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More Police Thoughts, Link Edition
Jul. 13th, 2016 09:50 amSome links regarding policing in the USA that have been floating around in my Internet. I do find it hopeful that some of the links below are from sites that are conservative and usually heavily support police. Reality is not just for breakfast.
A) What are we asking cops to do? Dallas police chief David Brown: “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country. Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it. Here in Dallas we got a loose dog problem; let’s have the cops chase loose dogs. Schools fail, let’s give it to the cops. That’s too much to ask. Policing was never meant to solve all those problems.”
B) A very conservative site notes that every organization has bad actors and we as a society need to perceive that these bad actors will be dealt with. This is not the perception when it comes to police and that's a problem.
C) I'm not a fan of Newt Gingrich, but occasionally he gets hit by reality and allows himself to respond appropriately. To wit: “It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years to get a sense of this,” Gingrich said. “If you are a normal, white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America and you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk.”
D) Something that's become apparent to me as well - some cops seem to have an instinctive and deep-seated sense of threat from a black man. Combine this with poor training and training which emphasizes a rapid escalation to deadly force and you've got a toxic mixture where people are going to get killed.
A) What are we asking cops to do? Dallas police chief David Brown: “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country. Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it. Here in Dallas we got a loose dog problem; let’s have the cops chase loose dogs. Schools fail, let’s give it to the cops. That’s too much to ask. Policing was never meant to solve all those problems.”
B) A very conservative site notes that every organization has bad actors and we as a society need to perceive that these bad actors will be dealt with. This is not the perception when it comes to police and that's a problem.
C) I'm not a fan of Newt Gingrich, but occasionally he gets hit by reality and allows himself to respond appropriately. To wit: “It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years to get a sense of this,” Gingrich said. “If you are a normal, white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America and you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk.”
D) Something that's become apparent to me as well - some cops seem to have an instinctive and deep-seated sense of threat from a black man. Combine this with poor training and training which emphasizes a rapid escalation to deadly force and you've got a toxic mixture where people are going to get killed.
