21st Century Policing - Sane Solutions

Dealing with the problem of police being afraid to be afraid

With current police practices, one only need to be on the phone in your own home to be killed by police. I was almost killed by 2 Rhode Island state troopers. They purportedly came to the wrong address and, seeing me through the window, THOUGHT my phone was a gun. Having no gun, I also didn't comply with orders to drop the "gun" being clueless as to who they were talking to. Given current practices, deadly police force was allowed TWICE because:
1. they THOUGHT I had a gun and
2. I refused to follow a command when they had a "fear" of their life.
A cops "belief" that their life is in danger, even when it is not, is all that is necessary to kill you and get away with it.
Do you see the problem yet? -- from the author of this document

Either The Policing Problem Is Dealt With Effectively
Or America Will Continue Being At War With Itself!

In A Nutshell

"Effective" policing is defined in this document as that which effects results via the arrest, the accolades and the awards. The law, justice, Constitutional rights or morality are increasingly irrelevant.

Watch almost any cop show or movie and you will see a consistent theme. The "good" cop has to "cross the line" for the "greater good." The fact the line was crossed and Citizens were abused, killed or violated gets lost in the "effectiveness", the end result of the police action (the arrests, the accolades and the awards). Many, if not most cops reach this point - the point where they must pretend to not see wrongdoing. The problem with America in general, but especially in the areas of justice or law enforcement, is this - "being effective" (getting a result) trumps the law, justice, Constitutional rights and morality. Cops discover to be "good", they have to be bad or ignore the bad some or all of the time. The outlets for "effective" policing (getting results with secondary or no consideration of law, justice, Constitutional rights or morals) is, for the most part, institutionalized racism (see report) and oppression of the poor. (see report) Visit any of our courts or prisons and this will become painfully clear. See Seven Reasons Police Brutality Is Systemic, Not Anecdotal

"In the real world, cops are far from independent agents, Rather, they act within the constraints of a very powerful organizational culture that significantly influences and constrains their judgements and conduct. For similar reasons, viewing police brutality as a string of unrelated incidents belies reality. Police officers who misbehave are often part of a larger pattern of misconduct involving multiple incidents and multiple actors. Such patterns cannot be attributed solely to the misbehaving individuals. Individual officers are behaving as their departments have trained them to behave--whether explicitly or implicitly--and the organizational culture that cultivated and sustained them must also bear some responsibility." -- Barbara E. Armacost, Organizational Culture and Police Misconduct, 72 George Washington University Law Review 453, 476 (2004).

We Want SANE Policing Where All Lives Matter!

Nobody is immune from the inherent human weakness to abuse power. NO ONE!

Another way of saying that is "When Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. " Every civilized society needs structure and enforcement. This article is not anti-police; it is against excessive and unnecessary abuses and killings by police. Our Constitution was intended to protect us from abuses of government and law enforcement. The Constitution is now disregarded routinely for "effectiveness" at the expense of Law, justice, Constitutional rights and morality. What "works" has become more important than what is right. Today if you get charged, unless you have money, your innocence, if you are innocent, is irrelevant. More likely than not your lawyer and the prosecutor will work in collusion to force you into a plea which is always a guilty plea on some level. Resist that and they will throw the kitchen sink at you with threats and multiple charges with lengthy sentences. All this is done in the name of "judicial efficiency." Our Constitutional rights are being eroded. Couple that with policing that is more concerned with getting results with secondary or no consideration of law, justice, Constitutional rights or morals. Add to that the inherent tendency ALL of us have to abuse power (yes, YOU!) and we have the mess we have today.

Everyone protesting abuses of power are also vulnerable to abusing power!

Give cops the rules of "effective" policing as defined here coupled with the inherent human weakness to abuse power to people who, for the most part, start policing in their twenties and you have some of the reasons for the insanity we have today. Cops are killing with impunity, guns come out for practically any reason imaginable, SWAT teams are used to serve warrants, militarizing of police, police using weapons of war against peaceful protestors, escalating the situation upon arrival, etc. Abusing power comes easy. Learning not to abuse power takes a lifetime.

Terrorism And Tyranny Is NOT Policing!

When the Ferguson police opened fire on peaceful protesters with 3 weapons of war, why wasn't THAT called rioting? Every American needs to watch the shocking, full video of this pathetic assault. Why wasn't the countless videos we have of police pointing guns at peaceful protesters "inciting a riot?" In some areas policing has become more about terrorism and tyranny instead of policing.

