CBC's Neil Macdonald: 'America's police now frighten me'

[Newsjock]

Source: CBC News
By Neil Macdonald

... I don't mind saying it: America's police now frighten me. Their power and their impunity frighten me. And I'm a white, 58-year-old middle-class man. I can't imagine what I'd be feeling if I were a black or Latino kid in Baltimore.

... Just as the authorities use technology to collect unprecedented data on the citizenry, the citizenry is constantly crowdsourcing video evidence about the authorities, and it's ugly. It used to be the cop's word against the perp's. Now it's the cop's word against clear video evidence, and the cop still usually prevails.

... Today, though, even the conservative voices that have for so long defended law enforcement are wavering. Take some time and browse the libertarian Cato Institute's online National Police Misconduct Reporting Project. It's a scholarly work, and evidence gathered is weighed carefully; in fact, the last full year for which they have issued a definitive report is 2010.

That report identified 4,861 formal incidents of police misconduct involving 6,613 law enforcement officers and 247 civilian fatalities for that year alone. If just a fraction of those fatalities were criminal, then the inescapable conclusion is that more people have been murdered by police in America in the last 10 years than by terrorists.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/baltimore-shows-police-killings-america-s-real-state-of-emergency-1.3052674

[malthaussen]

1. Took you a while, dude.

Where have you been the past 58 years?

-- Mal

[ClusterFreak]

8. Mostly in Canada.

Neil Macdonald is a Canadian journalist for the CBC (and, apropos of nothing, he's also the brother of former SNL comedian Norm Macdonald), and he's been their Washington correspondent for maybe 10 years, I don't know I haven't checked exactly. Anyway, his perspective I think comes from the fact that he's seen some changes in policing in America since he's been a correspondent posted in the U.S. He's 58 years old but most of that time was spent living and working exclusively in Canada.

[malthaussen]

12. Ah, that explains it.

Although I understand Canadian cops in some areas are showing signs of emulating their US cousins.

I'm a year older than Mr Macdonald, but all of those years have been spent in the US. Still, I am constantly astonished to discover that there are people in this country who have heretofore believed the police are their friends (or who still believe it in the face of all contrary evidence). It's especially strange since most contact non-criminals of the dominant race have with the police is when they are cited for a traffic violation.

-- Mal

[world wide wally]

2. Truth and reality can only be denied for so long..

Once this sinks in, let's talk about climate change.

[daleanime]

31. +1

[vanlassie]

40. +1000

[Fred Sanders]

3. Armed to the teeth police and armed to the teeth civilians and armed to the balls military, a

science-denying, xenophobic, racist, extremist religion infected party, one of only two parties, a weaponized media lusting for violence, domestic and foreign....what is there not to be frightened about?

Thank your lucky stars for President Obama for keeping a finger in the leaking dike.

[crim son]

9. +100 n/t

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

26. Yep, and until we enforce the 2nd and disarm EVERYBODY and place the guns in well regulated

militia confines, this is gonna get worse.

Killing black people for being black, is allowed here, when they start killing white people for no reason, then maybe it will change but it maybe will also be TOO LATE

[AuntPatsy]

4. k & R

[mwooldri]

5. They've always frighten me.

Even though personality I have not had much contact with law enforcement, I am a little scared.

I guess part of it for me is cultural since the police officers didn't have guns on them in England , and we have an armed police force here in NC.

[asiliveandbreathe]

6. Interesting - hubby and I were discussing this very issue last night

As many I'm sure these days...he is 61 and remembers his Mum telling him to look for a cop if he got scared...not anymore...

Interesting re No guns England...I have recently watched Foyles War and Inspector Morse - (those Brits sure know how to put on great shows) - subdue without guns..

..I thought tasers were the answer....now it is "but I thought it was my taser" - oops, sorry! - and the sad part is they are getting away with it....

So sad at many levels of the justice system....

[Hutzpa]

7. I'll put the blame squarely on some Libertariaans on this

because they are the ones using their knowledge gained to empower brutality. So, yes some Libertarians are partly to blame
for this carnage, maybe it's time for some of them to look at themselves.

[PatrynXX]

11. blame the era of the clintons mostly for this

either Bill didn't do anything about it or ignored it after 1994 thats when things got much worse. Libertarians? real ones? have no thing to do with it.

