Friday, October 28, 2011

Police Brutality - Handled the Way It Should Be



It isn't often that I feel the need to comment on a video, but in light of the Oakland situation,  this video needs to be examined by all sides.
  • It appears that the man running from the police is a trespasser. 
  • The man should be criminally prosecuted for trespassing, if the property owner so desires.
  • The police are paid by the property owner's taxes to do a job. That job is to apprehend the alleged offender and bring him to justice, NOT execute their own justice. They don't make the rules, the people do.
  • The police apprehend the individual rather roughly, but some of that roughness is probably necessary.
  • There is no evidence visible that indicates the trespasser initiated force against the officers.
  • It appears the officers initiated force against the trespasser. If this is true, this is assault.
  • It appears the officers initiated force against the trespasser because he made them run. Again, the police don't get to make the rules, they enforce them. Running is sometimes part of the job requirement.
  • An individual initiates force against the officers presumably to protect the trespasser from assault.
  • This individual will probably face charges of assault.
  • Other individuals agree with the first guy and back him up. At this point, this becomes anarchy. This is not desirable for the police as they got their rear ends handed to them. Neither is this acceptable to the crowd because the same could happen to them and they have no recourse.
  • Mob justice is often the only recourse against a corrupt system that will pick people off one by one.
  • When the police abandon the law and engage in vigilante justice, they run the risk of setting off this type of situation. They alone bear the blame for this situation as they have left the populace with NO JUST RECOURSE ALTERNATIVE.
  • The only alternative is to hold ALL violators, including police accountable to the law. Jailing cops who take potshots at people will not embolden criminals, it will hold together the society you claim you want to protect.
Note to Oakland, NY and other police agencies. You keep pursuing this path of brutalizing protestors, you will open yourselves up to riots. When they take hold, you will NOT be able to stop them and it may cost you your life.

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