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This ^ should never have happened.
We've registered our son (despite my mis-givings) with the police as moderate to severely autistic, non-verbal, with slight cerebral palsy BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT THINGS LIKE THIS to happen to him (as well as for other reasons, explained below).
The police in Canada seem to be much better trained (or more patient) than in the States, but we don't want anything going wrong for him in any encounters.
He is rarely out of our sight or hearing and we got him a Medic-Alert tag for his running shoes that can point police to his info (supposedly, they are trained to look for tags like this), but registered him with the local police to let them have INSTANT info if he ever did go missing (they won't have to wait for us to get them pictures and info: they will be able to access it from their site).
They will know his name, any nick-names he will respond (possibly) to, how he might react to them, how to get calm him down, that he will probably want to be hugged, etc.
We want him to be trouble free if found by the police (the school has let him run a couple of times but have always caught up to him eventually.... so far).
But what happened in the video above is disgusting. He sprays water at them and they taze him over and over and over and over????
WTF?
If that happened to our son, they would be seeing a VERY expensive court case and disciplinary actions and HELL FIRE RAINED DOWN ON THEM and have their asses plugged with cement if possible.
Never. ever. ever. should. have. happened.
*****
Just read the rest of the story: the down syndrome kid being asphyxiated by police and the other shit.
No charges were laid against the cops who tazed the kid in the shower?
My God.
How do these people go on in their lives.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 06 2018, @01:24AM (2 children)
The police are proud of the fact that they hire a large percentage of combat veterans.
I'm proud of being a veteran, and I'm proud of my fellow veterans. But, let's be honest. A young man whose training involves "shoot first" in a combat zone is NOT learning things like empathy, understanding, sympathy, or any of the other human virtues. Next, during his training as a cop, the emphasis is on enforcement, instead of peace keeping. Basically, it's more "shoot first", than "learn to empathize with people who have problems."
This culture isn't going to change overnight, or even within a decade. Even if the US were to make a committed effort to change that culture, it would take closer to fifty years to reach the goal.
And, meanwhile we have the gangs, and the real criminals, with whom proper responses to calls really are enforcement, and the threat of force. That complicates changing the culture.
Bottom line, cops aren't equipped to deal with the mentally handicapped, or even other handicaps. You can't expect them to be so equipped - they've never had training in the field.
I suppose a possible solution is to create police teams that include one real cop, and one soft cop. Someone who has had some training in dealing with people not in contact with reality. Or, maybe school teachers.
As already noted above, policing attracts people with issues of their own. Adrenaline junkies, control freaks, egotistical freaks, gun nuts who think all of life's answers grow out of the barrel of a weapon, and more. If/when we begin to truly understand that, then we may begin to change the culture.
Blue lives matter? Uhhhh - no. Not any more than any other life. Screw BLM, no matter which color is being touted as important. The cop who isn't willing to risk his own life for the sake of his fellow man isn't really a cop. He is certainly not a "peace keeping officer." He is just an enforcer.
All of the major gangs and criminal organizations have their enforcers.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Whoever on Saturday October 06 2018, @03:58PM (1 child)
Did you read the article? Because there is no way that the police in that case could be afraid for their lives.
What happened was that a mentally ill kid made the fatal error of not obeying the police. This should not be a fatal mistake.
The police are brainwashed to believe that their job is more dangerous than it really is and never punished when they overreact.
Remember that the police officers who handed that kid back to Jeffrey Dahmer were re-instated with full back pay. They ignored procedure, they ignored information before them, they got a kid killed and they suffered no punishment. What message does that send? This incident shows why the police act like this: judges are far too deferential to police officers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 06 2018, @04:27PM
Yes, sir - I did read the article. You are perfectly correct - those cops were in no fear whatsoever. The cops have gotten away with executing old and young, black and white, male and female, sane, insane, handicapped - none of that matters. Your state of health, mental capacity, age, none of that means anything. When a cop says he followed procedure and/or that he feared for his life, that is pretty much the end of the case. Limited immunity knows few if any limits.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.