Deadly force by US police compounds global disdain

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL
Deadly force by US police compounds global disdain
The Nation

WASHINGTON: -- Statistics show that America's racial issues aren't going away

In a report citing the kind of troubling figures that, had they applied to most other countries, might have prompted warnings of necessary foreign intervention, the Washington Post notes at least 385 people - ranging in age from 16 to 83 - have died at the hands of police across the United States this year. One in six of those victims was unarmed, it said, and most were black or Hispanic. And less than 1 per cent of the police officers involved in the cases were charged with any criminal offence.

The United States is a populous country, so fatality rates in upholding the law are apt to be relatively high. Regardless, a growing number of Americans are alarmed at the statistics piling up this year. The Washington Post reported that police have been directly or indirectly involved in the deaths of a daily average of 2.6 people thus far in 2015.

The FBI, however, says the figure is actually 1.1 deaths a day, based on statistics over the past decade showing 400 fatal police shootings a year.

However the fatalities are tallied, the only "good news" is that American democracy prevents such numbers from being swept under the carpet.

On the contrary, the rising body count is routinely reported, and police killings of unarmed citizens have sparked demonstrations - and riots - in several towns and cities. Excessive use of force by the police, especially against minorities, has tarnished the American justice system.

High-profile figures have gone on record as saying there is a major flaw and it needs to be addressed.

At the same time there is growing suspicion that we have yet to understand the true magnitude of the problem.

African Americans are attempting to address the issue by various means, including a global

online campaign that carries

the social-media hashtag "#BlackLivesMatter". The racist undertones of the killings are clear enough: two-thirds of the unarmed citizens who have died by police hands were either African American or Hispanic, even though it should be noted that the overall count for both armed and unarmed victims is virtually equally divided between Caucasians and minority groups.

For the moment we are left with the troubling spectacle of American diplomats around the world promoting the right to vote, when in their own country citizens are being denied the presumption of innocence unless found guilty in court, a fundamental right of the US Constitution.

The world is prepared to admire "the American dream" and appreciates the many benefits and opportunities shared by the US, but we are also seeing a country that has never truly embraced the equality espoused by its founding fathers.

True democracy protects the innocent, regardless of race or creed, and doesn't presume guilt. It ensures that everyone has the same chances in life.

The family and friends of the innocents killed by police will care little now for American military or technological might.

The system has let them down in a way that could have been easily avoided had genuine democratic principles been securely in place.

The cracks in American democracy will hopefully grow no bigger, but attempts to paper them over - for example by diverting public attention to imagined or perceived threats from overseas - threaten the country's future in a far direr manner than any jihadists or military rivals.

Dissent will only fester and an explosion will be inevitable. Beyond America's borders, its innate hypocrisy is already the subject of disdain and ridicule. These internal and external forces must not be allowed to combine and undermine all the good that the US claims to stand for and stand up for.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Deadly-force-by-US-police-compounds-global-disdain-30261712.html

-- The Nation 2015-06-06

[daoyai]

....the writer obviously knows very little about the causes and reality of the situation in the U.S. but by the end you can see why he bothered to write, an attempt to weaken the validity of U.S. criticism of the Thai "situation".

[NeverSure]

Twice the writer states that the US has democracy which doesn't and never did have and that shows how much inside information he has.

He repeatedly states "unarmed" when it's irrelevant. A person doesn't have to be armed before he is killed. If he's big enough and threatening enough to cause "serious bodily injury or death" or if the shooter is outnumbered by people who appear ready to do the same it's lights out.

I only have to have "reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death" to myself or even a stranger to make a legal shoot. That's how it should be.

I really don't think the people of the US give a damn what the writer thinks especially since he doesn't have a clue about what really happens.

Edited June 6, 2015 by NeverSure

[Loptr]

Yeah, that's right NS, it's all just a conspiracy...

U.S. Police Kill More Civilians in March than UK Police Killed in 100 Years

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/04/07/u-s-police-kill-more-civilians-in-march-than-uk-police-killed-in-100-years/

Police killed more than twice as many people as reported by US government

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/04/police-killed-people-fbi-data-justifiable-homicides

Police in the US Kill Citizens at Over 70 Times the Rate of Other First-World Nations

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-kill-citizens-70-times-rate-first-world-nations/

[ezzra]

The article would have carried more weight had it mentioned the black on black killing in the US in the thousands and cop killings in the hundreds..

