
What I Saw in Ferguson - aaronbrethorst
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/saw-ferguson
======
dodders
For a good insight into how city police are trained, I recommend reading Cop
In The Hood by Peter Moskos.

Peter joined the Baltimore Police and describes how they were taught to "own
the situation", which in effect means responding with escalating force until
the situation is under control. This approach is evident in the reports from
both the Washington Post and Al Jazeera journalists. From the book's
description of the training, there appeared to be little effort to educate on
correct responses for different situations.

I have friends in the UK Police force (I am not a cop myself) that tell me
they are taught how to diffuse situations rather than escalate them and that
getting into a violent confrontation is seen as a last resort, not a first
response.

I have every sympathy with the police, and the tough job that they face, but I
can't help but feel that the differences in approach and specifically the
inflexibility of the US police training does not help them.

~~~
Synaesthesia
If you've heard of the South African shooting of mine workers in Marikana, in
which 35 miners where shot, you can see what sort of tragic results can happen
where the police are militarized. It's a path to catastrophe. Instead of
engaging protestors they come with indimidating riot gear, automatic rifles,
armored vehicles, helicopters, flash bangs and tear gas. They wear visors
which conveniently hide their identity. Any tragedies are met with an
"investigation" which usually leads nowhere or goes on forever.

When you are face to face with a cop, I've learned your rights don't mean
anything. The only thing that matter is power.

------
paulannesley
Well written; horrifying.

> His prone figure sprawled on the street for four hours in the unforgiving
> August sun, with blood on the asphalt—an indignity in sharp contrast with
> the quick departure of the officer from the scene.

> Police, some outfitted in riot gear, others in military fatigues, barricaded
> the streets. At least one of them draped a black bandana over his face;
> others covered their badges.

> One homeowner walked out of his house to find a spent flash grenade on his
> lawn. An armored truck rolled down the street, a flume of tear gas issuing
> from the back.

------
MrZongle2
How America responds to the events in Ferguson will affect what we see in our
_own_ neighborhoods in the coming years.

------
zorpner
_Police, some outfitted in riot gear, others in military fatigues, barricaded
the streets. At least one of them draped a black bandana over his face; others
covered their badges._

Utterly shameful.

To the people flagging this off the front page: if you don't see what the
suppression of protest and the arrest of reporters by a militarized police has
to do with a site focused on startups and the disruption of existing power
structures, you need to think harder.

~~~
Alupis
What I find equally shameful are the individuals and groups using the riots as
an excuse to loot and plunder the streets.

If I was a business owner over there and my shop was robbed blind... I'm not
sure what I would do.

(also, the escalation of the police force is in proportion to how aggressive
the people are getting - not excusing the situation -- just point out that
people are firing rockets, fireworks and other projectiles at the police,
flipping vehicles, looting and plundering...etc... absolute chaos.)

~~~
jbooth
So the cops arresting journalists in McDonald's, or shooting tear gas
canisters at Al-Jazeera on an otherwise empty street, that's a proportional
response to aggression?

If one a-hole in a crowd hucks a bottle at you, gassing the whole crowd is not
proportional.

~~~
Alupis
Well, that's not the entire story of what is going on over there.

As I said, I'm not dismissing the situation -- but if I owned a store over
there, I would want the police to protect my storefront from vandals and
looters in force.

As for the other things that are going on -- I think it's best to wait for the
full report being assuming [the worst] things.

Just remember, 99.9999% of police don't wake up in the morning and say to
themselves "how can I screw over citizens today". They are just people like
you and me. There are always two sides of any story.

~~~
jbooth
It's a very indicative part of the story. Given the story of the Wash Post guy
and the Al Jazeera guys, both very well documented, it does indeed seem like a
substantial portion of those particular cops do wake up in the morning
thinking something other than what I'd like.

If this is how they power-trip and shove around journalists, how are they
treating people who are less of a PR threat?

[http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/live-
news/2014/8/al...](http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/live-
news/2014/8/al-jazeera-americareportergetshitwithteargasinferguson.html)

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-ferguson-
washingto...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-ferguson-washington-
post-reporter-wesley-lowery-gives-account-of-his-
arrest/2014/08/13/0fe25c0e-2359-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html?hpid=z1)

------
josephschmoe
Unlawful assembly? Isn't assembly a constitutional right?

~~~
Alupis
It's lawful until un-lawful activities start taking place (the looting and
plundering, vandalism, projectiles being fired at people and police, etc)

~~~
watwut
Except these cops are eager to escalate the situation even if no looting is
taking place:
[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/2...](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/2014/08/ferguson_police_attack_protestors_with_tear_gas_rubber_bullets_on_site_reporting.html)

~~~
Alupis
> eager to escalate the situation

I don't think "eager" is the right word here -- I hardly believe anyone, cop
or citizen, is eager to escalate a situation where nobody is going to win.
It's bad mojo for both sides if it continues.

~~~
paulannesley
There was a quote from a police office involved to the crowd that went
something like “bring it on, you animals”.

