What are your thoughts on Police Brutality?

Is police brutality an actual problem or are we just over using a few cases of unprofessionalism and making them out to be worse than they were?

Even to this day we over play cases like Mike Brown in Ferguson just to find out he was guilty?

However we don’t hear much anymore about the Daniel Shaver case.

I come from a family with deep history in the Police and military. Before my Step Father was an officer / Detective he was in the US Rangers (75th Regiment) he believes a lot of men and women with military service especially combat do extremely well as officer in intense situations and can defuse the scenario before it gets deadly.

It seems a lot of kids get out of high school and want to be officers but when it comes to a tough situation especially dealing in violence they’re more prone to using deadly force.

What are your thoughts? Discuss and be civil.

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TinyViolins · 31-35, M

There's lots of video evidence, even besides the headline cases. There are far more anecdotal cases that I've heard in person and seen online.

My theory is that the militarization of police have made it easy for police brutality to become more pervasive. There's bad apples in every bunch, but before, it was commonplace that cops grew up in the same community they served. They'd see their friends and family and neighbors on patrols. There was more engagement, more rapport, more savvy.

When you got a bunch of people out of the military that have been away for a long time, there's a lack of connection to the community. There's the fight or flight mindset that has been nurtured for years that there are enemy forces you need to defeat. This paves the way for the tendency of police to villainize the people in the cases they get called to. Which leads to brutality

It's real, but that isn't to say most cops are terrible. I think most of them are decent people working a shitty job. Heavy is the chest that wears the badge, and not everyone is strong enough to carry it

TakingBackMidgard · 31-35, M

@TinyViolins I know some departments have dropped the entry requirements which doesn’t help. I feel for some of the stress dealt they need to raise them.

And I’m for “militarization” in the concept of equipment. If I’m going in a hostile environment I want to be up armed and up armored as my life is on the line

TinyViolins · 31-35, M

@TakingBackMidgard I get that police want to feel safe, but if you're a member of the community and you see police rolling around with gear and armor like that, you're going to feel a little threatened and less safe. This puts you on edge, which increases your animosity for police, which makes you more defensive when confronting them. This could needlessly escalate situations because it breaks the trust that police are there as a peacekeeping entity.

There's a reason the relationship between police and common people are under such strain

TakingBackMidgard · 31-35, M

@TinyViolins I can see that. Especially during the Boston bombing when the police were patrolling in Humvees. Looks like pictures from the streets of Baghdad. It’s not comforting to see an MRAP roll up the drive way. But on the other side I’d feel safe in my armored plated womb