Here you have a large minority that walk around with a shaming attitude, accusing the world, the white world, of owes them big apologies and big compensations settlements, they're a self marginalized, belligerent group or people who cries foul and racist accusation at the smallest unrelated incidents, they have people in high places that see no wrong in perpetuation this ugly and shameful narrative for many years already and planning to keep riding this ugly horse for year to come, why? because most of the have some one to blame,, easy, just blame the government of the white people, and you don't have to look at your own follies....

[Seastallion]

Yeah, that's right NS, it's all just a conspiracy...

U.S. Police Kill More Civilians in March than UK Police Killed in 100 Years

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/04/07/u-s-police-kill-more-civilians-in-march-than-uk-police-killed-in-100-years/

Police killed more than twice as many people as reported by US government

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/04/police-killed-people-fbi-data-justifiable-homicides

Police in the US Kill Citizens at Over 70 Times the Rate of Other First-World Nations

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-kill-citizens-70-times-rate-first-world-nations/

"I really don't think the people of the US give a damn what the writer thinks ". Or what anybody else thinks. And that is the crux of it: the US attitude that whatever they do is right. Mind you, to be fair, Thailand and China probably have the same attitude.

However, as long as the idea that "I have a right to shoot to kill" pervades, deaths will continue. Add to that thought the cowboy macho shoot-em-up culture (like the cop standing on the bonnet of a stopped car pumping 15 rounds into the occupants, after over 100 rounds had already been fired!...or Waco (wow, was THAT over the top!) and numerous other shoot), and the US will continue to kill it's citizens, often avoidably, often innocent people.

[ABCer]

Twice the writer states that the US has democracy which doesn't and never did have and that shows how much inside information he has.

He repeatedly states "unarmed" when it's irrelevant. A person doesn't have to be armed before he is killed. If he's big enough and threatening enough to cause "serious bodily injury or death" or if the shooter is outnumbered by people who appear ready to do the same it's lights out.

I only have to have "reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death" to myself or even a stranger to make a legal shoot. That's how it should be.

I really don't think the people of the US give a damn what the writer thinks especially since he doesn't have a clue about what really happens.

NeverMind. There are Great Nations, Small Nations and The Nation. No explanations necessary.

Not being a great fan of USA in the issue of "Police brutality" I am on cops side.

The much hated (by me) Politically Correct bastards have nearly brought to ruin the Western World.

When their stinking theory of Black/White issue in the Police has fizzed out they invented a Blue issue.

The real issue USA has and for a very long time - is that about 20% of its population hates USA.

Add to this high local concentrations of different population groups, relatively low incomes and education, drugs, religious differences -

and you have exactly what you expect having.

[geriatrickid]

Yeah, that's right NS, it's all just a conspiracy...

U.S. Police Kill More Civilians in March than UK Police Killed in 100 Years

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/04/07/u-s-police-kill-more-civilians-in-march-than-uk-police-killed-in-100-years/

Police killed more than twice as many people as reported by US government

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/04/police-killed-people-fbi-data-justifiable-homicides

Police in the US Kill Citizens at Over 70 Times the Rate of Other First-World Nations

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-kill-citizens-70-times-rate-first-world-nations/

There is more violence because the criminals are more violent.

Side effect of a heavily armed nation.

[ggt]

Beyond America's borders, its innate hypocrisy is already the subject of disdain and ridicule.

The hypocrisy is not being dismissed by the American people...it will be hard to reform the American police culture...but it must be done to keep from having anarchy and civil disobedience ravage America...

Another one of the POTUS recent famous legacy statements: "Since I have become President...America has become the most respected nation on the planet"...

Sometimes one must wonder...what planet is he talking about...

[soundman]

Inflammatory post removed. Please try and phrase your point in a way that is useful towards the discussion without stereotyping or ranting, no matter how much you might dislike or detest other groups of people.

[NeverSure]

There is more violence because the criminals are more violent.

Side effect of a heavily armed nation.

The last two big news items, the criminals didn't have guns. This last one was a car chase and the deadly weapon was the car.

The one in Baltimore the man wasn't armed and he wasn't shot. He died in a police van while being transported.

I don't know, nor does anyone else yet what happened but those big news items don't support your claim of "heavily armed nation" but they do lend some credence to being violent. That particular demographic in the big inner cities is just gawdawful.

Edited June 6, 2015 by NeverSure

[Trouble]

One must realize that when a cop stops a driver today for a traffic violation they can't be sure they won't be shot as they walk from the police car to the offender's car. That, unfortunately, is the the environment today. Then you have the areas when no policeman would patrol alone. While I am sure there are cases where the police surely over react let's face facts that there are just too many thugs out there and it seems that every time there is a death resulting from an altercation with the police it is from that fact that the idiots just don't do what the police ask them to do. If I am walking down the street and for some reason a cop tells me to do something, I am going to do it. I can always make a complaint later if I feel it is police harassment. The idiots being killed are stupid thugs in most cases and not the innocent beings presented by the minority community. Why are there more minorities in prisons? It's because they commit a disproportionate amount of the crimes. This is not white cop against minorities, it is cops against thugs.