The response to the uprisings in Ferguson regarding systemic abuses and racism added to the death of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in New York and countless others along with the ensuing nationwide protests brought many police chiefs to the media level with one basic message:

SUBMIT AND OBEY AND ALL WILL BE WELL

First of all, when, in ANY of the world's history, did anything good come of it when the primary message of the enforcement arm of governments is for their people to SUBMIT AND OBEY? CHECK YOUR HISTORY!

Second of all, submitting to police usually is the PRELUDE to the beating and, in many cases, your death. We now have COUNTLESS videos and deaths attesting to these facts. Submitting to police does NOT mean "all will be well" at all.

We Are Supposed To Have Trials Here,
Not On The Spot Executions!

Three Things Must Change Immediately

This pathetic, insane legal "reasoning" that cops can kill when scared, even when the fear is all in their head, must cease NOW.
Cops are taught to view your humanity as resistance to their authority. The insanity of having cops classify every normal human reaction (pain, fear, emotion, mental or physical problems, inability to comply, a twitch, a turn etc.) as resistance to their authority requiring the use of physical or deadly force must cease NOW.
The total, insane corruption of the legal process in handling complaints and deaths caused by police must change NOW.

All these necessary changes will be discussed below.

This is about police MISconduct and DISrespect. Protectors of the status quo want you to be distracted from this fact.

Has Power Or Fear Corrupted Your Thinking?

Police misconduct and killings If you don't see the logic or necessity of these 3 changes (like the guy on the left) you need your head examined. Denying the above SANE solutions shows either that power has gone to your head, you are a blind non-thinking follower or you are reality challenged. You have forgotten what the Constitution is. Your thinking is dangerous to any sane, civilized society regardless of what your position in society is. Do you really believe as Citizens in the United States of America

that we should have cops that can kill us out of fear even when the fear is all in their head?
that we should have cops that can disregard our humanity and view it as resistance to their authority?
that we should continue having a corrupt legal process when dealing with abuses and deaths caused by cops?

Anyone thinking this is what this country should have is totally irrational. And to have people in power and/or wearing a badge and a gun that think this way is downright dangerous.

Want totalitarianism? GET COUNSELING NOW!!

Thoughts On Number One Above:
The pathetic, insane legal "reasoning" that cops can kill when scared,
even when the fear is all in their head

police misconduct and killings Cops will routinely state they are putting their lives on the line every day. Yet, if they can kill when scared, even when that fear is all in their head, they are NOT putting their lives on the line at all. Every Citizen is putting THEIR lives on the line every day when around a cop. How is your life in danger when you can shoot out of fear, even when the fear isn't based on an actual threat? 21st Century policing has put every Citizen in danger of their lives daily with this pathetic legal reasoning that cops can kill out of fear - whether reality based or not. Cops are told to kill and ask questions later. And remember, cops are trained to shoot for one reason only - to kill.

One police chief was quoted as saying, "If someone fails to obey the command of an officer they should be shot."
Another chief responding to a killing of a kid with a toy gun said, "We expect obedience." The time given in the video for obedience was about 2 seconds.
Another police chief stated, "Don't obey an officer's command and ANYTHING can happen."

So, "Resistance"
(which could be a twitch, a turn, anything at all)
is cause for death without trial?

The facts are some cops have been killing when their life is not in danger at all!

A cop killed a mentally ill kid whose mother had called because he was suicidal. Despite their being no one else in the house and the cop being a distance from the boy and able to step back, killed him as soon as the mentally disturbed kid took a step toward the cop.
Citizens have been killed with the cops being yards away and in no danger of their life whatsoever...yet these killings are considered good shoots.
Not obeying a command can now be justification for an instant execution...even if you are deaf, mute or blind and regardless of whether you are frozen from terror, mentally or physically sick or unable to comply. THIS IS INSANITY!
Citizens have been killed for having no gun, toy guns, because the cop THOUGHT they had a gun, having a water hose, having a game controller, acting "strange", moving too quick, moving too slow, turning too quickly, going for credentials the police asked for and for many other non life threatening reasons
A Citizen recently almost lost his life because he pointed a banana in his hand...that's right, a banana!
A strategic retreat or de-escalation is now considered cowardice by many of today's police. Control or kill is the name of the game. This isn't policing. This is police being at war with America as their battlefield.

