Cincy Uprising

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 11:01 AM 4/12/01 -0700, jordan wrote:
>That would just reflect poorly on you, your department, and ultimately
>your Mayor: it would show clearly how little training you've had.  The
>proper use of excessive force is something _can_ be learned and trained
>for; there are agencies who do provide this kind of training to their
>officers and you'll never see them "shooting first and asking questions
>later" ... it's expensive and it takes time, but hey, I bet the Mayor
>of Cincinatti now feels like he should have spent the money.
>
>The fact that many officers (and prison guards too) haven't received
>the proper training to do their jobs is scary; it's not at all
>rational.

Then what do you think a proper proceduce would be in a situation when you
know that:

1.  there is significant probablity that a person you are
approaching/apprehending may be armed
2.  that person's behavior suggest that he/she may want to use a weapon.

These are real-life situations,  Not long ago, 2 cops in MD wre shot to
death while responding to a noise complaint.  I'm pretty sure that every PD
in this country has something similar in their institutional memory.

A larger point I'm trying to make is to move away from the trivial bitching
about 'police brutality' and start examining the organizational/structural
conditions of police work in this country.  A point often missed is that
what looks like 'racial profiling' or 'police brutality' is in fact
'collateral damage' - the price this society pays for the right to bear
arms.  It would make sense to have some discussion whethere the benefit of
that right is worth the price, and whether people who are benefiting are
the same who are paying the price.

wojtek