What will Trump’s police force look like that herds up Hispanics and Muslims?
While I certainly don’t disagree on the training aspect, I think the bigger issue is recruitment. Some of these cops are straight up sociopaths who genuinely believe that Black people are inherently violent and that the “prime directive” for any cop is to protect themselves. I believe there are MORE than just a few (but not all) of them all across the country. Training them for mediation or, better still, community involvement will always fail. They can’t be trained. They’re more a remnant of the old “slave patrols”.
EDIT TO ADD: Or, perhaps, they just go hand in hand.
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While I don’t doubt there are sociopaths working as police officers, you don’t have to be one to have a genuine belief that black people are inherently violent. All you have to do is watch the evening action news for 20 years or so.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying blacks are inherently more violent than white people. I am saying that if you watch the “if it bleeds, it leads” action news you are taught that all blacks you encounter are violent. The same goes with entertainment television. That nice black family down the hall must be the exception because all we see on television are blacks killing each other. The truth is that nice black family down the hall is the norm. Blacks killing each other is the exception, but that isn’t how things come across in the media.
There is a large media component in American racism that is routinely overlooked.
Put white policemen who have been conditioned by action news in patrol cars where they only encounter unknown blacks in stressful situations and suddenly the potential for police violence skyrockets.
If you watch the popular reality show “The First 48” on cable, you’ll get the idea that most murderers in those city jurisdictions are black–and most victims too.
Remember we have congregated poor minorities in slums. There are many more poor whites in America than poor blacks and Hispanics, but many of the poor whites are in rural America where they are totally ignored and ill-served by their communities.
Many Americans watch the evening news; it’s bad but it’s not creating an entire nation of crazed people in general.
That’s not the main driver here. I’m not saying that it doesn’t factor in at all; I’m saying that the people are being recruited for police forces are predisposed towards some serious mental issues.
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You really don’t know anything at all, living in your ivory tower, do you orange one?
Take a week of those “if it bleeds” newscasts and map the areas they are talking about. I’ll bet that the area is a few block square, while the balance of the city is peaceful and quiet. I then ask just why the police don’t concentrate in that area and clean it up. A sheriff friend told me that that was the last thing they wanted to do, it becomes “the area we know” rather than finding the area shifting around. As he stated ,makes it easier in that the area is concentrated and after all “they are only hurting themselves”.
But with that logic, all the police would be pretty crazed and that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Trump’s entire campaign is a racist force.
Not denying that. I remember back to my school days. The guys who went into police work included a number of the school bullies. Then I remember my cousin who I encountered numerous times during my professional career. He was a cop’s cop, who did everything right. You can’t accuse all cops of being power crazed.
If you reread my original statement, I said not all cops. I’m focusing on the recruitment of some of the worst of the worst. Using the failings of the media isn’t a strong excuse for sociopathic behaviour.
I would like proof that a majority or substantial minority of officers are sociopaths. My media comment isn’t the whole story by a long shot, but it does more to explain the frightened police officer in Tulsa than assuming she is just a thug.
Interestingly enough, Tulsa is one of the jurisdictions that has featured on “The First 48.”
Do not ask me how I know this. Oh, okay, I confess, it’s a guilty pleasure. Local murder mysteries and how they’re solved – or NOT solved sometimes.
Intent is hard to prove; yet evidence shows that a non-black bomber or church shooter can be arrested as many blacks in police encounters are fatally shot.
It’s hard to comprehend why this is.
Sadly, this isthe binary thinking of trump supporters. Either you support BLM and hate all cops (you’re liberal) or vice versa.