All a cop has to say is, "I was in fear of my life"
and he can get away with almost anything, including murder!

Thoughts On Number Two Above:
The insanity of having cops classify every normal human reaction (pain, fear, emotion, mental or physical problems, inability to comply, a twitch, a turn etc.) as resistance to their authority

Police Brutality Like soldiers at war on a battlefield, many cops disregard the humanity of American Citizens. Move too quick? SHOOT OR BEAT! Move too slow? SHOOT OR BEAT! Turn too fast, have a handicap, have a mental problem, confused, scared to death? NO MATTER - SHOOT OR BEAT! ANYTHING besides rapid and total submission to their authority is considered "resistance" requiring the use of physical or deadly force. Any exercise of Constitutional rights causes many cops to view you as an enemy of the state. Those that don't believe this either haven't had it happen to them or haven't been paying attention to the endless flow of news stories that continue to surface almost daily.

Cops appear willfully clueless regarding normal human reactions when a Citizen faces aggression, a threat to their life and/or the sight of a gun.

Cops can kill when scared, even when the fear is all in their head. But the American Citizen is supposed to act with rapid and total submission when faced with aggression, it is clear their life is in danger, death or bodily injury seems imminent or when they see a gun. Normal human reactions to any of these life threatening behaviors might include freezing, panic, charging at or trying to remove the threat in a last ditch attempt to save their lives, running, irrational behavior, etc. NO ONE knows how Citizens will react to aggression or threats to their life until it happens. Cops get to react by killing or beating. Their humanity seems to be all that matters.

Should Our Right To Life End Due To Nervous,
Scared or Overly Agressive Cops?

Rhode Island state police Colonel Steven G. O'Donnell said at a public forum,

"When the cop steps out of a car for a traffic stop, his number one priority is his safety."

Why wouldn't the number one priority of the cop be the safety of EVERYONE? He followed up with,

"the officer wants to go home at night."

Even if a department warns against abuses, the legal system still protects the behavior. The rule is, "We got your back."

The Citizen doesn't? Perhaps he wasn't being clear but this came across as arrogant and elitist. I had a problem for a while where I could not get on my knees. This would be viewed by some cops as a green light for abuse or even my on the spot execution had I been given an order to get on my knees. I could go on for an hour about people beat and killed for having legitimate reasons to not respond to a command. Americans are no longer Citizens. They are treated like enemy combatants on a battlefield. Our humanity is irrelevant.

Thoughts On Number Three Above:
The totally insane corruption of the legal process
in handling complaints and deaths caused by police

Twenty First Century Policing Michael Brown and Eric Garner, Ferguson Systemic Racism, Abuse & Oppression Of The Poor: It stands to reason that the race disparity regarding police abuse, arrests and killings must be stopped. Likewise, the oppression of the poor by communities trying to finance themselves via excessive enforcement of petty crimes and traffic violations has to stop also. But the goal of the reforms we seek is not to have "equal opportunity and racially neutral" police beatings, killings and petty enforcement. We want all unnecessary and unreasonable enforcement, beatings and killings stopped. What good will the laudable goals of having a police force staffed to reflect the race of the community and have them all trained in racial sensitivity yet still have them kill, beat and enforce unjustly and with impunity?

Twenty First Century Policing Unreasonable Legal "Reasoning": The law today can be likened to Silly Putty - creative interpretations abound. Like Silly Putty, law is stretched in all directions and can be bounced from the "spirit" of the law to the "letter" of the law resulting in differing legal opinions despite similar circumstances.

In this case it is ruled a cop can be confused on traffic laws opening the door to more harassing police stops. (Whatever happened to "ignorance of the law is no excuse?")
There was a recent change to the 5th amendment reducing incentives for cooperating with police and practically making it necessary to invoke the 5th when having ANY encounter with police. Also see this timeline for some historical rulings on the 5th.
Think it is a cops job to protect? Think again.
Read about the special treatment some police with a much higher rate of domestic abuse receive
Read about the special treatment some police receive when caught driving drunk.
Rhode Island Law § 12-7-10 Resisting legal or illegal arrest is an open door to have an officer make up a reason to arrest you and needs to be clarified.
Also see below where rampant lying, testilying and perjury committed by police is routinely winked at by police, judges, lawyers and prosecutors.

