I have respect for law enforcement. If I have any situation of concern, I do not hesitate to dial 911. That being said, I believe there are a few bad eggs in law enforcement. More intensive and better psychological testing and other screening needs to be done on police candidates. Perhaps all officers need yearly re-evaluation. The authority hungry bully types definitely need weeding out and the ones who are scared of their own shadow...they are probably the most dangerous ones. It seems that lethal use of force was not justified against Philando Castile. I hope the investigation turns up the truth and appropriate punishment is meted out.
As far as the girlfriend's video, she was smart to film what she did. In the California prison system, when planned use of force is used (such as in cell extractions) the video camera is running to capture what actually happens. It was going to be her word against the officers' word. Very tragic, needless death just for having a tail light out.
Very well put. I have had maybe a dozen experiences with local law enforcement, all expect the last one were awful experiences. This last one the officer actually reminded me of what they are there for, to protect and serve, reminded me of the community cops back in the day that people would know by name and such. Unfortunately the situation ended up negatively for me, but it wasn't his fault, it was the fault of our legal/litigation system and more towards the entitlement of the average criminal with respect to having to prove down to the very last detail his criminal behavior and his documented lies not being enough. Long story, for another day and thread. The rest of my experiences with local police have been abysmal, young jocks that couldn't pass applied grade 11 English and grunt so the whole gym hears them when they drop a weight. We defended one particular ticket in court and he embarrassed himself ridiculously because he couldn't read English... we still lost because it was an absolute liability offense, despite the traffic stop being illegal and we were honest and admitted the infraction (the issue was with how he stopped us). However regional (Provincial) and Federal level law enforcement I have nothing but great experiences with. Even border patrol, I may not be happy with them, I certainly wasn't every time, but they were professional and not exceeding their authority each time. Just seems strange that the local cops are the same ones in highschool that chewed tobacco during class and spit it into empty bottles everytime the teacher turned her back, skipped class constantly, didn't make it into college for academics and most didn't make it into sports either, so let's go to police school, and let's hand them a gun after a 2 year program and teach them to enforce a complex legal system.
I feel like I've spent all day ranting. There are great cops out there, I am very thankful some of them are on the force. Someone has to take the risk of being shot at everyday by gang members to protect the rest of us right? Just a huge viscious circle in my eyes, young black youth growing up in the projects know nothing else, their fathers in jail, brother is out slanging dope on the corner, all their friends are in gangs, initiation is to fire at a police officer. What do you do, risk being killed yourself or try to get accepted into a group that will at least have your back when others are shooting at you? Not everyone has the means, motivation, knowledge, or ability to choose not to live that lifestyle if you are born into it. So all in all, I feel like this is all part of the system, I don't even feel like we or a certain group of people created it, I think it was bound to happen a long time ago by virtue of peoples emotions and a long standing series of cause and effect. 1000's of years worth, it may well turn out that to be judgemental is to be human, it may be how we survived so long. Hopefully we continue to develop and find a way to grow out of it, I myself can honestly not see a way.
