The largest street gang in America

This is JUST the stuff that gets reported. Everyday, people are assaulted by the police with impunity. In just short of an hour we watched a kid on his stomach, unarmed and non-theatening get shot in the head by the police, a woman who was the victim of an attack get attacked by the police and forcibly stipped, and a man who was in a horrible accident with burns get tazed and shot by the police. Then when people try to file complaints against the police the police lie, obfuscate, intimidate, and ultimately in some cases arrest. This is the state of american law enforcement. They are the police, but they are not here to help you. They are currently fighting a war on drugs, a war on crime, and WE are the enemy. They can't tell who is really the enemy and so we are all the enemy. In most states, if you see someone, a civilian, attacking someone, you have the right to defend them. But when the police are beating someone up, or in one case here, pull a gun and shoot a man in the back of the head you cannot come to their aid because the police are armed, and they will shoot you too. As NWA said "Fuck da Police!"
 
I remember the Steffe Hope incident in Canton. Some good news about that (well not for the taxpayers). Though it never went to trial Stark county officials made a multi-million dollar settlement with Ms. Hope though they never admitted guilt. That was in October of last year. Another settlement is being negotiated for another illegal strip search of a woman in Canton by the same Sheriffs Dept under similiar circumstances, it is expected that one too will cost Ohio taxpayers seven figures. This Sheriffs department was also investigated for illegally strip searching 3 teenage girls. The Stark Country Sherrifs department made further news when one of the Deputies kidnapped a woman, murdered her, dumped her body then became a fugitive. He was eventually caught tried and convicted.

Oh and BTW, the Stark Country Sheriff lost his job and the two deputies seen in the video and the arresting officer who assualted her were discharged though a Stark country grand jury dismissed all charges against them. Just goes to show you how much trust you can place in a grand jury.
 
Socrtease said:
This is JUST the stuff that gets reported. Everyday, people are assaulted by the police with impunity. In just short of an hour we watched a kid on his stomach, unarmed and non-theatening get shot in the head by the police, a woman who was the victim of an attack get attacked by the police and forcibly stipped, and a man who was in a horrible accident with burns get tazed and shot by the police. Then when people try to file complaints against the police the police lie, obfuscate, intimidate, and ultimately in some cases arrest. This is the state of american law enforcement. They are the police, but they are not here to help you. They are currently fighting a war on drugs, a war on crime, and WE are the enemy. They can't tell who is really the enemy and so we are all the enemy. In most states, if you see someone, a civilian, attacking someone, you have the right to defend them. But when the police are beating someone up, or in one case here, pull a gun and shoot a man in the back of the head you cannot come to their aid because the police are armed, and they will shoot you too. As NWA said "Fuck da Police!"
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We have Ronald Reagan to thank for a lot of that. Much of the militirization of our law enforcement is his legacy. But the public supported him with out stopping to think that there's a huge difference between the mission of the police and a soldier. A soldiers job is to kill the enemy. A police officers job is to protect and to serve.

I have personal experience with this. I watched a police officer assualt my father and threaten to assualt my mother (both in their mid sixties at the time). My fathers crime? He didn't use his turn signal when pulling into his drive way and he got out of his car with out permission. It was fortunate that I had dropped in to visit my parents and I witnessed the whole ordeal. Eventually I walked outside and lied to the officer and said "I don't know what's going on out here but I'll have you know my sister is recording this!"

You could see the look of "UhOh...I just fucked up" written all over his face when I said that. He threatened to arrest me too so I went back in the house with my mother and I called the Sheriffs department.

I wish I had a video camera at the time. We would of had a law suit. The guy was a nut job. My father never even talked to the guy and got the shit beat out of him for simply getting out of his car and it wasn't like my father was some drunk or belligerant. He's a retired family doctor and is very well known in the area. That's why I called the Sheriffs dept. My father knew the Sheriff personally. A deputy sheriff came out and talked the guy down and then they took my father to the local hospital to take a blood sample as the local cop accused him of DUI. No charges were ever pressed against my father and we didn't have enough evidence to file a lawsuit. It sucked.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I remember the Steffe Hope incident in Canton. Some good news about that (well not for the taxpayers). Though it never went to trial Stark county officials made a multi-million dollar settlement with Ms. Hope though they never admitted guilt. That was in October of last year. Another settlement is being negotiated for another illegal strip search of a woman in Canton by the same Sheriffs Dept under similiar circumstances, it is expected that one too will cost Ohio taxpayers seven figures. This Sheriffs department was also investigated for illegally strip searching 3 teenage girls. The Stark Country Sherrifs department made further news when one of the Deputies kidnapped a woman, murdered her, dumped her body then became a fugitive. He was eventually caught tried and convicted.

