several small towns plus incorporated areas.)
Admittedly having larger police department isn’t a guarantee of better policing — Google “LA Sheriffs Department gangs” — but at least the possibility is there. Shared overhead means more budget for supervising officers, pay sufficient to attract better candidates (starting salaries locally is $87K and required to do academy training), doing better training. (‘Course if it’s the standard “kill before they kill you” training…) Don’t know about Tioga Borough specifically, but a lot of tiny department pay not much more than minimum wage, so it’s not surprising they draw from the bottom of the barrel.
Sister Golden Bear
@Delk:
Dunno about Chicago, but one problem with the LA Sheriffs Department was* that all new deputies spend their first two years working the jails (since it’s a hugely unpopular assignment). Needless to say this doesn’t work wonders for developing their skills in dealing with ordinary citizens.
@Leto:
Yep, aside from the new deputies first experience being in a situation where there were legit reasons to assert dominance, it was also an environment where they could abuse that power without consequences.
*At least when I lived there 20 years ago.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
I can understand why she doesn’t want a lot of press, it will just encourage the next asshole.
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
No clue.
Tony G
I agree almost 100% — but I disagree with the statement that the cops failed to do anything that day because they lacked training and didn’t know what to do. All of these cops (probably almost all cops everywhere in the U.S.) had been given training on how to respond to an active shooter. Unless they had slept through the training, THEY KNEW HOW TO RESPOND. They failed to respond because they are lazy and cowardly — and because their “leadership” is also cowardly. The purpose of a leader in that situation is to convince or coerce the rank and file to overcome their fear and to do their duty. Just a corrupt group of people from top to bottom (including the mayor).
planetjanet
I was stunned by an article I read in the Washington Post last week to learn that more children under 12 are killed by guns each year than police. In fact, more than twice as many kids than police. How can we not act in the face of that fact? Where is the outrage for our children? It is a long read, but really worth it. It links to an independent organization that has been cataloging gun deaths for years.
Washington Post – The staggering scope of gun deaths
The Gun Violence Archive
Jackie
Open thread?
“New: Jan. 6 committee is considering a ‘second series of hearings’ sometime towards the end of August, after next week’s prime time finale on Thursday, per a source familiar,” Guardian correspondent Hugo Lowell reported.“
https://mobile.twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1547350787487109121
Edited to add Rep Raskin verified this on MSNBC just now.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The Mayor of Uvalde is a major league asshole. He’s the one who screamed at Beto O’Rourke when Beto challenged Gregg “Shit for Brains” Abbott at one of his useless press conferences.
Sister Golden Bear
@Tony G: Agreed. Training wasn’t the problem, cowardliness was.
trollhattan
Say “fuckin’ monkey pox” five times fast.
J R in WV
I have a great deal of respect for Rep. Jayapal~!~
I do not understand why an actual judge would decline to protect her and her family, unless the judge was a fascist piece of shit — vermin and wanted to see a well known and respected Democratic congresswoman killed or harmed by a fascist. But that’s just me, right!?!
raven
We just finished re-watching the first season of the Wire. Shit don’t change.
Leto
Just a reminder that all law enforcement are shit: An Australian woman was detained by a US border official who asked if she’d recently had an abortion
It’s systemic throughout it’s the entirety.
Ksmiami
@Leto: fucking fire them all without pay. They do more harm then good.
jefft452
@Leto:
Probably not the one you are thinking of but
“I know the police they cause you trouble
They cause trouble everywhere
But when you die and go to heaven
You’ll find no policemen there”
prostratedragon
Wed night this month on TCM focuses on independent Black cinema. Just saw a fine one called Compensation, and now Bless Their Little Hearts, ordinary people in Watts. Some Burnett later.
Adam L. Silverman
In addition to the mom who went in, there was one Uvalde cop who tried to enter and mount a rescue. He was married to one of the teachers who was slowly bleeding out in the classroom the rest of the cops didn’t try to enter. He rushed to the school when she called him to tell him what was happening and that she and a number of her students had been shot. The other cops at the school not only refused to allow him to try to save his wife and her students, they detained him.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Uvalde-police-officer-was-detained-as-he-tried-to-17256559.php
LeftCoastYankee
I think the whole “bad apple” concept is backwards. It’s more like the exceptions are the “good apples”.
If the mission is dishonest, the training inadequate and the culture toxic, it is ridiculous to expect positive outcomes, no matter how good the “apples” are.
Jager
Two guys I graduated from high school with became cops, one was the biggest asshole in our class, and he became a cop, a California Highway Patrol officer, He spent our entire 20th reunion telling his harrowing tales of writing up speeders on the fucking 405 in Orange County. The other guy, one who I met in the 5th grade, became a street cop in Denver, his most harrowing tale was being threatened by a domestic dispute victim while he was cuffing her husband.
HumboldtBlue
A 13-year-old girl brings the heat to Grand Rapids commissioner meeting, speaking about a lack of trust in police. Straight fire.
livewyre
@LeftCoastYankee: Right. Like in the saying, it’s the whole barrel.
JaySinWA
@Adam L. Silverman:
According to this article the officer on the phone described here:
and in a previous post was the officer you are talking about, the husband of one woman who was dying while she texted him. https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/uvalde-shooting-video-husband-eva-mireles-17303054.php
He was later restrained and cuffed for trying to rescue his wife.
lowtechcyclist
Links to John’s ‘two quick graphs’
Officer deaths by year
Causes of law enforcement deaths
Both courtesy of the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial Fund, nleomf.org.
