Baltimore police refusing to police.

[DetlefK]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/06/baltimore_police_are_virtually_on_strike_the_city_deserves_something_better.html

"He says police have ignored dozens of calls about drug dealers in his neighborhood. Other Baltimoreans echo his claims: “People wake up with shots through their windows. Police used to sit on every corner, on the top of the block. These days? They’re nowhere.”"

...

"On social media, President Gene Ryan of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 declared that police feel “under siege.” “The criminals are taking advantage of the situation in Baltimore since the unrest,” Ryan wrote. “Police are more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty.”"

---------------------------------------------------

I think there is a misunderstanding here.
If you do your job properly, you won't go to jail.
If you kill unarmed people, then you are not doing your job properly.
If you assault and harm people that are physically weaker than you, then you are not doing your job properly.

[peacebird]

1. Bingo!!!

I think there is a misunderstanding here.
If you do your job properly, you won't go to jail.
If you kill unarmed people, then you are not doing your job properly.
If you assault and harm people that are physically weaker than you, then you are not doing your job properly.

[FreakinDJ]

4. They refuse to do their job without being able to Murder With Impunity

Fuck Them

I say we DEFUND Police Depts all across the country until they get the Big Picture.

Fuck their Wages
Fuck their Pensions
Fuck Their Staffing Levels
Fuck their Budgets

Just Fuck them

Until they figure out they are there "To Protect and to Serve" we need LESS Cops

And that doesn't mean helping some Bigot maintain the "Status Quo" of suppressing people of Color

[Travis_0004]

11. I'm sure that would make cities across America safer.

[FreakinDJ]

21. It already has done just that

[Mr Dixon]

23. Agreed

on point

[yeoman6987]

26. Sounds like Baltimore is showing what it would be like without police

Seems the public wants them back. We will see how needed the police really are and then make needed changes to numbers as needed.

[romanic]

2. There's a line that's being blurred here.

I think the cops fear what'll happen when they catch a criminal or suspect and that criminal/suspect resists arrest. In the mind of the cop, if they try to taze or tackle the suspect; that action is subject to scrutiny by the public and activists who measure to see if they're using excessive force (or if that force is justified). Regardless, all this paranoia has taken over the police force in Baltimore while criminals run free and shoot up guns and sling their drugs to the neighborhoods and some citizens are paranoid that the police are an evil entity and will hurt/kill them instead of the bad guys.

Of course, everyone loses out except the criminals. B-more if fucked. *sighs*

[peacebird]

5. I disagree. If the "good" cops would weed out the "bad" cops, then we could start building trust

But if every case where a cop shoots and kills an unarmed person is deemed "a good kill", well, people are going to lose trust. Especially when video shows the cop shoots a 12 year old within seconds of arriving, and then cuffs his sister rather than let her go yo him as he lays bleeding.
Or when a cop shoots an unarmed man, then drops a taser next to him before ever checking for a heartbeat...or tackles and slams a teenaged girl into a cop car at a pool party breaking her ribs and jaw.., or ignores a suspects pleas of "I can't breathe" until he is dead.

When good cops turn on the murderous thugs in their ranks and clean out the bad apples, then we can rebuild trust. The Thin Blue Line needs to be broken

[romanic]

8. It's hard to break such a culture though.

Good cops are underneath the thumbs of their superiors and other cops that get away with murder.

I agree that trust should be built between cops and the public, but it's going to be difficult. As we can see, the public still relies on the police to get rid of drug dealers and gang bangers and murderers and what have you; something definitely needs to change and The Thin Blue Line is a great start.

[peacebird]

9. Our police dept has a citizens advisory council. Does yours? Maybe we need to volunteer to be on it.

I was for my neighborhood in NoVa. Back when the cops started going into bars & restaurants arresting people for being drunk - even tho they were not causing trouble AND they had Designated Driver!
I argued with the Chief that this was really DUMB. It was holiday season, office parties in full swing, and they had spent YEARS with PSA's telling people to get a Designated Driver. Their new ploy, while 'technically' legal (public drunkeness IS against the law) was not only stupid, it was a public relations disaster! He was stubborn, one of his pet cops came up with it, and the fines would be great $$$. I was right, after less than a month of this policy in the newspaper and on the local news shows, and the roghteous public backlash, they dropped it.Chief told me in Januarys meeting that I had been right.
We can make a difference. Obviously the arrests slapped them in the face, now we need to help them see how they can earn the trust of the citizenry. If it requires firing those that refuse to do their jobs, so be it,

[romanic]

12. In the city I live in, yep we do.

But back in my hometown which is 53% black, our police dept didn't have one and they've been taken over by the county sheriff's dept (which hired most of the old PD officers; half black, half white with a few Latino LEOs). Yeah civilians can definitely make a huge difference in their police dept.