[55Jay]

What a clumsy attempt at distraction. Yawn.

[cardinalblue]

This writer has no clue on so many topics he is trying to address...

Considering that 1,000s of people are arrested each day some under extremely volatile scenarios, the stats indicate 99.9% as uneventful or no bad outcome. Look how many police are killed in the line of duty each year....

I am surprised the numbers are as low as they are given the allowance of weapons on the street and mankind just being mankind....I marvel at the low # of fatalities at Waco given all the factors present...There could have been 50 to 100 deaths or more but there wasn't. someone did something right but people/media only focus on the small negative outcome....

CB

[Kondiao]

Twice the writer states that the US has democracy which doesn't and never did have and that shows how much inside information he has.

He repeatedly states "unarmed" when it's irrelevant. A person doesn't have to be armed before he is killed. If he's big enough and threatening enough to cause "serious bodily injury or death" or if the shooter is outnumbered by people who appear ready to do the same it's lights out.

I only have to have "reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death" to myself or even a stranger to make a legal shoot. That's how it should be.

I really don't think the people of the US give a damn what the writer thinks especially since he doesn't have a clue about what really happens.

The writer is reporting news and you are mistaken in saying that the people of the U.S. don't give a damn what the writer thinks. I am a person of the U.S. and I care what he thinks and what is going on in the mean streets of American cities - and so do you - give a damn - as you got so upset by reading what this writer wrote.

The problem in American cities, the issue here, is that police officers are murdering and injuring people who - black and white, armed or irrelevant - are not endangering these cops, whose job it is to protect U.S. persons from crimes committed by criminals. When a gang of viscious cops shoots, or TASERS, or beats an unarmed woman into submission or beyond, it doesn't matter that the PR people in the police department can point out that the officers were acting within their procedural regulations, or that 5 armed cops felt so threatened by one pregnant, or drunk or disturbing person that they had to behave like a gang of mad dogs - and the news media states that it is O.K. because these cops feared for their lives and besides that they have a dangerous occupation - so that makes it all right that they murder people sometimes.

It doesn't matter that you take offense that some 3d world person criticises the U.S.A., it matters that the U.S. is a police state in which the citizens live in fear - of the criminals and of the police and of the legal system that cheats them and takes away their rights. What I want is that the laws on the books be enforced - so that killers in uniform be held accountable for murdering people - they should be executed or put into prison and never get out.

[Tywais]

Perhaps some perspective on this from the other side of the fence. So it is understandable that officers are cautious.

On average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in the United States every 58 hours. Since the first known line-of-duty death in 1791, more than 20,000 U.S. law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice.

NLEO

• Crime fighting has taken its toll. Since the first recorded police death in 1791, there have been over 20,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Currently, there are 20,538 names engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
  
• A total of 1,466 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years, an average of one death every 60 hours or 146 per year. There were 117 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2014.
  
• On average, over the last decade, there have been 58,930 assaults against law enforcement each year, resulting in 15,404 injuries.

http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/

[NeverSure]

The writer is reporting news and you are mistaken in saying that the people of the U.S. don't give a damn what the writer thinks. I am a person of the U.S. and I care what he thinks and what is going on in the mean streets of American cities - and so do you - give a damn - as you got so upset by reading what this writer wrote.

I get upset any time someone without a clue takes it upon himself to pontificate with presumption and prejudices.

Now look at Tywai's post above for my answer about what you said. I support the police in their very dangerous jobs.

[BuaBS]

If it continues like this , the cult of cop killing will come back. Together in their Darth Vader gear they are strong , but they all have to go home , alone . Sooner or later the threshold & taboo of killing cops will be so low .....

The Guardian shows a nice count :

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database#

[55Jay]

This writer has no clue on so many topics he is trying to address...

Considering that 1,000s of people are arrested each day some under extremely volatile scenarios, the stats indicate 99.9% as uneventful or no bad outcome. Look how many police are killed in the line of duty each year....

I am surprised the numbers are as low as they are given the allowance of weapons on the street and mankind just being mankind....I marvel at the low # of fatalities at Waco given all the factors present...There could have been 50 to 100 deaths or more but there wasn't. someone did something right but people/media only focus on the small negative outcome....

CB

OP ought to grow a pair and simply say America should bugger off and quit criticizing Thailand for its human trafficking business problem.

