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National Protests are Still a Thing Because of [Police Brutality]

24567102

Posts

  • MuddBuddMuddBudd Registered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    Faced with accountability and repercussions, more and more Minneapolis have decided it's just not fun anymore.

    https://www.startribune.com/seven-minneapolis-police-officers-resign-after-george-floyd-protests-citing-lack-of-support-from-city-leaders/571241922/

    Author is clearly quite biased but still, all I can say is, don't let the door hit you in the thin blue line on your way out.

    Hopefully every other city in the nation knows enough to not hire these folks somewhere else.

    There's no plan, there's no race to be run
    The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    MuddBudd wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Faced with accountability and repercussions, more and more Minneapolis have decided it's just not fun anymore.

    https://www.startribune.com/seven-minneapolis-police-officers-resign-after-george-floyd-protests-citing-lack-of-support-from-city-leaders/571241922/

    Author is clearly quite biased but still, all I can say is, don't let the door hit you in the thin blue line on your way out.

    Hopefully every other city in the nation knows enough to not hire these folks somewhere else.

    Fuck I fully expect they'll just get hired back into Minneapolis in a couple weeks.

  • LanzLanz ...Za?Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    Thought:

    Defunding the Police is a proactive approach based in the idea that as it stands, police and police cultures/structures/systems are not able to be trusted to not abuse the power they are invested with to brutalize and murder black people and other POC and marginalized groups. By Defunding, you remove their capacity for unjust violence against marginalized groups.

    Thus, "Reform the police" is viewed as, essentially, a reactive approach that can only (theoretically) take retributive action against bad actors in the police, and those calling for defunding view the bad actors as inevitable and many given the culture involved. Thus, "Reform" is viewed as being unable to solve the problem, while "Defund" is viewed as going straight to the root of the problem at issue.

    Lanz on
    waNkm4k.jpg?1
  • Just_Bri_ThanksJust_Bri_Thanks Seething with rage from a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPA regular
    For the dude in Wendy's parking lot that got shot, that is no matter what totally on the cops. At that point they knew who he was and presumably had control of his car. If he wants to fuck off then just let him and go pick him up later.

    ...and when you are done with that; take a folding
    chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
  • ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User regular
    RickRude wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    RickRude wrote: »
    .
    Vanguard wrote: »
    A lot of news coming out of Atlanta this morning.

    There was a drive-by shooting in Edgewood that killed two people, injured at least 5.

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/least-2-dead-5-injured-drive-by-shooting-edgewood/52FQKWMRZNEAXLOG2HMTJSYRDI/

    The house in question below:



    Between this and the possible lynching in California, we're seeing racists upping the violence in the wake of the protests.

    Additionally, the body cam footage of the shooting by police has been released:

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/rayshard-brooks-atlanta-police-body-camera-footage-released-wendys-shooting/WYIWWDVJ6JG5BCYK7CIB5D4YZI/

    LynchingS.


    In the span of a few days, both Robert Fuller and Malcolm Harsch were found hanging from trees in Southern California cities about 50 miles apart.

    There must be full and immediate investigations into their deaths.

    I'd be careful to jump to conclusions . Palmdale is a red area of California, but sometimes things are what they are at face value. Maybe they wanted to make a statement commuting suicide. It's app fishy but mental illness is real.and this is a time when people are feeling hopeless and alone.

    Yeah, people who want to make a statement while committing suicide tend to not write down their thoughts anywhere for people to read. That's sarcasm, by the way.

    Why you're willing to give the police any benefit of the doubt on anything right now is beyond me.

    What does it have to do with giving police the benefit of the doubt? Where did I say that. I was saying the internet sucks at detectives and most of the time things are what they appear to be. While also pointing out that palmdale is a pretty red area so it deserves yo be seen as fishy.

    These black men were killed by HANGING from TREES in public spaces.

    What about this is jumping to conclusions? Do you not understand the historical significance of these horrendous circumstances?

