A few recent videos demonstrate the disturbing attitude that some police officers have. In one video, multiple cops use excessive force to subdue a girl lying on the ground. She appears unarmed, does not seem dangerous, and people watching demand “how many times are you going to punch her?” and “was that really necessary?” as the girl lies in a pool of blood.
The officers appear particularly distressed when the girl is slow to put her hand behind her back. Of course, this is because a one hundred pound girl’s stray arm could really be lethal to a group of four armed police officers, right? Perhaps people who freak out, yell, and border on panic when a skinny girl on the ground flails her arm a little should not be employed as police officers.
Similarly, in this video, an officer tasers a (likely drunk) individual who is not compliant with orders to stand in a six-inch by six-inch square on the ground. The man is unarmed and non-threatening, but simply does not do as he is told. After he is wailing in pain from the assault and battery, the officer snidely quips, “I told you what would happen.” Indeed, this is the attitude of many officers. They must be obeyed. Period. It matters not what the demand is, what it is for, whether it is just, whether it makes any sense, or whether anyone’s safety is at issue.
In many of these situations, there are police who like to fall back on the old “officer’s safety” excuse. The person may have had a gun or a knife and since officer safety is important above all else, such excessive measures are justified. This reasoning is clearly nonsense. If officer safety is the supreme concern, what exactly is the purpose of police? Why are taxpayers paying police officers to protect themselves?
I can buy my own knife or gun and protect myself. I don’t need to pay third parties to beat up young girls and taser drunk men in the name of protecting me when all they are really doing is protecting themselves.
That really is just what they do sometimes. My personal experience (although anecdotes do not prove a point) is that the number of times a friend or I has been harassed, assaulted, or fined by police far outweighs the number of times a police officer has actually been of assistance to me.
Further, the cost incurred by me as the result of police tactics, fines, and police-imposed inconveniences far outweighs any benefit I received from police solving a crime sI was a victim of (zero times). To put this into perspective, I am not a person who has frequent run-ins with the law. My most serious conviction is rolling a stop sign. My other two are jaywalking tickets. I suspect many people have similar experiences.
This may not be the case for everyone. Certainly, police confer some benefits to some people. However, it is utterly absurd that as a person who has received very little tangible benefit from police, I have to pay for police to go on joyrides, beat up skinny girls, and taser drunk dudes.
The counterargument to this will undoubtedly be that in fact I do receive many benefits from police that I simply am not aware of or do not appreciate; without police I may have been murdered, beaten, or raped by now. Maybe. Or maybe not. But I know certainly that without government police I wouldn’t have received all those tickets, all that harassment, and all that attitude.
I say “government” police because therein lies the problem. A system of security is not inherently bad, corrupt, or prone to abuse. It is a system of security with guaranteed funds, little accountability, and internal disciplinary measures that is inherently fraught with corruption and abuse. If Ralph’s or Target angers just a small portion of their customers, they will see enough loss of profit and change their ways.
Not so with the police. Their funding is never-ending, unchecked, and fear tactics only encourage the constant flow of funds to police departments. They can kill 7-year-olds, stay in business, and get by with just a little of media negativity. If Target or Macy’s employees busted down someone’s door and shot a 7-year old child, or treated citizens the way the police did in these two videos, would they still be in business? Would it be acceptable?
The Macy’s and Target analogies may seem odd, but police really should be held to the same standards in terms of customer service. They are paid for by taxpayers, and paid to protect taxpayers. What if Target or Macy’s shot, tasered or beat random customers and said they had to because the safety of their establishment and their employees was of utmost importance?
I suppose a gun and a badge make all the difference.
Even if one subscribes to the nonsense that exaggerated self-defense is a legitimate excuse for police abuses, the examples of these two videos cannot easily be explained by this. There are no weapons or dangerous people involved. Just a couple of non-compliant citizens.
And apparently the punishment for non-violent disobedience in this country is humiliation and assault/battery.
It seems that these Tasers have become more of a toy for Police than anything. They pull these things at the blink of an eye and then use them on people just as quick and without themselves being threatened. It has come to the point now that the citizens should be more worried about being attacked by Police than by a criminal. In the eyes of a LEO, everyone is a criminal. The citizen may not have done anything wrong but the potential is there so lets go ahead and harass them before they have a chance to commit a crime and that is becoming their standard operating procedure.
There is most definitely a problem when the average citizen is more scared of having a run in with Police than actually being the victim of a crime.
A few things I would like to point out:
1) Maybe the 7 year old girls’ parents shouldn’t be hanging out with wanted murderers…
2) “Why are taxpayers paying police officers to protect themselves?” You sound more barbaric than any cop I’ve heard. Seriously!? Well economically for one, every time a cop gets killed it’s going to cost a TON of money for all the expenses that will follow including rehiring and retraining a new officer for the position.
3) “The officers appear particularly distressed when the girl is slow to put her hand behind her back. Of course, this is because a one hundred pound girl’s stray arm could really be lethal to a group of four armed police officers, right?” Uh… yea it could dumbass. You clearly don’t know anything about the police or history of incidents where police have been injured. You people that sit back and bitch and complain and talk like you have any idea what it is like or anything about it for that matter is disgusting
4) You completely forgot to mention the fact that the lady was drunk and had already punched two officers in the face prior to the video
source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2010/05/video_shows_arrest_in_postprea.html
5) “I can buy my own knife or gun and protect myself.” Fine, move somewhere where there are no cops and fend for yourself and see how long you last if you are so tough. Or try moving to a different country where the cops are 100x worse than here. Just check out some of those videos.