I also say residency will cut down corruption and racist cops within a mostly black city (Last I checked, a lot of LEOs in B-More don't live within the city!);how can a force build trust if they don't live among the people they protect? I think th culture within some police departments can't be changed from the inside, so you have to chip away at the outside to make things happen, at least that's what I think.

[FreakinDJ]

22. You do realize Citizens Councils are ADVISORY Only

And they adhear to the Police Officers Union's rules of engagement which mean "I was in Fear" is an acceptable reason to shoot UNARMED citizens

Waist Band shootings are acceptable by that standard

[peacebird]

27. Yes, but if we do not engage in every possible way nothing will change.

[FreakinDJ]

28. De fund sends a clear picture

[Sparhawk60]

3. I Agree

We can have law enforcement with out breaking the law. Just hold cops accountable for their actions. And that includes jail time for cops who look the other way or cover up for their fellow cops. Once you lock up a few cops, the rest will fall in line.



/ ok, you may have to lock up a lot of cops
// I am ok with that

[peacebird]

6. We are in violent agreement here.

I hope the change comes soon.

[FreakinDJ]

7. You would be fighting Police Officer's Unions all across the country

People don't understand

The Supreme Court laid the ground work

The Officer's Associations fought in court for Rules Of Engagement that amount to Murder for no other reason then the Cop Felt like it

[peacebird]

10. I'm okay with that. Let's take on the rules of engagement in a class action lawsuit?

[Vinca]

13. They should be brought in by a council of citizens (their employers) and, one by one,

asked if they are willing to do their job as described by their employers. If they say "no," they can't "serve and protect" without being allowed to kill people without cause, fire their asses.

[ladjf]

14. Sadistic thugs will be sadistic thugs.

Not only are they violent criminals they appear to be dumb as hell. nt

[ladjf]

15. Fire their asses for not doing their job.

This presents a great opportunity for the city to get rid of the worst of the worst. nt

[marble falls]

16. They tried that in NYC for a few weeks. Life actually got better.

[mainstreetonce]

17. Refuse to pay them.

Others will take the job.

[ellennelle]

18. martial law?

first, refusing to pay them would seem a likely response, but the union would pitch a hissy fit worse than this is.

second, who was it pointed out that they're hamstrung on new black police hires because so many have served time. funny how that works. or doesn't.

third, to my point, this would seem an emergency situation that the citizenry could take to court to demand the feds come in and take over. if there was even a need for the DOJ to neutralize a police department, ryan's statement is it.

i mean, ferchrissake, if cops are using that calculus to refuse to do their jobs, they should have never signed on in the first place.

this is up there with the refrain being used by so many men in blue in response to having used excessive force; i was in fear of my life.

THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU TAKE A JOB AS A COP????

[Dont call me Shirley]

19. Police feel under siege because they created that situation amongst their own selves.

When you act like a bully you get blowback.

[heaven05]

20. to hell with them

the POC community had better just start policing themselves, with the empathy and types of firmness needed to shame a person, committing a crime against a brother or sister, into thinking twice.... Those too far gone to listen....lots of solutions can be found, I'm sure. Police never, by and large, have given a damn about the AA community unless they lived there. And those are the ones that need to be training us in how to take care of ourselves. Just a suggestion made in pain and misery.....

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Fire these shit birds and get new cops

Make them sign an oath todo their fuckingjobs or walk. Enough with their fucking whining.

[Mr Dixon]

25. IMO

Cry Me river, fire all of them on spot.

[sendero]

29. "If I can't have the right..

.... to kill with no questions asked, I'm gong to sit in the corner and hold my breath until I turn blue"./

A bunch of fucking babies throwing a tantrum.