Twenty First Century Policing The Grand Jury Process: To have prosecutors that have ongoing working relationships, and perhaps even friendships, with police handle the grand jury process is a pathetic joke. Any death of a Citizen at the hands of police, unless the verifiable circumstances clearly justify it, should be handled by an independent prosecutor and/or a trial process should commence.

Twenty First Century Policing The Blue Wall Of Silence: (also called Blue Code or Blue Shield) The common mantra that most cops are good is true but MUST be tempered with this fact - most cops also will not report misconduct of their departments resulting in all police departments being complicit with wrongdoing. This MUST change.

Twenty First Century Policing Special Bill Of Rights: Many areas have a special bill of rights for police making it harder to discipline or get rid of bad cops. Most all cops have unions and civil remedies available to them and these bills have to be either drastically altered or eliminated. James Vincent, President of the Providence branch of the NAACP said,
"Right now there's a policeman's bill of rights that some officers use to protect themselves from being punished...There's a tiny minority of police officers, I call them bad apples, who feel they can do whatever they want."
Also see this Channel 12 exposé on the policeman's bill of rights where Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare essentially agreed with Vincent.

Twenty First Century Policing No Citizen Oversight: We need Citizen involvement regarding oversight and complaints against police. The secrecy must stop. Police would laugh at any Citizens saying they can police themselves yet insist they be allowed to do just that.

Twenty First Century Policing Lying, Testilying And Perjury: While cops are allowed to lie under certain circumstances (See Can Cops Lie?), false reports, lies, testilying and perjury are an epidemic in policing and cause immeasurable suffering affecting countless lives. Some cops seem to think they have a green light to lie about everything. We have countless examples of cops lying about the law, lying to take a stop to the next level, lying saying it is illegal to film them etc. Police lie so much the legal profession calls it testilying. Given the importance of truth in policing added to the fact lives can be drastically and negatively affected by lying cops, all cops should be prosecuted, punished, fired and and/or personally sued for lying, whatever is appropriate for the situation. The current attitude in the legal system to the systemic problem of lying, perjuring cops is, "So what?" Add that to the problem of cops planting evidence...do you see the problem YET? One way to protect against police misconduct is cop cams. Read Cops, Lying, Testilying And Perjury to see how prevalent this problem is.

Twenty First Century Policing Erosion Of Civil Rights: Slowly but surely our government, case law and the US Supreme Court are chipping away at civil rights by carving out more and more exceptions to them. This has opened the door for a lot of the police misconduct that has given rise to the latest uprising. A prime example of what happens when civil rights erode was the stop and frisk practices in New York. Vew Unconstitutional - The War on Our Civil Liberties by Robert Greenwald.

$Black Lives Matter, Hands up dont shoot$ So America, DO THE MATH. First we have police able to kill when afraid even when the fear is all in their head. Add that to training that teaches them to disregard normal human reactions and consider them as resistance to their authority. Add special bills of rights making it hard to get rid of wrong doers. Add the Blue Wall Of Silence and a legal system that considers rampant perjury of cops as inconsequential. Add to that prosecutors who work and are friendly with police being in charge of prosecuting their wrongdoing and all the other things mentioned in this article. DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM YET?

Police Misconduct and Killings !! WAKE UP AMERICA !! You may be fortunate to live in an area where there is very little police misconduct. If you are rich, white or live in certain areas it is very easy to pretend, deny or imagine that all these things in this article aren't true. Well, they are true and we need to wake up FAST. You may think, "The cops I know would never do this." You may be right. Thank God most cops DON'T do these things.
But, do you want a system in place that ALLOWS for the misconduct and killings addressed here?
Do you want them to be able to conduct themselves in the manner described here?
THAT is what we have now and THAT is why changes are long overdue.

Additional Reading:

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Exercise Of Power Is The Fastest Acting Intoxicant Known To Man.
You Can Get Drunk Before You Know It.

Many times the reason or purpose for events in our life initially escapes us,
but I am certain we can find reason and/or purpose in everything that happens!

It takes a short time to learn to exercise power, but a lifetime to learn how to avoid abusing it.

We are no longer a country of laws, we are a country where laws are "creatively interpreted."

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