    Yeah, if the cops are saying "nothing suspicious" at this point, my immediate assumption is a) these men were murdered and b) police were directly involved in the murders. Even if we find out they really were suicides, these events need immediate and intense scrutiny, particularly with the police so casually trying to sweep them under the rug.

    I seem to recall someone in the previous thread bringing up an incident several months back where a suspect was shot through the mouth while her hands were cuffed behind her back. The police claimed that after she was handcuffed, she took an officer's gun, "contorted" and somehow managed to swallow a handgun barrel from that position after growing several new sets of elbows or something. The news article just kind of accepted it as a given because the police wouldn't dare lie about something that weird, right?

    Even before the current mess there's been a lot of credulity getting stretched...

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    RickRude wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    RickRude wrote: »
    .
    Vanguard wrote: »
    A lot of news coming out of Atlanta this morning.

    There was a drive-by shooting in Edgewood that killed two people, injured at least 5.

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/least-2-dead-5-injured-drive-by-shooting-edgewood/52FQKWMRZNEAXLOG2HMTJSYRDI/

    The house in question below:



    Between this and the possible lynching in California, we're seeing racists upping the violence in the wake of the protests.

    Additionally, the body cam footage of the shooting by police has been released:

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/rayshard-brooks-atlanta-police-body-camera-footage-released-wendys-shooting/WYIWWDVJ6JG5BCYK7CIB5D4YZI/

    LynchingS.


    In the span of a few days, both Robert Fuller and Malcolm Harsch were found hanging from trees in Southern California cities about 50 miles apart.

    There must be full and immediate investigations into their deaths.

    I'd be careful to jump to conclusions . Palmdale is a red area of California, but sometimes things are what they are at face value. Maybe they wanted to make a statement commuting suicide. It's app fishy but mental illness is real.and this is a time when people are feeling hopeless and alone.

    Yeah, people who want to make a statement while committing suicide tend to not write down their thoughts anywhere for people to read. That's sarcasm, by the way.

    Why you're willing to give the police any benefit of the doubt on anything right now is beyond me.

    What does it have to do with giving police the benefit of the doubt? Where did I say that. I was saying the internet sucks at detectives and most of the time things are what they appear to be. While also pointing out that palmdale is a pretty red area so it deserves yo be seen as fishy.

    These black men were killed by HANGING from TREES in public spaces.

    What about this is jumping to conclusions? Do you not understand the historical significance of these horrendous circumstances?

    Yeah, if the cops are saying "nothing suspicious" at this point, my immediate assumption is a) these men were murdered and b) police were directly involved in the murders. Even if we find out they really were suicides, these events need immediate and intense scrutiny, particularly with the police so casually trying to sweep them under the rug.

    Yeah, the immediate reaction should be "investigations are ongoing" at the literal very least.

    It is theoretically possible that two people decided to publicly off themselves as a way to make a political statement. Stranger things have happened.

    However.

    Under the circumstances, I find the other alternatives far, far more likely. And, absolutely, “Nothing strange here” is fucking ridiculous coming from the cops.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    Statement suicides are a thing but I have never heard of one that isn't either publicly visible or involves the actual making of a clear statement of some sort, a written manifesto or a lengthy social media post or a speech to onlookers or SOMETHING. Or both!

    Hevach on
  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    The city made a statement that they are investigating, which is the correct thing to do. I will be interested in the medical examiners report on this...I have concerns. This looks like a racially motivated set of murders. But it could also be groups looking to disguise their murders.

  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    The Wendy's police getting fired is pretty amazing because there's absolutely no way this would have happened a week ago.

  • ErlkönigErlkönig Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited June 2020
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    RickRude wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    RickRude wrote: »
    .
    Vanguard wrote: »
    A lot of news coming out of Atlanta this morning.

    There was a drive-by shooting in Edgewood that killed two people, injured at least 5.

