Discussion for article #246784
Things have sure changed in my home state of AL, but I think most of that has been in the last two years…good!
1 Like
It was not immediately clear whether Smith had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Wouldn’t his police union benefits include legal counsel? Or is Alabama a “right to work” state where even public employees are not unionized?
6 Likes
“They are, in fact, the thin blue line between order and chaos.”"
And that’s why we have to hire the occasional murderer or psychopath.
6 Likes
Well unless that city of 200 k people has 1000 police officers the problem is a bit bigger than 0.01 %. But it just doesn’t work like that. You have to have confidence in the system you are in to do something like this. You have to trust that you can do it and walk away. That’s a systemic thing not a 1/1000 thing.
3 Likes
States with large Black populations don’t screw around with this stuff. They know that if this kind of racial attack is ignored like it is where Blacks make up a negligible part of the electorate, that the powers that be will suffer.
You figure a cop who is well trained would easily wrest a stick from a man and not even have to unholster his firearm. There are officers out on a beat everyday who manage to diffuse situations with little problem.
1 Like
Those that can diffuse or de-escalate situations seem to be a dying breed.
3 Likes
Sadly yes, I once heard a story about a beat cop who walked a beat in Greenwich Village the early 60’s. If someone was smoking something illegal they would just tell them to put out and move along.