Grieves
Senior Member
Often on this site we find ourselves discussing the state of policing in America/around the world, usually with a focus on the massive expansion of military-style tactics and equipment within police forces the world over, and how that change in policing changes how authority works in modern times. Some say It's all a grand plot to pacify the people in the style of martial law, some say it's just the natural response to an increasingly dangerous world, police-safety being paramount.
Something that I see often being dismissed or downplayed in these discussions is the 'Cop' mentality, and the sometimes automatic willingness to conspire against justice and the public good that can result of it. I've had a nasty encounter or two with police in the past, but I've also got police in the family, and when we discuss these issues the conversation is typically framed thus: There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of officers of the law out there. The Police- as in those upstanding individuals who take it upon themselves to protect and serve with the earnest intent to do good, and Cops- those who are in it for the gun and the badge. Police grew up with a strong sense of right and wrong and a desire to see karma enforced, Cops grew up as schoolyard bullies who wouldn't surrender that role to the adult world.
While there are hopefully just as many Police on any given force as there are Cops, there's little question that for the most part the Cops are running the show. Most every police-force in North America, right down to the local scene, functions as a sort of 'club-house', where it's entirely expected that the guys on your 'team' will cover for and protect you, even when it goes against the mandate to protect and serve.
An infuriating example of this came up recently here in Toronto just a few nights back.
Here you can see Sammy Yatim, a young man who threw a fit with a blade in-hand on an empty street-car, being executed by a police officer. Sammy was alone on the bus, had no hostages, was entirely surrounded by multiple officers, and only had one mode of exit, closely watched by several armed policemen. The police order Sammy to drop the knife, Sammy does not. Though there is no danger to a single officer, made entirely apparent by the casual stance of all officers but those with their weapons trained, a single officer opens fire, three shots, long pause, then six shots, emptying 75% of his weapon's 12 round magazine into the youth. No one tackles him, calls for him to halt, admonishes him, or even acts surprised. Instead, the police immediately begin to contaminate the scene of the shooting, walking nonchalantly through the area, treading on and kicking around casings 'accidentally', allowing civilians to go traipsing through the area, letting a bicycle pass by the police-tape. Rather than treat their colleague as a man who just opened fire to a psychotic extent on a youth who was no danger to anyone but himself as a cause for immediate concern and action, and rather than treat the scene of the shooting as a place where a crime was committed, they all had themselves an idle walk-about across the evidence. Most sick and twisted of all, it's clearly audible in most recordings of the incident that, following the 9 shots, someone boards the street-car and deploys a tazer on Sammy, now shot nine times.
Presumably he was still twitching.
The psychotic Cop can and will be punished. That goes without saying in a case so outrageous. Can he be properly tried though, given the police are on video contaminating the evidence? Will any of the officers with him be charged or remanded for contaminating the scene/failing to take control of the situation? Will there be any mention or discussion of the rather evident lack of appropriate response among a near dozen officers to one of their own opening fire and near emptying his weapon on a lone civilian in a street car?
These things happen all the time in my area, 'suicide by cop' a repeat theme. The vast majority of the time the officers involved get a pass, even in the case where a naked man with a butter-knife was gunned down. The videos make that (hopefully) impossible in this particular event, but it leaves one to wonder just how often the 'Cop' mentality dusts and tidies these things up for the sake of their club. By the casual behavior of most every officer involved in this incident, I'd say it's more often than most would dare dread.
Something that I see often being dismissed or downplayed in these discussions is the 'Cop' mentality, and the sometimes automatic willingness to conspire against justice and the public good that can result of it. I've had a nasty encounter or two with police in the past, but I've also got police in the family, and when we discuss these issues the conversation is typically framed thus: There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of officers of the law out there. The Police- as in those upstanding individuals who take it upon themselves to protect and serve with the earnest intent to do good, and Cops- those who are in it for the gun and the badge. Police grew up with a strong sense of right and wrong and a desire to see karma enforced, Cops grew up as schoolyard bullies who wouldn't surrender that role to the adult world.
While there are hopefully just as many Police on any given force as there are Cops, there's little question that for the most part the Cops are running the show. Most every police-force in North America, right down to the local scene, functions as a sort of 'club-house', where it's entirely expected that the guys on your 'team' will cover for and protect you, even when it goes against the mandate to protect and serve.
An infuriating example of this came up recently here in Toronto just a few nights back.
Here you can see Sammy Yatim, a young man who threw a fit with a blade in-hand on an empty street-car, being executed by a police officer. Sammy was alone on the bus, had no hostages, was entirely surrounded by multiple officers, and only had one mode of exit, closely watched by several armed policemen. The police order Sammy to drop the knife, Sammy does not. Though there is no danger to a single officer, made entirely apparent by the casual stance of all officers but those with their weapons trained, a single officer opens fire, three shots, long pause, then six shots, emptying 75% of his weapon's 12 round magazine into the youth. No one tackles him, calls for him to halt, admonishes him, or even acts surprised. Instead, the police immediately begin to contaminate the scene of the shooting, walking nonchalantly through the area, treading on and kicking around casings 'accidentally', allowing civilians to go traipsing through the area, letting a bicycle pass by the police-tape. Rather than treat their colleague as a man who just opened fire to a psychotic extent on a youth who was no danger to anyone but himself as a cause for immediate concern and action, and rather than treat the scene of the shooting as a place where a crime was committed, they all had themselves an idle walk-about across the evidence. Most sick and twisted of all, it's clearly audible in most recordings of the incident that, following the 9 shots, someone boards the street-car and deploys a tazer on Sammy, now shot nine times.
Presumably he was still twitching.
The psychotic Cop can and will be punished. That goes without saying in a case so outrageous. Can he be properly tried though, given the police are on video contaminating the evidence? Will any of the officers with him be charged or remanded for contaminating the scene/failing to take control of the situation? Will there be any mention or discussion of the rather evident lack of appropriate response among a near dozen officers to one of their own opening fire and near emptying his weapon on a lone civilian in a street car?
These things happen all the time in my area, 'suicide by cop' a repeat theme. The vast majority of the time the officers involved get a pass, even in the case where a naked man with a butter-knife was gunned down. The videos make that (hopefully) impossible in this particular event, but it leaves one to wonder just how often the 'Cop' mentality dusts and tidies these things up for the sake of their club. By the casual behavior of most every officer involved in this incident, I'd say it's more often than most would dare dread.
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