Open Season on the Police

[Revmitchell]

In recent months there have been a series of cases reported in the media, where some teenage thug — white, black or Hispanic in different cases — has been stopped by a policeman for some routine violation of the law and, instead of complying with lawful instructions, such as "show me your driver's license," chooses instead to defy the policeman, resist arrest and finally ends up physically assaulting the cop.

In the most recent case, the teenager happened to be white, but the story doesn't seem to change much, whatever the complexion of the guy who violated the law. Nor does the sad ending change, with the young wise guy shot dead. Nor do the reactions of the media and the parents vary much.


"He was only a kid" is an almost automatic reaction of the parents and the media. "He didn't deserve to be killed" over a traffic violation, or because he didn't drop a toy gun when ordered to, or some other minor infraction.

Are we so addicted to talking points and sound bites that we can't be bothered to use common sense? If you are killed by a teenager, you are just as dead as if you had been killed by the oldest man in the world.

It doesn't matter how minor the law violation was that caused the young guy to be stopped. He wasn't shot for the violation — which could have been jay-walking, for all the difference it makes. He was shot for attacking the police, after having foolishly escalated a routine encounter into a personal confrontation.

Irrational statements by the young man's parents may be understandable when they discover that their son is dead. But for media people to make such mindless statements to a nationwide audience is just grossly irresponsible.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/21788-open-season-on-the-police

 

[poncho]

Believe it or not, the power of the mainstream media doesn’t just reside in their ability to lie. While they’re known to publish falsehoods on a regular basis, that’s not really their strong suit. Their propaganda reaches its highest potency when they tell the truth. All they have to do obsess over a real news story, over and over again, until they’ve convinced you that this event represents a dangerous new trend.

That seems to be the case with the supposed ‘war on police’ that is all the rage in the media these days, especially on Fox News. Every time a police officer is killed, they will talk about the incident for days on end. In fact, they’ve had more stories on police deaths this year than the previous 4 years combined. Other news stations like ABC and CBS have similar numbers. Meanwhile, the number of police officers who are actually killed on a yearly basis is plummeting.

Continue . . . http://www.thedailysheeple.com/media-lies-the-war-on-police-is-a-complete-
sham_092015

Violence Against Police Is at a 45-Year Low, but You Wouldn't Know That From Watching the News

News stories of officers being attacked and killed while in the line of duty have become regular features of the nightly news broadcast, but does this increase in coverage reflect an increase in reality? My analysis suggests no.

A count of stories of police officers killed in the line of duty shows that media attention to these killings has increased dramatically since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Between one-third and one-half of all of the news stories that the legacy networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) have done on this topic over the last 10 years have appeared in the last year. Fox News has run more stories on this topic this year than it did over the four previous years combined.

Continue . . . http://www.psmag.com/books-and-cult...-you-wouldnt-know-that-from-watching-the-news

Oh drats there's that evidence getting in the way of a media driven meme again.

 

[Revmitchell]

Well you did not provide any evidence but I have some here for ya:

The number of police officers murdered in the line of duty rose 89 percent in 2014, with a total of 51 cops killed across the US, up from just 27 the year before, according to preliminary annual statistics released by the FBI on Monday.

https://news.vice.com/article/number-of-police-officers-killed-while-on-duty-nearly-doubles-in-2014

 

[poncho]

Well you did not provide any evidence but I have some here for ya:



https://news.vice.com/article/number-of-police-officers-killed-while-on-duty-nearly-doubles-in-2014

You must have missed it. It was in the second article I posted. Sometimes it helps to read the articles I post.

Thanks for the link but would you be so kind as to link to the actual report now so I don't have to sort through 10,000 pages of FBI files?

.

 

[Revmitchell]

You must have missed it. It was in the second article I posted. Sometimes it helps to read the articles I post.

Thanks for link but would you be so kind as to link to the actual report now so I don't have to sort through 10,000 pages of FBI files?

UH no no evidence there just some homemade graphs and unsubstantiated claims.

 

[poncho]

My bad, the author tells where he got his evidence from in the article . . .

Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund

I assumed that you read these reports the last time I posted them on Baptist Board. Guess not.

Latest Memorial Fund Fatalities Report . . . http://www.nleomf.org/facts/research-bulletins/

For the third year in a row, traffic-related incidents were the leading cause of officer fatalities in the first half of 2015.

Of the 18 firearms-related fatalities, four officers were feloniously shot and killed during a traffic stop or pursuit—the most of any circumstance of fatal shootings in 2015.

