Riley24

​The answer is a little complicated. The beating of Rodney King was the first time the public eye saw police brutality in its full form. We had heard of police beatings before, but we had never watched it. This public awareness is what lead to the initial protests over the attack. After the verdict turned out not guilty, the public was outraged. How could they possibly be not guilty? We ALL saw the video. That's what sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Ever since then, there has been recognition for the need to film police interactions. I know for sure that you won't believe me, but police abuse is often swept under the rug. So why is media coverage important? Because it is often the ONLY way to get justice. Even then, it often isn't enough. In the case of Eric Garner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfXqYwyzQpM), we all watched as a cop put his wrist around a man and killed him. Even then, what came of that? You have to realize that cops are not held to the same standard as you and I. When Michael Slager shot and killed an unarmed man in the back, what did his supervisor tell him to do? They laughed about the adrenaline and told him to relax and go home for a while, and they would ask him "serious questions" later. Could you imagine if they did that for someone that wasn't a cop? You're supposed to ask a homicide suspect questions right away, so they don't have time to think of an alternative story to tell. Also cops are public officials paid by the taxpayers to protect us. When that trust is repeatedly betrayed without appropriate consequence, it becomes an issue worthy of public attention. All there is to say. Posts merged, do not double post. -Staff

​Do you seriously think those two stories are in any way equatable? And you do know that those statistics rely on self-reporting from police departments, right? And not all instances of abuse are reported to the police? There currently isn't a database to measure to scope of police abuse and brutality, and that's not by accident. ​I fully support good, honest, hard-working cops. And I completely understand that they are they vast majority of cops. But I think its ridiculous that you're implying that a cop deserves public praise for "not killing or assaulting someone today". Posts merged, do not double post. -Staff

​Why is it that you say that police brutality stories are a small fraction of daily police interactions, but yet these stories of police abuse that were prosecuted are someone indicative of a national trend? You can't have it both ways.

​How many Wall Street bankers went to prison for stealing millions? And how many people in Baltimore are being locked up for drug offenses? If you think the Baltimore riots came out of no where, you're not paying attention. And did you thoroughly read through all of those articles and studies? There is some very interesting and relevant information in there. I think you're a big boy and you can find it yourself, but if you would like I can lay it all out for you. When you're in police custody, they are responsible for your safety. You can't fasten your own seatbelt when you're in handcuffs. Intentionally leaving his seat-belt undone after he was complaining about injuries DIRECTLY lead to his death. And over-charging is a common practice among prosecutors to scare the defense into agreeing to a plea deal. ​ ​I'm not one for ad hominems or anything of that sort, but this is so incredibly closed-minded and frankly stupid. I'm fortunate enough to live in a very nice neighborhood, and I'm fortunate enough to have been given a good education, and I'm fortunate enough to have good opportunity in my life. At least I can appreciate that this is not the case for everyone. People living in this community do not have the same opportunity or education as I do, or as most other Americans do. They're powerless. We don't live in a country with even playing fields.You clearly have no capacity to understand or empathize with what that's like. Posts merged - do not double post. -Staff

I asked a simple question about an unpopular opinion, this isn't a trojan horse for my ideas. But ask and you shall receive. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officer-who-killed-tamir-rice-found-unfit-previous-police-job-n261111 http://www.wsj.com/articles/police-rarely-criminally-charged-for-on-duty-shootings-1416874955 http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/allegations-of-police-misconduct-rarely-result-in-charges/ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/police-shootings-ferguson-race-data http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/police-killings-data/14060357/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/08/15/how-the-number-of-justified-police-homicides-has-changed-since-the-1990s/ http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/racial-disparity-police-shootings http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/08/youre-nine-times-likely-killed-police-officer-terrorist.html

​The idea of a few bad apples isn't irritating to me. Whats irritating is that people are dying that don't have to die. Cities are paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in police abuse settlements. People are being beaten up, body slammed, tased, and all the cop gets is a slap on the wrist. There is no excuse for that. You're on the right line of though. More abuse is being filmed, and yes cops are humans, but the system refuses to hold them to the same standard as other humans. The system doesn't pay attention to poor communities who are being abused day in and day out by police. The news doesn't pay attention to it either, until a CVS is lit on fire. I hope you understand that however horrible, the riots aren't coming out of nowhere. They're coming out of a history of violence and abuse. We're going to keep seeing these riots and overwhelmingly peaceful protests until the system changes.

​http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officer-who-killed-tamir-rice-found-unfit-previous-police-job-n261111 http://www.wsj.com/articles/police-rarely-criminally-charged-for-on-duty-shootings-1416874955 http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/allegations-of-police-misconduct-rarely-result-in-charges/ All of the facts point to the idea that police are not held to the same standard as the people they protect. I'm not sure where you're getting that idea from.