Oh and BTW, the Stark Country Sheriff lost his job and the two deputies seen in the video and the arresting officer who assualted her were discharged though a Stark country grand jury dismissed all charges against them. Just goes to show you how much trust you can place in a grand jury.
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Part of the problem with the grand jury is that in most districts, the DA's office brings the case and they don't work very hard to get a true bill against the same police force that investigates their crimes. Prosecutors are afraid that the rest of the cops will stop being as thorough in their investigations and that will harm their win-loss records. Another symptom of "The Code".
 
The burned dude at the side of the road was a gripping story. Naked guy, all burned up and cut, sitting on the side of the road and the first thing they think of is arresting him to "keep us safe"?

Seriously? They taze him twice and then shoot the man?
 
Socrtease said:
Part of the problem with the grand jury is that in most districts, the DA's office brings the case and they don't work very hard to get a true bill against the same police force that investigates their crimes. Prosecutors are afraid that the rest of the cops will stop being as thorough in their investigations and that will harm their win-loss records. Another symptom of "The Code".
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Well fortunately we have civil courts and those horrible, horrible, evil trial lawyers to help protect our rights. No one from the Stark County Sheriffs department may have went to jail but they (an us taxpayers) have paid dearly for their crimes.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Well fortunately we have civil courts and those horrible, horrible, evil trial lawyers to help protect our rights. No one from the Stark County Sheriffs department may have went to jail but they (an us taxpayers) have paid dearly for their crimes.
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But I don't want lawsuits, I want cops to go to jail. I want them to suffer the same consequences as "civilians" when they commit crimes. I want them to be put into general pop. Nothing should be as big a deterent as knowing if you violate the law as a police officer you get to go to the same facility as people you put into jail. The scene where the cop shoots the kid on the BART subway platform, if he is not wearing a uniform, if he is just a member of one group fighting another, he goes to prison for the rest of his life and might even face the death penalty. If he were a "civilian" it would hve been called an execution style murder.
 
Socrtease said:
But I don't want lawsuits, I want cops to go to jail. I want them to suffer the same consequences as "civilians" when they commit crimes. I want them to be put into general pop. Nothing should be as big a deterent as knowing if you violate the law as a police officer you get to go to the same facility as people you put into jail. The scene where the cop shoots the kid on the BART subway platform, if he is not wearing a uniform, if he is just a member of one group fighting another, he goes to prison for the rest of his life and might even face the death penalty. If he were a "civilian" it would hve been called an execution style murder.
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I can't argue with that. It's what I want to see too but my point is, as the producers of the movies Parthian shot was, it's only there turf if we let them have it.

I'll tell you another story. A young man was drunk and abusive at his mothers home in Troy, Ohio back in the early 80's. Police were called. They walked into his room and the dumb fool waved a knife at him. He didn't approach the cops he just waved a knife. One of the cops didn't heistate. He shot his dumb ass dead.

Now the police officer did have some justification. The kid did have a knife! But many in the community, including former police officers, thought it was over zealous. No charges were file against the officer and again, there was justification in that but a lot of people didn't agree so they had a protest rally near the courthouse. It was legal, the required permits, designated area, etc. The rally occurred and though vocal, was non-violent. Until the police charged in, started busting heads like storm troopers with no provocation. They created a riot, assualted a lot of people, arrested quite a few and made the fatal mistake of ignoring the local TV media who made a famous video of a police officer repeatedly bouncing a young ladies head off a car who turned out, wasn't even part of the rally, she just happened to be walking by when all hell broke loose. Wrong place at the wrong time.

Well here is where things get good. The next day there was another protest rally. This time it wasn't those upset about the young man who had been shot. It was the leaders of the community shocked at an abuse of power. It was the business leaders, the political leaders, the professionals and teachers and clergy and they didn't say squat! You could of heard a bird chirp a mile away. There were no signs, no shouting, no slogans, just an erie silence and the sound of thousands of footsteps as they marched down Main Street past the Courthouse and the Police Station. They city of Troy could not have gotten the message across louder with a cannon. You could visibly see the fear in the police officers eyes.

The Mayor gutted the police force. He, with the support of the city council, fired the Chief, the City Manager, the DA and many of the police officer involved in the riot were discharged. Some with cause, some without cause and severence packages, but let go non the less, as they were not the kind of persons the City of Troy wanted representing them. In short, they took their turf back.

