The worst thing is the poorly trained and/or maladjusted cops who go for the kill as a first reaction. The second worst is the attitude of police organizations in high dudgeon because ordinary citizens have the temerity to question the actions of these bad ones.
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Cops don’t do eloquence because they don’t have to.
It makes a difference to those who use the word “thug” as a dog whistle meaning for any black person or supporter of black people that they dont like for whatever reason. Maybe I need to turn off my Yahoo antennae, happens all the time there. I apologize if that wasn’t your intent.
I’m now, officially, a Hawkins fan.
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I think that cop you’re referring to was on Chris Hayes’ show tonight (Ari Melber was hosting). I believe he was from the Cleveland Police Malevolent Association…'cause I’m pretty sure you couldn’t confuse him with any act of benevolence if you tried.
The guy was an idiot. He contradicted himself over and over again and had the nerve to call Tamir Rice “this man”. His justifications for his fellow cops killing that little boy was totally disgusting, and full of lies.
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Got a llink or anything?
Its on the Chris Hayes website…All In. In ‘Latest Videos’ #7 I think. I can’t copy the URL from the video cause I think its proprietary. Sounds like I know what I’m talking about, right? Nah…Just sounded good and geeky. Just put Chris Hayes All In in your google browser.
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While there are several salient points throughout Mr. Hawkins’ statement, this one is my favorite:
She taught me to be careful and be on the lookout for those not-so-good police officers because they could potentially do me harm and most times without consequences. Those are the police officers that should be offended.
The ability to very subtly, and tactfully, jab at those deserving of no respect, while still respecting those who warrant it, is a talent. Here, he essentially suggests that the only reason the police union head should be offended is if he is a dirty cop.
Ball’s in your court, mr officer.
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A common assertion is that cops are more likely to shoot black men or youths because of “racism.” However, whence the need to shoot or taze or tackle in the first place? Stepping back, I’d note that America’s need for “crowd control” has increased with rising wealth disparity. If you look a regularized workforce and society like Belgium, with a gini coefficient below .30 (pretty fair wealth distribution), you still have national strikes, arguments about funding pensions and people in the streets. Above .40 is usually the point you call in the cops. The very docile people of Hong Kong, who now have a gini number over .50, are strictly subject to crowd control rules, and the crackdown is likely to get worse. Slightly under .50 is the US, which has sort of abandoned posse comitatus and increasingly puts the kibosh on public assembly. If you look at the 1960s, when political parties still acknowledged wealth disparity, and the crowd control tactics and police behavior, you see that it was the last time the gini declined in the US.
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Well said. The president of Cleveland’s police union was on “All In with Chris Hayes” and his reasoning was disjointed and defensive and not nearly as thoughtful and logical.
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So a call for justice shouldn’t offend or disrespect anybody. A call for justice shouldn’t warrant an apology.
So true. So damn true…
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He was on Chris Hayes show last night (the cop’s union guy).
Kind of sad, really.
Chris gave him every chance to speak his piece. Unfortunately, all that came out was gibberish.
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Saw Mr. Hawkins rational ,eloquent statement last evening immediately followed by a rambling interview with the head of the CPD’s Union…the man could barely put two sentences together and came off as a petty put upon bully. With high level representation like this, small wonder people are fostering an increasingly suspicious stance toward the actions of the police in Cleveland,
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You should hire a lobbyist or an attorney, then, because your comments are inarticulate and foolish.
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That was exactly his intent.
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HE sHOULD be FIRED for CRIticizing POLice that KILL thug CHILDRen. LibtarDS suggest that Police SHOUldn’t PROTect THEMSELVEs frOM mURDery kids whO attemPT TO do theM HArm with plastic FIREARMS!!11!!!one!!!1!!!
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The right calls them thugs.
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The Cleveland PD just received results of a withering investigation from Justice Department. they’re in no position to whine about this. I’m a native Clevelander. I’ve known people who’ve worked for the Cleveland PD and suburban jurisdictions (including a relative). I’ve also screened police officers in the past (but not in Greater Cleveland). I think problematic practices have been tolerated for far too long. Police departments keep people around who should have fired ages ago. Departments knowingly hire problematic people because they have little control over when they can hire and how many they can hire–this is true in podunk burgs and big cities. Still, it is very difficult to get rid of bad apples–one of my high school classmates (who became a predictably bad cop) was removed from a suburban Cleveland force but he appears to be a rare exception—he was countered by someone who eventually became the town’s law director. Few practicing lawyers are willing to take on something like that and prosecutors are even more loath to lose some patina of “Law and order”. Police don’t have to be unionized to close ranks and keep incompetents on the job.
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Dang - can we elect him for something now? Pretty Plulleeeze!
And the CPD union is doubling down. Criticism against 2 of them is criticism of all of them. This is a stunning lack of understanding that a community might feel the exact same way. The rest of the CPD officers need to shut this guy down, he works for them and he is not doing them any good.
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