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/least-2-dead-5-injured-drive-by-shooting-edgewood/52FQKWMRZNEAXLOG2HMTJSYRDI/

    The house in question below:



    Between this and the possible lynching in California, we're seeing racists upping the violence in the wake of the protests.

    Additionally, the body cam footage of the shooting by police has been released:

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/rayshard-brooks-atlanta-police-body-camera-footage-released-wendys-shooting/WYIWWDVJ6JG5BCYK7CIB5D4YZI/

    LynchingS.


    In the span of a few days, both Robert Fuller and Malcolm Harsch were found hanging from trees in Southern California cities about 50 miles apart.

    There must be full and immediate investigations into their deaths.

    I'd be careful to jump to conclusions . Palmdale is a red area of California, but sometimes things are what they are at face value. Maybe they wanted to make a statement commuting suicide. It's app fishy but mental illness is real.and this is a time when people are feeling hopeless and alone.

    Yeah, people who want to make a statement while committing suicide tend to not write down their thoughts anywhere for people to read. That's sarcasm, by the way.

    Why you're willing to give the police any benefit of the doubt on anything right now is beyond me.

    What does it have to do with giving police the benefit of the doubt? Where did I say that. I was saying the internet sucks at detectives and most of the time things are what they appear to be. While also pointing out that palmdale is a pretty red area so it deserves yo be seen as fishy.

    These black men were killed by HANGING from TREES in public spaces.

    What about this is jumping to conclusions? Do you not understand the historical significance of these horrendous circumstances?

    Yeah, if the cops are saying "nothing suspicious" at this point, my immediate assumption is a) these men were murdered and b) police were directly involved in the murders. Even if we find out they really were suicides, these events need immediate and intense scrutiny, particularly with the police so casually trying to sweep them under the rug.

    I seem to recall someone in the previous thread bringing up an incident several months back where a suspect was shot through the mouth while her hands were cuffed behind her back. The police claimed that after she was handcuffed, she took an officer's gun, "contorted" and somehow managed to swallow a handgun barrel from that position after growing several new sets of elbows or something. The news article just kind of accepted it as a given because the police wouldn't dare lie about something that weird, right?

    Even before the current mess there's been a lot of credulity getting stretched...

    Apparently, it's not a once-in-a-lifetime way to...ahem...commit suicide.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Chavis_Carter

    Looks like it was a thing that (reportedly) happened once a year between 2012 and 2014.

    Erlkönig on
    | Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Erlkönig wrote: »
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    RickRude wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    RickRude wrote: »
    .
    Vanguard wrote: »
    A lot of news coming out of Atlanta this morning.

    There was a drive-by shooting in Edgewood that killed two people, injured at least 5.

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/least-2-dead-5-injured-drive-by-shooting-edgewood/52FQKWMRZNEAXLOG2HMTJSYRDI/

    The house in question below:



    Between this and the possible lynching in California, we're seeing racists upping the violence in the wake of the protests.

    Additionally, the body cam footage of the shooting by police has been released:

    https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/rayshard-brooks-atlanta-police-body-camera-footage-released-wendys-shooting/WYIWWDVJ6JG5BCYK7CIB5D4YZI/

    LynchingS.


    In the span of a few days, both Robert Fuller and Malcolm Harsch were found hanging from trees in Southern California cities about 50 miles apart.

    There must be full and immediate investigations into their deaths.

    I'd be careful to jump to conclusions . Palmdale is a red area of California, but sometimes things are what they are at face value. Maybe they wanted to make a statement commuting suicide. It's app fishy but mental illness is real.and this is a time when people are feeling hopeless and alone.

    Yeah, people who want to make a statement while committing suicide tend to not write down their thoughts anywhere for people to read. That's sarcasm, by the way.

    Why you're willing to give the police any benefit of the doubt on anything right now is beyond me.

    What does it have to do with giving police the benefit of the doubt? Where did I say that. I was saying the internet sucks at detectives and most of the time things are what they appear to be. While also pointing out that palmdale is a pretty red area so it deserves yo be seen as fishy.

