I report you decide-By Barry Levinson.
BARRY LEVINSON
The Increasing Number Of Suspected Police Abuse Incidents Caught On Video Is Becoming A Real Problem For Both Our Police Departments And Our Society As Well.
Why Incidents Like The Kelly Thomas Beating Death By Police In
Fullerton California Will Not Go Away?
Police Chiefs around this country tell us repeatedly how well trained the members of their departments are and how they believe their departments are one of the best in the country.
FPD’s Dan Hughes
Yet every time we witness via live taping of a police civilian contact gone terribly wrong, almost never is the officer criminally or even civilly held to account for their actions.
They are put on paid administrative leave, which means a fully paid vacation for months or even up to a year or more while the police hierarchy and/or the DA investigates the incident. Then almost always the officer’s actions are found to be “reasonable” and they are back at their jobs fully refreshed from their extended paid vacations.
Yes many times, we might hear that the officer will receive additional training as if every bad act by a police officer can be fixed by attending one or more classes. If an officer likes to hurt people, training will do absolutely nothing to stop his bad behavior. If the officer has the wrong temperament or lacks the necessary common sense to deal rationally with the public, training will do absolutely nothing to change that officer’s bad behavior.
If someone is asked to sit down by an officer and he/she refuses does that give the officer the right to put that person’s life in danger? It is clear that too many police officers like the power and authority they have over the average citizen and yes have an extremely low bar before they escalate a confrontation from words to physical violence.
I for one, if asked to sit down or stand up or even get on my knees would obey the officer out of both respect and fear that this officer might use any minor excuse to physically assault me.
But there are those citizens who do not automatically listen to commands barked by an officer and want to know why they are being detained and want an answer before considering obeying an officer’s command.
There are situations that are not easy for the police. Non-obeying suspects are a challenge to them. But a situation where a non-violent suspect does not obey a verbal order, grounds to put someone in the hospital or worse. I do not think so.
The headline above asked if the police are more violent today then in the past. I do not know that answer. But I do know that more and more suspected police abuse has been caught on citizen’s smart phone cameras now.
I also know that laws such as POBAR, the Police Officers Bill of Rights in California that hides the records of bad police officer’s from the general public and everyone else but the police chiefs does not help the situation one little bit.
Finally, obvious cases of police officers using excessive force and not being punished, criminally, civilly or even suspended without pay for their actions, has given the bad officer a virtual green light to continue to mete out their form of street justice to an unsuspecting public.
See these fists?
Therefore, the real problem may not be whether there is more police abuse now than in the past. The real problem may be that the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to rein in and properly punish those bad officer’s acts.
It is clear that a growing segment of the public has become aware of this problem and it could become dangerous for our society to test the public’s patience on this matter.
#1 by Anonymous on July 29, 2014 - 7:06 am
If the people who were arrested feel that their civil rights were violated, they are free to file lawsuits. Plenty of attorneys would be happy to take the cases.
Regarding the former homeless encampment near the Hunt Library, ask the residents who lived nearby and who took their children to the adjacent park whether they are happy the encampment is gone.
#2 by streets on July 29, 2014 - 11:00 am
Oh yeah lawyer up and get justice like Kelly got.
#3 by Anonymous on July 29, 2014 - 1:14 pm
Streets,
The civil suit against Fullerton PD filed by Kelly’s dad has not been settled yet. Ron Thomas should get a decent pay day. Mom already got $1 million.
Nice pay day for Ron’s attorney as well, I suspect.