Re: Cops 5: Barney Fife, Now in Real Life!
That whole article in the last link is speculation and anecdotal. 2 cops here, 4 cops there, hardly proof of a widespread organized effort.
I suppose it is the latent firefighter in me. Where there is smoke, there is fire. If you don't operate that way, you might die.
Circumstantial and anecdotal evidence is still evidence, by the way. Most criminal cases are decided on circumstantial evidence.
Issues arise in obtaining more empirical evidence, like the many structural impediments in investigating and researching the topic. First of all, there are too many law enforcement agencies in the country. Second, there are no consistent requirements to report on things like use of force, so compiling useful statistics for analysis is difficult. Third, we have become a society that reflexively seeks to support law enforcement no matter the apparent transgression because we incorrectly have believed fear mongers who posit there is far more crime than there actually is and that the job of a law enforcement officer is far more dangerous than it actually is. Finally, like the NRA, most city mayors refuse to take on the FOP (or whatever version of police "union" represents the local law enforcement) for fear of looking "weak on crime."
Realize too when I say white supremacist reach into law enforcement is "widespread" I don't necessarily mean pervasive or a majority of the cops out there are members of the KKK. I don't know if that is true. But I know how to use the brains and eyes God gave me. I know enough about how to understand statistics and probability.
If this was not an issue, unarmed white men would be getting killed by cops more often than unarmed black or brown men. Based on what evidence we have been able to obtain, we know that is not the case. Black cops would be killing unarmed people of all colors in numbers representative of their numbers on police forces, and those eyes God gave me tell me that is not true either. Show me the repeated instances of black cops captured on cell phone video shooting unarmed people. You can't. Of all the recent "viral" videos of the last few years, the only white victim I can recall is the Utah nurse who was illegally arrested for her refusal to let a cop take a blood sample he had no legal right to obtain. And last time I checked, she was alive and well.
It's high time as a society we put this issue to rest. Study it, understand it, fix it. If I'm wrong, law enforcement has nothing to fear and everything to gain by shining as much light on the topic as can be shined. Every day we wait tells me more and more I am not wrong.