I'll never forget that protest march and it's other worldly silence. It was such a powerful message. You knew the storm trooper mentallity at the Troy Police department has just come to an abrupt end.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I can't argue with that. It's what I want to see too but my point is, as the producers of the movies Parthian shot was, it's only there turf if we let them have it.

I'll tell you another story. A young man was drunk and abusive at his mothers home in Troy, Ohio back in the early 80's. Police were called. They walked into his room and the dumb fool waved a knife at him. He didn't approach the cops he just waved a knife. One of the cops didn't heistate. He shot his dumb ass dead.

Now the police officer did have some justification. The kid did have a knife! But many in the community, including former police officers, thought it was over zealous. No charges were file against the officer and again, there was justification in that but a lot of people didn't agree so they had a protest rally near the courthouse. It was legal, the required permits, designated area, etc. The rally occurred and though vocal, was non-violent. Until the police charged in, started busting heads like storm troopers with no provocation. They created a riot, assualted a lot of people, arrested quite a few and made the fatal mistake of ignoring the local TV media who made a famous video of a police officer repeatedly bouncing a young ladies head off a car who turned out, wasn't even part of the rally, she just happened to be walking by when all hell broke loose. Wrong place at the wrong time.

Well here is where things get good. The next day there was another protest rally. This time it wasn't those upset about the young man who had been shot. It was the leaders of the community shocked at an abuse of power. It was the business leaders, the political leaders, the professionals and teachers and clergy and they didn't say squat! You could of heard a bird chirp a mile away. There were no signs, no shouting, no slogans, just an erie silence and the sound of thousands of footsteps as they marched down Main Street past the Courthouse and the Police Station. They city of Troy could not have gotten the message across louder with a cannon. You could visibly see the fear in the police officers eyes.

The Mayor gutted the police force. He, with the support of the city council, fired the Chief, the City Manager, the DA and many of the police officer involved in the riot were discharged. Some with cause, some without cause and severence packages, but let go non the less, as they were not the kind of persons the City of Troy wanted representing them. In short, they took their turf back.

I'll never forget that protest march and it's other worldly silence. It was such a powerful message. You knew the storm trooper mentallity at the Troy Police department has just come to an abrupt end.
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Was that caught on video? I would love to see that.
 
RStringfield said:
Interesting paper on the para-militarization of police.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476
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I think a big part of the problem is that to many police agency use the US Military as their recruiting grounds, and understandably so, for hiring. Problem is to many of those Police Officers view them selves as soldiers.

I used to know a local police chief. Hell of nice guy. Came up through the Ohio Highway Patrol. He told me he didn't like to have more then half of his police officers with a military background as they tended to be a bit alienated from the people they served. He also spent a significant amount of time in dealing with their military indoctrination so that they did not view the public they served as "The Enemy".

Ultimately to be a succesful cop you have to be motivated by helping people. Shit like this magnifies the dark side of police officers and it's what we mostly see from the media and rightfully so but unfortunately for the police, they never posts a video of when some cop places themselves in harms way to protect the public they serve which they often do.
 
Socrtease said:
In just short of an hour we watched a kid on his stomach, unarmed and non-theatening get shot in the head by the police, a woman who was the victim of an attack get attacked by the police and forcibly stipped, and a man who was in a horrible accident with burns get tazed and shot by the police.
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good lord, what sort of neighborhood do you live in?......
 
AssHatZombie said:
That complaint form thing really gets under their thin litte cop skin.
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And how. One of those cops in that section of the video was our former sheriff. Did you notice, almost to a cop, that they wanted to see ID and know your address? Nothing but a form of intimidation. Reporting abuse by cops to cops is stupid. They are not going to do anything to their own. The thin blue line allows cops to violate the law with impunity.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
We have Ronald Reagan to thank for a lot of that. ....
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That's bullshit, bringing your blind hatred of Reagan into this. Cops have been like this forever. Most cops in my home town were the troublemakers and bullies in high school. Learn to stay away from them when you can, and be as respectful as possible when you can't.

I've been approached by cops six or eight times in my life and each time I've treated them with professional respect. Many times they've been subsequently helpful to me. I was 17 years old, with friends and stoned and some middle aged guy accused me of attacking his son and the cop refused to press charges since he saw that I was just minding my own business. Another time I was coasting downhill on the interstate and got puled over for speeding. I told that cop that I was just coasting, trying to save gas and she wrote in her report that I was driving responsibly, so when I went to court the judge gave me a lesser fine with no points on my license.

That girl at the fast food who was accused of not given correct change had a solid case since she had no twenty dollar bills in here register. The cop fucked up, and she chose not to reason with him but swear at him.
 
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