[nemrut]

Why are there more minorities in prisons? It's because they commit a disproportionate amount of the crimes.

Or perhaps it 's because they're more often targeted by a largely white police force. The US majority is still non-Hispanic, whites yet relatively few are incarcerated compared to blacks/Hispanics not because the former commit less crimes but rather they are often released or served much lighter punishment.

[55Jay]

Why are there more minorities in prisons? It's because they commit a disproportionate amount of the crimes.

Or perhaps it 's because they're more often targeted by a largely white police force. The US majority is still non-Hispanic, whites yet relatively few are incarcerated compared to blacks/Hispanics not because the former commit less crimes but rather they are often released or served much lighter punishment.

Ref: US Bureau of Prisons, 1st Qtr 2015.

Race # of Inmates % of Inmates Asian 3,212 1.5% Black 78,219 37.5% Native American 3,954 1.9% White 123,140 59.1% Edited June 6, 2015 by 55Jay

[chilli42]

....the writer obviously knows very little about the causes and reality of the situation in the U.S. but by the end you can see why he bothered to write, an attempt to weaken the validity of U.S. criticism of the Thai "situation".

Say what you like about the causes but the U.S. is a deeply troubled country. Sociatal and racial issues continue unsolved. Simply look north to Canada to see what could when society is more balanced and equitable. It's true that freedom of the press in the West assures that, with time, these issues are exposed. This by no means leads to society moving toward a solution. I agree that the dirty laundry does not get exposed dillegently in Thailand. However, do you really think that the the Thai public at large is unaware of the rot in their own society? Everyone gets to legitimately point fingers. No place is perfect.

[arjunadawn]

Twice the writer states that the US has democracy which doesn't and never did have and that shows how much inside information he has.

He repeatedly states "unarmed" when it's irrelevant. A person doesn't have to be armed before he is killed. If he's big enough and threatening enough to cause "serious bodily injury or death" or if the shooter is outnumbered by people who appear ready to do the same it's lights out.

I only have to have "reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death" to myself or even a stranger to make a legal shoot. That's how it should be.

I really don't think the people of the US give a damn what the writer thinks especially since he doesn't have a clue about what really happens.

NeverMind. There are Great Nations, Small Nations and The Nation. No explanations necessary.

Not being a great fan of USA in the issue of "Police brutality" I am on cops side.

The much hated (by me) Politically Correct bastards have nearly brought to ruin the Western World.

When their stinking theory of Black/White issue in the Police has fizzed out they invented a Blue issue.

The real issue USA has and for a very long time - is that about 20% of its population hates USA.

Add to this high local concentrations of different population groups, relatively low incomes and education, drugs, religious differences -

and you have exactly what you expect having.

America is not supposed to be a democracy. Democracies never... never have inherent abilities to protect the innocent. This is among the most ignorant parts of this article. Democracies always devolve into mob rule- always, and having convinced Americans they live in a democracy, which they do not, we are seeing the fruit of mob rule beginning to show.

How much has the world heard of mobs of black people beating and killing and raping while people since Obama took office? In the past few years the numbers of mob attacks are in the many hundreds. There is a black/white/black/cop/black/black stew brewing and it is being fed by outside money such as the very money who brought you the Arab Spring, Ukraine, Hong Kong, the Balkans, Ukraine 1, Thailand, etc. This is Soros One World money feeding the US problems through his Open Society and Tides conglomeration of money houses. Blacklives matters receives political money. That should be terrifying. Many Ferguson MO protestors were bused in and paid. That should be terrifying.

The issue is not what whites are doing to blacks, what blacks are doing to whites or cops, but what is being done to America. This is text book Color Revolution stuff taking place in the US. Textbook. Welcome to the Balkanization of America.

[Shaunduhpostman]

The disdain is well deserved and I am not America bashing either, having been born and raised there I well know that there is much room for improvement inside and outside of the country when it comes to basic human rights and democracy. And that is a ridiculous understatement.

America is not only not a democracy, it never has been, and it has very arguably been unabashedly fascist. And by fascist I mean a country whose government exists first and foremost to serve industry and uses racism/nationalism as an important tool to accomplish that purpose. We only have to look at the use of slavery and genocide (to secure territory from the Native peoples) in making America what it is today, to see that is a long standing situation where it does not behave as a democracy but a brutal empire that if it doesn't enslave or wholesale murder, sacrifices the poor and middle class as cannon fodder in its imperialist wars. I don't hate America, but I hate what it has done and I don't like it that there seems to be no end in sight to this tack that has been ongoing for 500 years. People have started this and they can end it, but they don't.