Important quotes from the Maryland State Attorney: LINK : http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/criminal-charges-filed-freddie-gray-death-transcript-article-1.2206744 "Lt. Rice, Officer Miller and Officer Nero failed to establish probable cause for Mr. Gray’s arrest as no crime had been committed by Mr. Gray. Accordingly Lt. Rice Officer MIller and Office Nero illegally arrested Mr. Gray. Upon arrival of the transport wagon driven by Officer Caesar Goodson. Lt. Rice Officer Miller and Officer Nero loaded Mr. Gray into the wagon and at no point was he secured by a seatbelt while in the wagon contrary to a BPD general order." "Despite Mr. Gray’s seriously deteriorating medical condition, no medical assistance was rendered or summoned for Mr. Gray at that time by any officer." "The manner of death deemed homicide by the Maryland Medical Examiner is believed to be the result of a fatal injury that occurred while Mr. Gray was unrestrained by a seatbelt in custody of the Baltimore Police Department wagon." At the very least this sounds like solid ground for manslaughter charges. The murder charges are to scare the defense into agreeing to a plea, which I predict is what will happen. It should be very obvious that this would not have happened without the rioting, however wrong it may have been. Its a sad fact that the justice system doesn't hear everyone's cry for help, so sometimes you have to scream.

This is a common expression used by people defending the actions of law enforcement in cases of police brutality. Every week, there is a new video or story of an unarmed person being killed or maimed by police that almost never face criminal charges. And every week, right wing media outlets and police enthusiasts circulate the phrase "A few bad apples". But yet, more often than not, they are also the same ones defending the actions of the officer or officers involved. So, I present an honest question: What is your definition of a "bad apple", and how should cases like these be dealt with?

​No, that's the English language's definition of torture. And if you're laughing at that, I urge you to think about if it was YOU bouncing around in the back of the paddy wagon. If it was YOUR spine that was 80% severed. Maybe your attitude would change.

​You didn't understand my point. Police aren't inherently good people. They're people. Some people are bad people. Just because someone pursues a career in law enforcement, doesn't automatically make them a good person. I thought you were a big believer in "A few bad apples"? But yet every time we show you bad apples, you say they're not bad?

Cops aren't inherently good people. Its not inconceivable that tough guys with a badge and a gun got pissed off by a suspect, or the fact that they had to chase him, and tossed him in the back of a van and let him bounce around. http://gawker.com/freddie-grays-seatbelt-was-not-fastened-after-arrest-p-1699954402 There is a documented history of "nickel riding" or "rough riding", and there are a few court cases over these occurrences.

​Because you bounce around violently in the back of the van, and since you're handcuffed you can't protect yourself. Imagine if you fell face first but you arms couldn't brace your fall. That's the point of nickel rides, to rough up a suspect.

​Sometimes the only conceivable reason that police brutality occurs is that cops think that they can get away with it. Handuffing a man and not buckling his seatbelt, and then proceeding to drive all over town is a form of torture and punishment. Its known as "nickel riding". This is a criminal action as well as a huge violation of police procedure. I hope that the judge doesn't give them leniency just because they're cops, because they're bad cops. If you believe in the idea of "a few bad apples", great. But these are the bad apples, and they deserve to be hit by the book.

​Well then I'm glad you're not a cop. We're all safer that way.

I hope the system makes an example out of these cops. Cops are not above the law, and they should face criminal charges for what they've done.

​^^^^ It's not like it is on TV. Internal Investigations isn't a bunch of bureaucrats trying to shut down good cops that don't play by the rules.

Shepard Smith from Fox News kept it real on his show: "I also don’t know where we are. We’ve got a major American city that has decades of turmoil within this neighborhood,” Shepard Smith said. “Decades! You’ve heard the stories from Doug McKelway a little while ago of people being arrested for nothing, a violent crackdown for years and years, of them feeling powerless and hopeless and nobody listening to what they were saying. One quarter of the youth locked up. Clearly there is a big problem. Then all of a sudden an African American man is taken into a vehicle and he comes out of it and dies. And you get nothing from authorities except a suspension. And those who would do harm take an opportunity to do harm. And here we are. But it is what has happened between all of that and today that that has led to this. There is no escaping that reality." So I urge everyone to keep an open mind and understand that this didn't come from no where. Yes, there are people (and probably a lot of them) that just want to steal or throw things at cops in riot gear. But they are not representative of the growing issue behind the death of Freddie Gray.

​I haven't seen you post a single article about something bad law enforcement has done. I'm hoping to open this communities eyes to the idea that however few, cops get away with doing horrible things because they are protected by our system. There's not enough accountability. As supporters of good cops you should be OUTRAGED at the actions of cops like this, because they make the jobs of good cops 100x harder. The lack of trust between communities and those who police them doesn't come from no where, it comes from a repeated history of violence and a lack of accountability. As a supporter of my local police department, and good police officers everywhere, I am OUTRAGED by the lack of accountability and justice in our police culture.

​True. Sorry for not checking the sights authenticity. But the video still contains enough unbiased information to form an opinion.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/27/1380698/-Police-withheld-video-of-officers-laughing-mocking-re-enacting-brutal-beating-of-Floyd-Dent?detail=facebook_sf# Video after video....after video...... I no longer subscribe to the idea of "a few bad apples". There's an overall lack of accountability that's poisoning police culture. This is sick...

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/04/25/orlando-police-robert-liese-ruptured-spleen-video/ There's plenty of more information in the article above, so if you want the full story, please read and watch the video. Here is a quick summary: Question: What is the difference between what the officers did in this case and criminal negligence? Should the officers involved be charged?

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/04/26/baltimore-protest/

The improvements are so huge that if LSPDFR is developed, it will be TOTALLY different from LCPDFR. Since driving is so smooth I think it will be a lot more driving and vehicle-based callouts. I'm excited!