

The Videos That Are Putting Race and Policing into Sharp Relief - r0h1n
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/30/us/police-videos-race.html

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jakeogh
The threat of force as the default way to get compliance is counterproductive.
The only reason a police officer should be able to lawfully use force should
be the same as it already is for everyone else. This requires both (in AZ[1]
at least):

* Breaking the law.

* Immediate serious bodily harm to a person (attempted, threatened or witnessed (see law)).

Or:

* Warrent issued by a judge.

If the suspect wants to drive away, or not comply with an order, in the vast
majority of cases (civil, petty crime etc), that's fine. Let them. It's
counterproductive to chase someone and it's not worth shooting anyone over.
Police officers and the people they serve would be safer. If a criminal
warrant is issued by a judge, then the threat of force may be necessary, but
it shouldn't be the first (no-knock raid for non-violent crime) reaction. Part
of the problem (in addition to people who like to oppress and/or apply their
racism) is that police are expected to force people to comply. Some will say
"but the lawlessness!", to that I think two responses are appropriate:

Most of the laws that normal people break don't rise to the level necessary
(see above) to be enforced with force.

The change in culture would have the opposite effect. There would be less
crime.

I wonder what would happen if we not only elected the Sheriff, but the police
too. Sheriff must have final hire/fire power, but the candidates should be
required to get community support. And they should live in the community they
serve. A great first step is to end the "war on drugs". Either we own
ourselves or we don't.

[1]
[http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/13/00411.htm](http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/13/00411.htm)

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ekanes
Some police officers' behavior is abhorrent, and these videos will lead to
some positive societal/policy change (body cameras, etc.)

There's an unfortunate side effect though. Society is experiencing a systemic
loss of trust in our police forces.

Why? Even though most police officers are honest and good, and they're making
the world a safer place, our brains aren't great at separating what we see
from broader patterns.

The news/internet is surfacing the most extreme examples, and if your brain is
comparing the 5 awful things you saw cops do with the occasional "normal"
interaction, you're going to start lowering your perception of police.

Many people are a bit nervous when a plane takes off or lands because airplane
crashes are scary, and even though the rational part of our brain might know
the stats (planes are incredibly safe, much safer than cars) we can't let go
of it.

The cop that pulls you over for a ticket is probably not going to shoot you,
but because of seeing these videos it seems we're all more anxious, rational
or not.

~~~
kamau
African American here. Many of us have not trusted the police for a very long
time. We've known that these things happen since forever, but it's the advent
of the cell phone and body camera that let's the rest of the country see it. I
think that the loss of trust in police forces is a good thing, however. It's
the first step in the country at large realizing that there is a real problem
there, and that something needs to be done about it.

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supercanuck
jesus... I don't even know what to say after watching these.

