Police Brutality

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I put this in the philo and debate section not because it will get heated debate (although it's quite possible it will) but because it really begs the question, what is ethical?

In the thread started about OJ, a secondary conversation started up (and was rudely cut down) regarding police brutality and how specifically the LAPD is viewed.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2385001#2385001

Recently, we were told about the body dumps on Skid Row that the LAPD can't seem to manage stopping.

Now, we have the infamous video of the LAPD tasering a college student because he refused to leave (someone posted this in a thread somewhere...dys?)

Am I singling out LAPD? Damn straight I am. They have gotten by far the most publicity from being caught on tape brutalizing civilians (deserving?). Rodney King anyone?

I wonder how we as citizens are expected to trust and honor these men and women when we are constantly shown things like this. God help you if you are a minority and get caught doing something you shouldn't be. It seems that minorities are singled out more so than whites. Maybe I am wrong, so if anyone has statistics please provide (either for or against my position that minorities are picked on)

I know there are good cops out there. There are men and women who risk their lives every day to save the lives of others and it sucks that they get a bad rap too. But the fact remains that there is a large percentage of police who brutalize and severely injure or kill the people they are sworn to protect.

I know I'd be afraid to protest. Or try to preserve my rights as a human being around a cop.

You might get your ass beat or tased or worse. Is tasing someone once, ethical? Is shooting an unarmed 14 year old boy, ethical? Is beating an innocent bystander at a protest, ethical? Is not immediatly taking measures to stop the dump of patients on skid row, ethical? Are the police forces in this country acting ethically some of the time, none of the time or all of the time?

What do you think?

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Bella - You already know my views on this. I think that most cops in this country are good. I agree that there are bad ones, but they are in a small minority if you consider how many police officers and police agencies there are in the United States.

For the most part, the men and women that enter into the field of police work are good people that set out to do good work but are quickly faced with insurmountable odds.

I believe that the LAPD is being spotlighted because of a few bad incidents, not the least of which were OJ and the Rodney King thing.
But, you must remember that they are going up against drugs and gangs more than ever before. Frankly, I can't understand why anyone would want to be a LA cop. It probably seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the tunnel just keeps getting longer and longer.

do I get an "I Voted" sticker??

jmo

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I recall a case in Boston in which an elderly retired black minister with a heart condition was sitting at home with his wife when the police barged in, chased him, threw him to the ground and hog tied him. The police kept asking "where are the drugs". The man said he knew nothing about any drugs. One of the cops pushed the mans face into the floor and yelled "be straight with us!" At this point the man started vomiting and begging for help. The police did nothing for him. He died on the floor from a heart attack. Later the police found out they were at the wrong house!

Check out some more at http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/july95ehren.htm

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I agree with happycat.

Far more good than bad. Increasingly more good than bad.

On the flipside, more publicity on the bad than the good.

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Stands to reason that more cases reach the public eye these days when virtually everyone carries a small camera on their phone.

In norway police violence is not a big issue these days. Still, rights are being violated on a daily basis. Often it doesn't even take a bad cop. Just an indifferent good one. One who doesn't stop to think about the consequences of his actions.

Like in the case NickFun refers to. When the police barged in and saw two retired old people a bell should have started ringing in their heads. I am not saying that elderly people are automatically innocent in drug crimes, but that there is little need for force aganst those that can exert none themselves. So why the brutality?

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Perhaps the late Rev Williams was actually a disguised samurai.

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Cyracuz wrote:

Often it doesn't even take a bad cop. Just an indifferent good one. One who doesn't stop to think about the consequences of his actions.

Bingo.

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Thanks Bella

I think that's the case in more areas than this one. Our society is administered by faceless shadows. The people who work in social welfare, for instance, are faceless shadows because they will never be held personally responsible for their actions in office as long as they are by the book. A result is that their efforts are industrous but very unspirited. There is no personal desire in these people to help those who come asking for it.

Goes to show that the worst kind of cruelty really is indifference.

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I think that police brutality is about as much, or maybe less than it ever was. But we have cameras everywhere now and can see it for ourselves.

In addition to police brutality we have unimaginable mistakes reminiscent of Amadou Diallo in New York and Atlanta this past week. An unarmed man was shot dead and his friends injured coming out of his bachelor party. A 92 year old woman was shot dead in her house when plain clothed police entered her home with guns drawn on a no-knock warrant. The woman was armed and shot at her intruders, which under other circumstances might have been the right thing to do.

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Links to those stories.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=83779

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1957881,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1

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UCLA Student Gets Tased by UCPD Officers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP_M8s0GFEc&eurl=

It is the voices of the other students in the room that really got to me.
They are intellegent enough to realise that a kid who has already been 'whacked twice with a taser' isn't able to easy 'stand up' as the idiot police are shouting (nonsensibly) at him.

You hear the kid scream, "I'm scared, I'm scared" before they shoot him again

My God - what a f*ck- up
Can anyone reasonably expect the rest of those students in the room to
have any respect for the law after witnessing such a crime against another human?

These cops almost started a riot

I take my hat of to the good students who protested and didn't just stand by and watch indifferently

I have no idea how many times the bastards shot this student, but i hope he sues their f*cking asses off!

You hear outraged and frightened students shouting "STOP" and "THAT"S ENOUGH"
"STOP IT, STOP IT"

How right they are. This behavior is shameful and should be stopped.

Watch the clip and tell me i'm wrong

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more about police brutality on MickyZs blog today

http://www.mickeyz.net/

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Cops really get on my nerves.

Around where I am living (suburbs), the police are very intrusive, disrespectful and at times violent.

People are searched and seizured for no reason at all, there is no cause for suspicion and no evidence to support the search. Teenagers and seniors are both treated like hardened criminals.

It seems, around here at least, that the police are doing less to protect and serve but more to condemn and harass.

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Police Brutality

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