Causes of Law Enforcement Deaths . . . http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/causes.html

Preliminary 2015 Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities

January 1 through October 20, 2015 vs. January 1 through October 20, 2014

Shows firearms related fatalities were down 18% where as traffic related fatalities were up 31% and "other causes" were up 59%

http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/

If you'd be so kind as to provide that link to the actual FBI report now so we can have a look at it I'd appreciate it.

I'm guessing it says pretty much the same thing.

 

[Amy13]

Even if we have less police actually dying, I would say the public has a greater hatred of the police today than ever before. Some police do overstep their boundaries and need to be dealt with, but all officers seem to get lumped into that category.

 

[poncho]

Even if we have less police actually dying, I would say the public has a greater hatred of the police today than ever before. Some police do overstep their boundaries and need to be dealt with, but all officers seem to get lumped into that category.

I never said less police are dying. I'm saying the statistics don't support the implication that there is an "open season on police".

Instead of the media implying there is a "war on police" it should be focusing on ways to cut down on officer deaths caused by car accidents as they are the leading cause of officer deaths for the third year in a row . . . according to the statistics.

I hope the Rev doesn't disappear on us now. Oops, looks like he's signed out for the day. Guess we'll have to wait till tomorrow.

 

[poncho]

Oh wait the Rev has signed back in . . . found that link to the FBI report yet?

I'm curious to see if it agrees with the "Latest Memorial Fund Fatalities Report". Well, actually I'm more curious to find out if you actually read it before you posted it.

But I suppose if we never hear from you again in this thread it will provide the same answer.

 

[poncho]

Okay, either the Rev has signed back out or turned off his tracking beacon. Wait a hold it now his little green light is flashing again.

Here's some nice soothing sounds to listen to while we wait for him to respond.

 

[poncho]

Okay . . . well, I guess the Rev doesn't want to play anymore. Frown

 

[poncho]

Rev, why do you disappear when you're shown to be wrong instead of just admitting it?

C'mon it's not that bad. It's not like you're the only one the corporate media and it's supporting cast of propagandists has fooled into believing something that isn't true.

Come on back lets talk about it. Let's work together to figure out ways to reduce traffic related officer fatalities.

 

[Amy13]

An officer was just killed yesterday btw....New York I believe. Shot in the head while on duty

 

[poncho]

A plainclothes New York City police officer died Tuesday night after being shot during a gun battle in East Harlem, officials said.

Randolph Holder, who was assigned to the NYPD's housing unit, was responding at about 8:30 p.m. to reports of gunfire in one of the area's large housing projects. He and another officer, also in plainclothes, were pursuing a suspect near a pedestrian overpass when the exchange of gunfire took place, Police Commissioner William Bratton said during a press conference early Wednesday

Holder, 33, was struck in the head. He was taken to Harlem Hospital Center in critical condition and died at 10:22 p.m. ET.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/

Tragic as this is it doesn't sound like he was targeted by "cop hunters".

 

[Zaac]

http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/21788-open-season-on-the-police

I don't get it. What's the rationale to justify police officers continuing to use extreme force , often to the point of death, over, i.e., traffic violations? And then when the people start to resist the extreme treatment and the tasering and beatings over a ,i.e,broken taillight or a traffic violation, then the officer has grounds to say they were resisting arrest and then use deadly force.

This whole system of policing is beyond stupid.

Ain't no open season on police as Poncho noted for you. There is an open season on police brutality and unnecessary extreme use of force by the police.

 

[Zaac]

My bad, the author tells where he got his evidence from in the article . . .

I assumed that you read these reports the last time I posted them on Baptist Board. Guess not.

I'm curious about this response too.

 

[TCassidy]

If we look at the United Kingdom, 1 person was killed by police in 2014 and 0 in 2013. English police reportedly fired guns a total of three times in all of 2013, with zero reported fatalities.

From 2010 through 2014, there were four fatal police shootings in England, which has a population of about 52 million. By contrast, Albuquerque, N.M., with a population 1 percent the size of England’s, had 26 fatal police shootings in that same time period.

China, whose population is 4 and 1/2 times the size of the United States, recorded 12 killings by law enforcement officers in 2014.

 

[lexinonomous]

This is such an incredibly touchy subject for me. At some point, you have to realize that police officers are human and they can only do so much before a gun gets pulled. Another part of me aches for the parents of this young man and can completely understand why people are uset about him being shot and killed. Teenagers are ignorant at times and can believe thay they need to stand up for themselves, regardless of the situation. In this case, I think the teen believed he was standing up for his rights, when if he just complied everything would have worked out. I pray for the family involved and I hope that they will find closure one day.

 

[TCassidy]

US cops killed more people in one month than UK cops did in the entire 20th century.

 

[poncho]

Hear that sound TC? That's the sound of you being placed on several ignore lists.