Also preliminary 2022 fatalities
Other than Covid, there were 113 law enforcement deaths in 2020, the lowest total since 1959.
Anotherlurker
One of the most disappointing days of my life was when I found out that my nephew, my godson, was entering the NYPD Academy. I thought he was better than that. He was an intelligent kid.
I reluctantly attended his Academy graduation party. The kid used the “N” word multiple times. In the first 12 years his subsequent career (ongoing) he was cited for excessive use of force 24 times. He was disciplined once. He is now 20 years on the force.
He is a sergeant now and as far as I’m concerned he is no relative of mine. The fucking pig asshole.
Planetjanet
@lowtechcyclist: And in 2020, 301 children under the age of 12 were killed by guns. The police do not protect us. From the Gun Violence Archive.
It is more dangerous to be in elementary school, than to be a cop.
moonbat
You are right to the eleventyieth billionth degree, Cole. I cannot even watch the whole Evalde video. The still photos alone made me sick to my stomach. We need to totally remake policing in this country .
HumboldtBlue
@Anotherlurker:
Goddamn.
Gvg
@japa21: At the same time as the Uvalde disgraces we are watching the January 6th testimony and the capitol police did defend. Also the retired one at the grocery store the week before etc. So really it depends, and they are human. It would be far more rational and fair to them and us if we treated police as humans not….something else. Sometimes they are heroic, others, on the same force can be criminal. The problem for society is when the simple minded prevent what should be a routine clean up of firing the thugs and crooks when they get found out. It should not be something unexpected or agonizing just take out the trash so the rot doesn’t spread. It always seems like the department heads and politicians in charge fear they will get blamed so they cover up and things get worse.
HumboldtBlue
Leto
@jefft452:
A number of the lines in this song are basically, can the cops just stop fucking with me/us?
jefft452
@Gvg:
“it always seems like the department heads and politicians in charge fear they will get blamed”
Not buying it
In any story you have heard when “a few bad apples” beat someone to death or shoot somebody, have you ever heard that the “good apples” arrested them? No, they participate in the coverup
The Moar You Know
Late to the thread, which is good. Can’t discuss cops rationally anyway.
Doug R
8th most dangerous job for 22 years. If you wear your seatbelt, not so dangerous. And watch yourself when you step out of the truck.
El Cruzado
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): At least (some of) those movies were funny.
I don’t think US policing has ever managed to elicit laughter, except the most cruel kind.
Mike in Pasadena
We’re electing a sheriff in Los Angeles County. We have a choice between an incumbent who runs a brutal jail and operates gangs of thugs posing as sheriffs on the one hand a police chief in City of Long Beach who does the same on a smaller scale on the other. Some choice.
Mimi
They weren’t trained for an active shooter situation? I’ve been trained on what to do in an active shooter situation and I’m a librarian.
Alce _e_ardillo
@Leto: That sounds about right for Tioga County. I am ashamed to say I have roots there.
Jake Gibson
The real “chef’s kiss” is that the sound of the children screaming had been removed from the video. So the cops were milling around in the hall while they could hear 10 year olds screaming for their lives.
rikyrah
@pacem appellant:
Going to say this
I don’t think the demographics of the Police Department matches the town. I believe that they weren’t going to risk their lives for ‘those children ‘.
I said what I said.
rikyrah
@Leto:
One of the unresolved mysteries with the Tamir Rice case was how the obviously unqualified man was allowed to join the Cleveland Police Department. The story behind that is the REAL REASON why he wasn’t hired back or kept on in the first place. Plenty of cops who kill Black people are kept on the job. Something was always suspect about why he was on the force, and they fired him in order for folks to not look too deep into his hiring
OzarkHillbilly
I get into this argument on a biyearly schedule. I just wanted to drop this little factoid here even if I am late to the party:
Being a crossing guard is more dangerous than being a cop.
Paul in KY
@different-church-lady: How about ‘Police Cowards Find a New Job!’
TheTruffle
What bugs me is when police officers are placed in jobs/situations for which they are a. not trained and b. not qualified. See: school resource officers. How many horror stories have we heard of them terrorizing and attacking students for minor things? Put the money toward counselors and social workers.
Paul in KY
@pacem appellant: They must be absolutely top notch in rationalizing. They should be afraid (IMO) of retaliation from the citizens of Uvalde. Pro Tip for them: resign and move far, far away.
Paul in KY
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’m sure they ‘thought’ he was armed with 20mm automatic cannons & wearing the Iron Man suit.
Paul in KY
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Poor Tamir was just playing with a toy gun. What I did countless times in my youth. They shot him about 3 secs after they pulled up. And that POS knew all about the other POS. Probably why he was hired.
Paul in KY
@Leto: They used to call them Bindlestiffs back in the old, old days. Some could be murderous towards hobos riding free on their trains.
TheTruffle
@rikyrah: And OF COURSE there is no way to add a red flag to his record so that he can’t get a similar job elsewhere. OF. COURSE.
UncleEbeneezer
Ugh, way too late to this excellent post/thread and won’t really be able to add thoughts for a bit. But “hell yeah” Cole. You nailed it.
Paul in KY
@Tony G: 100% agree, Tony. It was the leadership’s job to order them to assault that classroom and to (if necessary) lead the assault themselves.
Complete failure of command!
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Jesus fuck but I think you’re right. That is sickening.
dearmaizie
@pacem appellant: Exactly what I was thinking.