Courtesy of the USA Today:
The government will try to reduce the "simmering distrust" between police and minority communities, President Obama said Monday, in part by issuing new rules for military-style equipment and seeking more cameras to be worn by law enforcement officers.
"This is not a problem simply of Ferguson, Missouri," Obama said after a day of meetings with local government and law enforcement officials from across the country. "This is a problem that is national."
The president announced a new task force to study best police practices, as well as tighter controls on federal money that local law enforcement agencies use to buy military-style equipment.
The goal, Obama said, is "to make sure that we're not building a militarized culture inside our local law enforcement."
The Obama administration also unveiled a three-year, $263 million plan to assist community policing, including a $75 million plan for 50,000 new body cameras to be worn by officers.
The president said that community policing can help make officers and their communities "partners" in battling crime and promoting safety.
"We can build confidence and we can build trust, but it's not going to happen overnight," Obama said.
Dealing with the militarization of the police and putting more body cameras on more police officers will surely have a dramatic effect. But of course there are still the systemic problems of underlying racism, a lack of respect for the communities that they serve, and a John Wayne mentality that needs to be addressed as well among many police officers in this country.
For most communities in this country there is simply no need to provide armored vehicles and military style body armor and weapons to our police. And once they have them, it will obviously make them feel like soldiers at war instead of peace keepers at home.
I think even with the President taking these steps and expressing his
frustration at the events that took place in Ferguson, that too many
people still see the color of his skin and simply categorize this as a
"black" problem that the majority of Americans simply do not need to worry about, or take steps to deal with.
Ultimately this needs to stop being seen as a "black" problem, and needs to be seen as an "American" problem.
Only then will there be serious, and long term attempt to protect ALL Americans from brutality at the hands of the people we hire to keep us safe.
I thought it very interesting that American police forces were "incensed" by the St. Louis Rams players who showed "hands up don't shoot" yesterday. Personally, it is time they got the message that we are tired of our people - of any color, but particularly black - are being gunned down by the group sworn to uphold the law and protect the people. Maybe the police who are so angry about this display of protest against their activies are in the wrong line of work.
ReplyDeleteNot just the police, read any right wing site (or if you dare c4p) they are all angry at the Ram's actions. How dare they be in solidarity!
DeleteSpeaking of c4p, a self described active Special Forces poster says he has been briefed by his commanders that Obama is instigating this "race war". Whoa. The old folks are sleeping with their guns now.
Seems to me the right would love a race war, they have been preparing for one for decades.
Special forces? Insanity.
DeleteOh, that's the Ases dude. Yeah, he thinks he's somethin' speshul.
Delete"a self described active Special Forces poster says he has been briefed by his commanders that Obama is instigating this "race war"."
Delete------------------------------------------
I call bullshit. If he is active military, then gossiping and gunfondling with like-minded racist droolers? Sure.
Being "briefed by his commanders that Obama is instigating this "race war"? Complete and total fucking bullshit
I heard a report on All Things Considered (I think) about body cameras. It was very interesting. They interviewed a chief or an officer who described the technology, including the fact that the recorded information doesn't go to the police department, but to a separate entity. It also automatically records a certain amount of time before an encounter/event. This kind of technology, if properly implemented, helps protect citizens as well as police officers. Imagine what we might know if Officer Wilson was wearing a body camera.
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me is the absolute GLEE certain individuals seem to get from the fact that a young black man may have acted in a violent manner and was then gunned down. It supports their sick views that all black people are violent and that a violent black person deserves to die. I believe we have one of those people polluting your comment sections.
ReplyDeleteYes yes yes. I am STILL seeing pictures of Joda Cain on my FB news feed. And when I say "Hey...that's not Michael Brown. It's Joda Cain." I get "so what! Buildings are being burned down!" What do you say to people that say "the truth doesn't matter"?
DeleteI hope instead of sending police to Israel for training, they send them to countries where citizens who are shot by police are few to none.
ReplyDeleteI fully believe that Chuck Hagel was forced to resign because he was behind the pushing of unused military equipment to police forces that are not qualified to use it.
ReplyDeleteI applaud President Obama, especially on the body camera aspect as every officer should have every moment of his or her day, while on duty, filmed. We the public pay for law enforcement and we the public should have a record to review regarding their performance.
And exactly how would you feel if your boss, who pays for your labor required you to be filmed every part of your day?
DeleteI like the idea of go pros on police during all stops, but your attitude just sucks.
