There's a culture of impunity and brutality in the police forces. It's not restricted to racism but more often manifested in conjunction with racism than not.

6 hours ago, Hanaguma said:

So, which of the 5 accused was the racist? Or were all of them?  I think we need to wait before playing that particular explosive card.  Like I wrote above, of 1,000 people killed by police in a year, only 14 were unarmed black people.  The larger problem is the other 986 deaths, and the culture that creates them. 

Let me introduce you to the concept of ‘Institutional Racism’:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism

 

13 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Let me introduce you to the concept of ‘Institutional Racism’:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism

 

...and your evidence that it is relevant to this case is what, exactly? Any proof that the Memphis PD itself is racist?

And in an epic case of virtue signalling at its finest, the police chief of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan felt it necessary to make his voice heard on this issue;

 

“I reached out last night to a few leaders in our city that are members of the Black community to express my sympathy...Although this tragedy occurred in another country, it will impact trust and confidence in policing by Black and all equity-deserving communities in Canada as well.”

 

https://globalnews.ca/news/9441166/saskatchewan-police-chiefs-perception-tyre-nichols/

 

Saskatoon is a small city of about 250,000 people located on the Canadian prairies. It is roughly 3,000 km from Memphis.  And  perhaps 1% are black. 

 

3 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

And in an epic case of virtue signalling at its finest, the police chief of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan felt it necessary to make his voice heard on this issue;

 

“I reached out last night to a few leaders in our city that are members of the Black community to express my sympathy...Although this tragedy occurred in another country, it will impact trust and confidence in policing by Black and all equity-deserving communities in Canada as well.”

 

https://globalnews.ca/news/9441166/saskatchewan-police-chiefs-perception-tyre-nichols/

 

Saskatoon is a small city of about 250,000 people located on the Canadian prairies. It is roughly 3,000 km from Memphis.  And  perhaps 1% are black. 

 

Well he got your attention didn’t he?!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Edited February 1, 20233 yr by Chomper Higgot

On 2/1/2023 at 12:48 PM, Phoenix Rising said:

Quite right, the police in the US are woefully under-educated. There should be national minimum standards that far exceed today's paltry requirements.

 

How US police training compares with the rest of the world

 

"There are around 18,000 police agencies in the US, but with no national standards on training, procedures and timescales vary across the country.

On average, US officers spend around 21 weeks training before they are qualified to go on patrol.

That is far less than in most other developed countries."

Case in point:

 

California police fatally shoot double amputee, raising the question: Was lethal force justified?

 

"A Los Angeles County police department is facing intense criticism this week after a video surfaced on social media of two officers fatally shooting a double amputee moving away from them.

The short video showed the 36-year-old Black man, Anthony Lowe Jr., missing the bottom halves of both legs, holding a knife but leaving his wheelchair and shuffling away from the officers."
 

3 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Case in point:

 

California police fatally shoot double amputee, raising the question: Was lethal force justified?

 

"A Los Angeles County police department is facing intense criticism this week after a video surfaced on social media of two officers fatally shooting a double amputee moving away from them.

The short video showed the 36-year-old Black man, Anthony Lowe Jr., missing the bottom halves of both legs, holding a knife but leaving his wheelchair and shuffling away from the officers."
 

Not a lot Fox News and Tucker can do to spin this one. Disgusting murder of a black disabled man who was shuffling away from the police. 

17 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Not a lot Fox News and Tucker can do to spin this one. Disgusting murder of a black disabled man who was shuffling away from the police. 

Yes, hard to come up with any scenario where a double amputee (even a knife wielding one) could not be subdued with non-lethal force. Just another example of how the US police in general are poorly trained and the whole system is in dire need of reform. Unless you get rid of the trigger happy vigilantes the public's trust in the police will continue to erode. This will lead to difficulties in recruiting good candidates, which, again, will lead to more unnecessary killings/outright murders.
Without systemic reform this cycle will continue.

46 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Not a lot Fox News and Tucker can do to spin this one. Disgusting murder of a black disabled man who was shuffling away from the police. 

Nevertheless, they will try. The cops will claim he had a bomb.

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Not a lot Fox News and Tucker can do to spin this one. Disgusting murder of a black disabled man who was shuffling away from the police. 

You fail to mention a few other things. For the sake of completeness, allow me to...

 

1.   He was missing the bottom of both legs but this guy could still move fast. Watch the video.

2.  He had already stabbed someone that day causing massive injuries and was still carrying a huge knife, presumably the same one he stabbed the other person with.

3.  The guy had a huge upper body and could certainly do a lot of damage to a child, OAP, small woman, another disabled person that he encountered while fleeing police.

4.  One of the 2 officers involved was also black. As in Tyre Nichols case, it seems to be common to mention that the victim was black but not the officers.

 

Now I am not saying it was justified, far from it - an enquiry will be needed and the full facts will have to come out before we can establish that. My first thoughts are that a tazer could have been used but maybe it already had been tried unsuccessfully, I don't know. But for the sake of accuracy these factors I mentioned should not be ignored, deliberately or otherwise.

 

I certainly wouldn't want my 76 year old mother to encounter this guy as he fled police. 

 

16 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Let me introduce you to the concept of ‘Institutional Racism’:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism

 

Presumably you are referring to the Memphis PD as being institutionally racist?  The same PD in which the police chief is black and 56% of officers are black. I can imagine there must be a real culture of racism towards black people there!

 

I can imagine a question in a few years on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

 

"How many black cops does it take to commit a white supremacist hate crime?"

A. 7

B. 10

C. 12

D. 5

 

Clearly the correct answer is 5.

23 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

You fail to mention a few other things. For the sake of completeness, allow me to...

 

1.   He was missing the bottom of both legs but this guy could still move fast. Watch the video.

2.  He had already stabbed someone that day causing massive injuries and was still carrying a huge knife, presumably the same one he stabbed the other person with.

3.  The guy had a huge upper body and could certainly do a lot of damage to a child, OAP, small woman, another disabled person that he encountered while fleeing police.

4.  One of the 2 officers involved was also black. As in Tyre Nichols case, it seems to be common to mention that the victim was black but not the officers.

 

Now I am not saying it was justified, far from it - an enquiry will be needed and the full facts will have to come out before we can establish that. My first thoughts are that a tazer could have been used but maybe it already had been tried unsuccessfully, I don't know. But for the sake of accuracy these factors I mentioned should not be ignored, deliberately or otherwise.

 

I certainly wouldn't want my 76 year old mother to encounter this guy as he fled police. 

 

The police had already caught up with him. He wasn't going anywhere.

*Deleted post edited out*

 

Thanks saved me pointing out the simple fact. 10 shots fired and the excuses are have started.

Edited February 2, 20233 yr by Scott

A post making unsubstantiated claims has been removed.  Continue and you will face a suspension.

 

On 2/1/2023 at 10:44 PM, Credo said:

I don't think it's worth discussing racism much in the context of this situation.  I think the most obvious thing is the need for a lot more training and SUPERVISION when making stops and arrests.   They might want to start with pairing Black and White cops to provide some racial balance.  I suspect a white cop is going to be a little more careful in handling a black assailant if his partner is black, and vice versa.   That is not the overall solution, but it could be an effective stop gap measure

It was later reported that the first policeman who tried to pull Nichols out of his car, tasered him as well, was white. As this incident developed, there were quite a few other police and first reponders present. That makes it all the more shocking.