Part #675,976 of "Gee, I Wonder Why Black People Don't Trust Cops," the latest entry in an endless series. Look, there's no question about what the problem is here, and the thing is that both sides of the equation know it.
Cops understand it just as well as civilians do: while there are jerkoffs and authoritarians and outright racists in every profession, law enforcement is the only profession where such people are given a deadly weapon and the right to use it, and then are institutionally coddled when they indulge in illegal and immoral behavior. Just like politicians, cops routinely get away with behavior that would get you fired from stocking shelves at the Wal-Mart.
The thing to keep in mind is that the leadership levels of the law enforcement profession consider all that a feature, not a bug. It's the domestic equivalent of bombing a wedding or shooting a civilian in a combat zone, and shrugging your shoulders and saying well, whaddaya gonna do? as if there is simply nothing that can ever be done about such incidents, so why even bother trying.
And until you find ways to weed out and discourage that mindset, it will never, ever change.
Cops understand it just as well as civilians do: while there are jerkoffs and authoritarians and outright racists in every profession, law enforcement is the only profession where such people are given a deadly weapon and the right to use it, and then are institutionally coddled when they indulge in illegal and immoral behavior. Just like politicians, cops routinely get away with behavior that would get you fired from stocking shelves at the Wal-Mart.
The thing to keep in mind is that the leadership levels of the law enforcement profession consider all that a feature, not a bug. It's the domestic equivalent of bombing a wedding or shooting a civilian in a combat zone, and shrugging your shoulders and saying well, whaddaya gonna do? as if there is simply nothing that can ever be done about such incidents, so why even bother trying.
And until you find ways to weed out and discourage that mindset, it will never, ever change.
1 comment:
The Police are the Standing Army the Founding Fathers warned about. Conservatives love Police Officers precisely because right-wingers believe LEOs will fall in-line and enforce Rightwing Authoritarian Governance. It also explains why conservatives get so angry at FBI or Police Officers who aren't rightwing, i.e. Mueller et al.
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