[The Second Stone]

14. I should blame the Clintons for Chicago 68?

This has been going on forever. It gets worse after a war when vets are looking for jobs and get hired by good hearted police departments. They are still at war in their minds and many are badly damaged. They see the public as potential enemy. Their attitude spread to the non-vets. This isn't to say police don't have their portion of non-military psychos, the job does attract the power hungry. But this gets worse with returning vets dominating the force.

[TheSarcastinator]

18. which party's party was that, again?

It was the GOP who militarized Chi and sent the cops out to brutalize protesters, right?

[The Second Stone]

22. That would be the Democratic Mayor, Richard Daley

and is an interesting digression. My point as applied at that time was that WWII, Korea and Vietnam had militarized the police.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

28. Exactly

Real libertarians are left-wing.

Thank you for making the distinction.

[Comrade Grumpy]

15. What? This doesn't even make sense.

When did Libertarians control the Congress, the White House, a state legislature, or a governor's mansion?

You used the capital L, so I assume you are talking about the party. It has no power.

And libertarians generally aren't big fans of overweening police power.

[Hutzpa]

16. "And libertarians generally aren't big fans of overweening police power."

Fair enough, I'll believe it when I see it, also forgive me for using the big L, a minor mistake on my part.

[woo me with science]

33. The Obama administration has aggressively expanded police militarization.

[font size=3]Militarization of our police departments is a *bipartisan* effort of corporatists in both parties, right along with mass surveillance, the assaults on journalism, and the persecution of whistleblowers. [/font size] The programs and legislation that are turning our police departments into paramilitary forces come through Homeland Security and the Pentagon, and are being used to suppress and intimidate dissent, exploit communities, and fill lucrative private prisons with slave labor as the nation is corporatized and Americans are made into a nation of low-paid wage slaves.

Both parties are complicit in this outrage. See the links below. Real change requires pushback against corporate politicians who are enabling this militarization, and that includes both corporate Democrats and Republicans.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The entire Democratic leadership opposed Grayson amendment to stop arming cops with DOD weapons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025390424

Police Militarization (including the Obama administration's role)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/aclu-police-militarization-swat_n_2813334.html

It's almost certain that if the police agencies cooperate, the ACLU will find that the militarization trend has accelerated since Kraska's studies more than a decade ago. All of the policies, incentives and funding mechanisms that were driving the trend then are still in effect now. And most of them have grown in size and scope.

The George W. Bush administration actually began scaling down the Byrne and COPS programs in the early 2000s, part of a general strategy of leaving law enforcement to states and localities. But the Obama administration has since resurrected both programs. The Byrne program got a $2 billion surge in funding as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, by far the largest budget in the program's 25-year history. Obama also gave the COPS program $1.55 billion that same year, a 250 percent increase over its 2008 budget, and again the largest budget in the program's history. Vice President Joe Biden had championed both programs during his time in the Senate.

The Pentagon's 1033 program has also exploded under Obama. In the program's monthly newsletter (Motto: "From Warfighter to Crimefighter&quot , its director announced in October 2011 that his office had given away a record $500 million in military gear in fiscal year 2011, which he noted, "passes the previous mark by several hundred million dollars." He added, "I believe we can exceed that in FY 12.”

Then there are the Department of Homeland Security's anti-terrorism grants. The Center for Investigative Reporting found in a 2011 investigation that since 2001, DHS has given out more than $34 billion in grants to police departments across the country, many of which have been used to purchase military-grade guns, tanks, armor, and armored personnel carriers. The grants have gone to such unlikely terrorism targets as Fargo, N.D.; Canyon County, Idaho; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

WOW... Went Looking For Connections Between Ferguson And ALEC... Found This Piece Of The Puzzle...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025413841

The exploitation of Ferguson I: In 2013 the town issued over 24,000 arrest warrants..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025404667

The exploitation of Ferguson II: The Seamy Underbelly Of Ferguson Starts To Appear
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025416747

The exploitation of Ferguson III: Ferguson Feeds Off the Poor: Three Warrants a Year Per Household
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025428157

The final ACLU report on militarization of police in America
https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police-report

"Operation Urban Shield"...Training our Police, Fire, First Responders..in Military Tactics
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025412909

[Enthusiast]

36. +1, thank you for that.