Anonymous 3:23, many employees are routinely under surveillance throughout their work day; retail workers under security cams, bank employees, office workers and computer surveillance.
DeleteThe fact is, the cameras are just as likely to protect a police officer as they are the public.
Continual surveillance and recording of police officers is impractical (imagine the hours and hours of recording) and unnecessary.
DeleteIf my job involved the DAILY unpredictable possibility of violence or death to myself or other members of the community, I would feel just fine--protected, even! --with being filmed every part of my day.
DeleteGo ahead, tell me my attitude sucks. My response? Scornful laughter.
Officer Darren Wilson took his gun back to the police station and at some point put it into an evidence bag. I'm having trouble figuring out how a body cam would improve that flaw in chain of custody for evidence.
ReplyDeleteAs someone said previously--the images are not downloaded to the police station, they are sent elsewhere so the cops can't interfere with them.
DeleteInteresting.
Mishandling or breaking the chain of evidence is different problem altogether. In this case, you're right that a body cam probably would not have made a difference in terms of how the gun was handled after the shooting. In other cases, it might be able to show (or prevent) an officer planting evidence or screwing with evidence at the scene. In this case, another officer should have taken Wilson's gun at the scene and bagged it.
DeleteA body cam presumably would have recorded what led up to the incident as well as what happened during and, to an extent, afterwards. It may or may not have recorded the gun being handled the right way after Michael Brown was shot and killed.
Body cams are just another tool. They don't take the place of good training, basic decency, and following the rules.
We have cops in Missouri lying through their teeth right now and it's sickening! All over the NFL situation. Those four or five NFL football players had the right (it's called freedom!) to do as they did.
DeleteNo apology needed by them or the NFL as far as I'm concerned and I'm white!
I'm white too. I was proud of those players.
Delete6:36 and 8:26 -
DeleteI'll bet that many of the NFL players have had negative experiences with law enforcement because of their skin color and their size.
I suspect that many of them have been stopped near their expensive homes or in their expensive cars because they didn't look like they 'belonged'.
I'm sure they understand better than I ever will what it's like living in a country where you're assumed to be suspicious just because your skin has more melanin than someone else's.
The amount of military-style equipment to local police should make us concerned. It is outrageous.
ReplyDeleteGun control is an integral part of the "fix" and without it, little can be done to create an environment where the police are fearful enough of anyone causing a problem (regardless of race) being armed and dangerous. In other countries there are far fewer fatal police shootings because an armed population does not exist. In other countries there are far few children killed by guns and people don't get shot in the face for knocking on a door at night. Children don't get massacred in school by AK47 touting disturbed people. Children don't get shot playing with toy guns. Only in America. You have a made in America problem that is bigger than anyone in power is prepared to acknowledge. And then you have your NRA who will fight any effort to create a sane environment tooth and nail. In the US everyone shot by a gun, regardless of who the shooter was, is just a sad statistic.
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't know I would have liked to see some more military style force used against the traitorous Cliven Bundy and his THUGS.
ReplyDeleteMilitary-style equipment is designed to fight the "enemy". Equipping local police forces with this type of military force turns the police into the "good guys on our side" fighting against the "bad guys" -- in this case, their fellow Americans. It's a mindset that is very hard to overcome.
ReplyDelete3:25 has it absolutely right: gun control is definitely an integral part of the "fix", and it's a bloody shame that there aren't enough Americans, elected or otherwise, who refuse to see that. Americans live a culture of fear. My friends here in the Great White North, and many Europeans feel very afraid of entering the U.S. because of it -- no matter the colour of our skin.
The body cam system is a fantastic idea. The prototype used in Philly has a cloud based system where the footage is held, Chuck Ramsey, our police chief, did an excellent job at shaking things up in the police department. I'm sure he'll do well working with the President. Ramsey instated the older type constable on patrol system, where the police and the people get to know each other, in many cases on a first name basis. As they move up the ladder, they're given more responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteCommunication is key, but learning the way people of other races and backgrounds communicate both verbally and with body language goes a long way. Will it end racism as we know it? I doubt it. But showing the bad cops the consequences and booting them out would emphasize a zero tolerance policy for racism has teeth.
I've been watching people on television opining that the good cops feel like everyone's painting them with too broad of a brush, and I can see that happening just as part of the job.
We have a problem on our streets, the criminals bully people who call the cops, and the cops who see something and keep their mouths zipped are no better.
I'm glad to hear President Obama's ideas and hope that it helps. Like you said, we're all Americans.