The police killings of blacks is the tip of the iceberg. Not to say that black lives do not matter, of course they do, and the lives of the accused and convicted also matter. It is beneath us as human beings to think that it is fine to brutalize and kill people we don't happen to like or don't understand. But to return to my point that the police killings are the the tip of the iceberg, the US government-industrial machine can no longer afford democracy for white people either as the very recent attempts to re-wire the economy will effectively end your democratic rights. There is too much pressure on them from Asia to compete and have what they once had. Their profits are in danger and we will pay. Have a look at the TPP trade deal and see if that doesn't look like that is what is going on: hardcore clamp down and maximum pressure by mult-nationals to suck ever more out of America and the other TPP member nations and its people. They will need a brutal and military police force to ram what is coming down people's throats. The Rise of the Fourth Reich is looking like it is in full force, the increasing police militarization and brutality is the writing to be read on the wall.

So, I can easily see how then that it is an insult to anyone's intelligence to fed be those lines, such as we got here in Thailand after the coup, that the US stands for democracy and doesn't like what it sees, and with the attitude that not only are they supposed to swallow it but be grateful. At the same time however, it doesn't mean that it is OK for all other countries to thumb their noses at doing what is right and good for their own people.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Shaunduhpostman

[gigman]

The most funny is when those on "top" are saying that they care about own citizens.

Lately we have those words "bombarding" society under so polished scare tactics and actually most of the world people have nothing else just to believe in such nonsense .

Absolutely no sympathy for the humanity ....we are just modern slaves and we still asking for more of it.

I guess we deserved it.

Who cares anyway...what will be the next

[elgordo38]

Government can massage the numbers to suite themselves. Its an everyday way of life everywhere. 37% of the US work force is "not participating" in this so called recovery and the unemployment rate is only 5.6%. This just does not add up.

[nemrut]

Why are there more minorities in prisons? It's because they commit a disproportionate amount of the crimes.

Or perhaps it 's because they're more often targeted by a largely white police force. The US majority is still non-Hispanic, whites yet relatively few are incarcerated compared to blacks/Hispanics not because the former commit less crimes but rather they are often released or served much lighter punishment.

Ref: US Bureau of Prisons, 1st Qtr 2015.

Capture.JPG

Race # of Inmates % of Inmates Asian 3,212 1.5% Black 78,219 37.5% Native American 3,954 1.9% White 123,140 59.1%

Blacks make up less than 20% of a population of 300M yet according to the chart, they account for almost 1/2 crimes committed in the US? It's obvious that they are targeted by law enforcement more often and severely than white counterparts as evidenced by the numbers and documented violence and killing of innocent blacks.

I have yet to hear of any whites being shot in the back by police while running away.

[nemrut]

....the writer obviously knows very little about the causes and reality of the situation in the U.S. but by the end you can see why he bothered to write, an attempt to weaken the validity of U.S. criticism of the Thai "situation".

Say what you like about the causes but the U.S. is a deeply troubled country. Sociatal and racial issues continue unsolved. Simply look north to Canada to see what could when society is more balanced and equitable. It's true that freedom of the press in the West assures that, with time, these issues are exposed. This by no means leads to society moving toward a solution. I agree that the dirty laundry does not get exposed dillegently in Thailand. However, do you really think that the the Thai public at large is unaware of the rot in their own society? Everyone gets to legitimately point fingers. No place is perfect.

Canada is a sparsely populated country with a land mass greater than the US but only a fraction of the population. They've benefited throughout their history by riding coat-tails of US economic growth.

[NickJ]

I think that if a policeman tells you to stop...you should....I think only criminals run from cops.....I think Police officers and Firefighters are the true heros of the world...I Think plea bargins should be illeagal....I think we need more prisons....

[Scott]

Quite a few years ago, while associated with refugee resettlement, I had the opportunity to sit in on a training session for refugees who were destine for resettlement in the US. That particular portion was about how to deal with being stopped by the police. Since most came from countries where there was a good chance if the police stopped you, you could end up being shaken down, beaten or killed.

It was stressed to them that they MUST not run from the police, either in a vehicle or on foot. They were told to listen carefully and do exactly what the police tell you to do. They were shown told that they would be treated fairly, that they did have rights, but that if they tried to argue, run or get aggressive, they stand a good chance of being shot.

One group did get to find out about the police on their first night in the US. They were put in a hotel in San Francisco for the night as they would be flown to a different destination the following day. One of the kids pulled the fire alarm and this got the fire department and the police involved. It was a false alarm. The police questioned the kid and asked him why he did it. He had been learning English and he said "it said PULL, so I did."

This was quite a number of years ago.