[AgingAmerican]

10. Police violence against blacks has been happening for many, many decades

Most white people I have talked to about the Black Panthers believe the organization was, "Anti-white". The panthers were not at all racist, they formed in the 60s to protect inner city blacks from police brutality, because cops were randomly beating the shit out of them. The Panthers worked very closely with the white counter culture movement. The panthers leaders were highly educated professionals, they got it.

The difference now is cell phone cameras. That, and slowly the public is becoming educated as to what is going on. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Education sets people free.

[brush]

17. Thanks for this post. I have posted similar info/history nuggets . . .

about the original Black Panther Party.

As you said, they had many allies from different ethnicities and were anti-police brutality not anti-white.

[libdem4life]

27. Amen. But even this is going to take a while. The old, "Who are you going to believe?

Me, or your lyin' eyes." But change is coming, yes, due to cell phones and surveillance cameras. Police cameras can be conveniently turned off. Cell Phone Citizens...the New Neighborhood Watch.

[gordianot]

13. Fear creates fear, American Police are fed a steady diet of fear mongering & lack of accountability.

[joanbarnes]

19. Ditto. White people also fear and despair, though with some minimal protection by virtue of color.

[Pooka Fey]

20. K&R

[Iggo]

21. Welcome to the dance, Neil.

[avebury]

23. I am really surprised that a lot of countries have not put the US

on a travel advisory list because of our police state.

[uponit7771]

24. AMEN!!! This is the reason why these people riot in the first place

[geretogo]

25. Any one that resists the power of the Corporate state will be offed or disappeared . You only have

research other Fascist governments like Pinochet's Chili or Franco's Spain as a start . America supported both
of these governments .

[Fantastic Anarchist]

29. I urge people to read about the Spanish Civil War

And all the competing ideologies involved therein.

[gollygee]

30. That's the most Canadian name ever

I wonder if he has brothers named Wayne and Gordon.

OK but moving on, yeah.

[blkmusclmachine]

32. http://junonews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/nazi-brownshirt111.jpg

[Enthusiast]

35. Precisely.

[Enthusiast]

34. There is no justification for this unprecedented level of data collection on the citizenry.

9/11 was allowed to happen so the PTB could initiate this level of data collection with impunity. This could not be more clear.

At the same time law enforcement seldom answers for any crime, no matter how egregious. WTF?

This country is in the hands of the enemy. This is a far more dangerous and deadly enemy than the "terrorists".

[woo me with science]

37. +10000 A corporate police state has been constructed around us,

aggressively enabled by corporate politicians in both parties.

Republican House passes, and Obama endorses, expansion of surveillance (PCNA)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026557667

The Obama administration's escalation of police militarization
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/aclu-police-militarization-swat_n_2813334.html

Civil liberties disappear in the 2012 Democratic platform.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021267747

The National Security State: Cultivating a Culture of Fear and Obedience
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017222034

The ACLU on Obama and core liberties
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2069714

Government Surveillance Is Crippling Press Freedoms, Report Shows
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023902153

NSA Spying Not Very Focused on Terrorism: Power, Money and Crushing Dissent Are Real Motives Ops
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023923016

Yes, a police state has been constructed around us.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1002&thread=6198402&pid=6199175

[Enthusiast]

38. Wish I had seen some of those posts in real time.

There simply too many posts on DU to get to them all.

[laundry_queen]

39. The CBC has been doing some great reporting on this

Neil Macdonald has always been one of my favorite journalists at the CBC. There was another bit last night on Baltimore and what a difference from American News. I watched CNN for a bit, and it was just a bunch of 'reporters' standing around chatting. On CBC, Paul Hunter had an excellent report. Hopefully my American friends can see this:

[TexasProgresive]

41. This is a start- what would really get attention is

The State Department equivalents of the major tourist and business partners of the US issuing advice for when confronting the police in the US to offer nothing that could be construed as resistance, to interlock fingers of both hands together and place them on top of your head. Know enough English to tell them your name, country and business. A final bit of advice, obtain a life insurance policy to cover the cost of returning your remains home. This advisory should also be reiterated by local travel agents who should encourage prospective clients to visit elsewhere like Afghanistan. (yes the last is= )