6) Are a good percentage of Americans really becoming that big of pussies? She’s acting foolish, harassing customers, drunk, assaulting police officers, and whatever else she did and the poor little girl can’t take a few punches after she can dish a few out? Oh poor little bloody nose. Like I said earlier, all she had to do was roll over and put her hands behind her back. Would have avoided the whole incident.
7) You can’t seriously have gone to UCLA for a communications degree. You’re writing is terrible and your arguments (especially the Target/Macy’s one) are even worse.
8) “She APPEARS unarmed, does not SEEM dangerous” You would get killed your first day as a cop.
9) My favorite point you make comes when you say that you would risk getting shot, raped, or murdered than get 1 red light ticket and 2 J walking tickets…. I don’t even know what to say to that
I can’t believe I wasted this much time on a stupid cunt like yourself. Just fucking move to another country if it’s that bad or show some respect. Have fun sitting at your desk writing garbage while those men and woman are out protecting even people like your stupid ass. As much shit as you may talk about them, they would still be there in a heartbeat to save your life no matter what. I’ll leave you with this. On 9/11 what were you doing? While you were probably writing some nonsense, hundreds of officers were perishing in an attempt to save as many people as they could. They go out there and die everyday and this is the respect they get. It’s just completely outrageous and saddening.
@Matt
1) Please cite the source by which you claim the 7-year old’s parents were hanging out with wanted murderers. Every news report says she was at her grandmother’s house, and the police busted the WRONG FUCKING RESIDENCE.
2) If police are going to go around robbing people, busting down the wrong doors, and playing GI Joe with their SWAT teams in the middle of the night for stupid shit like drugs, yes they are going to die, and yes that is going to cost money. So maybe they should stop fucking doing it. Problem solved.
3) Please give an example of where a 100 pound girl’s slow, unarmed hand could have been lethal to 4 police officers with guns. Your mere declaration that this is the case is insufficient. You are not god. If you are going to argue that this in fact is a dangerous situation requiring excessive violence, you better fucking have examples or facts to justify it.
4) Seeing as how police lie in their reports ALL THE TIME and have killed people for less than being punched, I somehow doubt this was in fact the case.
5) I’m am so sick of these whacko arguments. You move out of the fucking country if you don’t like free speech and you love fascism. You want to move to a country where police really crack some motherfucking heads? Get the fuck out of here. Why the fuck should the people who DON’T like prosecution of victimless crimes and senseless brutality get the fuck out? Do you love every law that is passed? Do you love every politician? Do you NEVER HAVE ANY COMPLAINT about any policy that is ever passed in this country? Because unless that is the case, then you should fucking move out of the country or shut the fuck up too. You’re fucking brain dead. More on why you’re fucking brain dead for making this argument – http://www.examiner.com/anti-establishment-in-national/if-you-don-t-like-it-you-can-get-out
6) I’m pretty sure it’s the fucking assholes with badges and guns beating up on small girls and shooting 7 year olds who are the pussies. And the people who support them (you). You and the breed of police you support are so fucking fearful of everything. My god! There is a fucking threat or killer or boogeyman every corner you turn! Help help! Just shoot first ask questions later! Everywhere you turn is a fucking threat, whether it be a 100 pound girl, a sleeping 7 year old, a 10 year old who won’t take a bath (http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/police-taser-10-year-old-girl-in-arkansas/), or a hobbling, arthritic old man (http://www.copblock.org/1451/police-officer-murders-half-deaf-hobbling-native-american-man/). I can’t believe you are even arguing this. Are you really saying that police should go around shooting and beating everyone who could POSSIBLY be armed with anything, or could POSSIBLY be dangerous?
And this only further proves my point that police only protect themselves. Shoot first, beat first, taser first, ask questions later. Why are you even arguing with me?
7) You don’t like the Target/Macy’s analogy because you can’t rebut them. I find this is frequently the case when people say something is terrible but have no response.
9) I never said this. I have no idea what you are talking about.
I’m glad you wasted this much time you fucking cock sucking Nazi. I’m glad you took time out of your day to generate web traffic for me. I’m glad you took in all of my words and wasted your time typing up your stupid worthless arguments. I only hope you’re not representative of the average population.
Who says the police will save me in a heartbeat? What the fuck do you know? Do you know that the Supreme Court and other courts have held OVER AND OVER AND TIME AND TIME A-FUCKING AGAIN that police HAVE NO DUTY to rescue, help or save taxpaying citizens?
Do you know that most police die IN CAR ACCIDENTS because they were fucking DRIVING RECKLESSLY? You really are such a naive, idealistic fucking ignorant piece of shit. Do you read anything? Do you like, follow the news? Do you like, know what information is? I’m really surprised you know how to read, even. Please go educate yourself before spouting nonsensical garbage you vile fascist scum.
Do you know that statistics show I am just as likely to be RAPED OR KILLED by a police officer as a RANDOM FUCKING PERSON ON THE STREET? You must be the biggest fucking dumbass to ever read this site.
Who the FUCK cares where I was on 9/11? So depending on where I was on 9/11 and what I was doing, police should be allowed to rob, murder, and torture innocent people? Ok I’ll tell you where I was on 9/11. I 16 years old, was sitting at a desk in school. DID THAT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? What the FUCK would that justify?
You are such a fucking loony toon I’m surprised you even understood this article. Well, actually, you didn’t really. You just vaguely processed something you perceived as negative stuff about police and went on a police cock-sucking rant.