    These black men were killed by HANGING from TREES in public spaces.

    What about this is jumping to conclusions? Do you not understand the historical significance of these horrendous circumstances?

    Yeah, if the cops are saying "nothing suspicious" at this point, my immediate assumption is a) these men were murdered and b) police were directly involved in the murders. Even if we find out they really were suicides, these events need immediate and intense scrutiny, particularly with the police so casually trying to sweep them under the rug.

    I seem to recall someone in the previous thread bringing up an incident several months back where a suspect was shot through the mouth while her hands were cuffed behind her back. The police claimed that after she was handcuffed, she took an officer's gun, "contorted" and somehow managed to swallow a handgun barrel from that position after growing several new sets of elbows or something. The news article just kind of accepted it as a given because the police wouldn't dare lie about something that weird, right?

    Even before the current mess there's been a lot of credulity getting stretched...

    Apparently, it's not a once-in-a-lifetime way to...ahem...commit suicide.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Chavis_Carter

    Looks like it was a thing that (reportedly) happened once a year between 2012 and 2014.

    I didn't think you could make that more fucked up. And then you did. :bigfrown:

  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    Erlkönig wrote: »
    Apparently, it's not a once-in-a-lifetime way to...ahem...commit suicide.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Chavis_Carter

    Looks like it was a thing that (reportedly) happened once a year between 2012 and 2014.

    That dude was definitely murdered, but the bit about being left-handed is actually completely irrelevant.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkoGBOs5ecM

    34:00 in.

  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    I write, paint, and draw left-handed and do everything else, including shooting, right-handed. So yeah, handedness doesn't really mean much for a bullet wound.

    However, the fact that the suspect was able to sneak a gun past the police, reach it with his hands cuffed behind his back, and shoot himself in the head despite having absolutely no reason to do so is obviously incredibly suspicious. At a bare minimum, the police should've immediately been fired for failing to secure a suspect properly.
    For the dude in Wendy's parking lot that got shot, that is no matter what totally on the cops. At that point they knew who he was and presumably had control of his car. If he wants to fuck off then just let him and go pick him up later.
    The maximum amount of rationalization I can think of is that the cops reacted to a suspect grabbing a gun-looking item from them and firing and they responded by firing, but even that rationalization comes right back around to the cops being massively overtrained for being trigger happy instead of properly deescalating situations. So they would still be at fault for excessive force, even if you accept that as an excuse (which I absolutely don't).

  • Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    I write, paint, and draw left-handed and do everything else, including shooting, right-handed. So yeah, handedness doesn't really mean much for a bullet wound.

    However, the fact that the suspect was able to sneak a gun past the police, reach it with his hands cuffed behind his back, and shoot himself in the head despite having absolutely no reason to do so is obviously incredibly suspicious. At a bare minimum, the police should've immediately been fired for failing to secure a suspect properly.
    For the dude in Wendy's parking lot that got shot, that is no matter what totally on the cops. At that point they knew who he was and presumably had control of his car. If he wants to fuck off then just let him and go pick him up later.
    The maximum amount of rationalization I can think of is that the cops reacted to a suspect grabbing a gun-looking item from them and firing and they responded by firing, but even that rationalization comes right back around to the cops being massively overtrained for being trigger happy instead of properly deescalating situations. So they would still be at fault for excessive force, even if you accept that as an excuse (which I absolutely don't).

    The rationalization is "he could have incapacitated the cop and shot him"

    Which ignores A. he was running away (not everyone is a stone cold murderous asshole like you, cop) B. there were two cops there.

  • Kipling217Kipling217 Registered User regular
    Honestly I think if I see a gun shaped thing pointed in my direction in a fight, my first reaction is to think that its a gun and respond accordingly. Especially if its dark and confused and my life is on the line.

    So I can't really blame the cops once it gets to that point.

    HOWEVER... letting it get to that point is the result of several fuckups on the part of the police, the least(least) is letting a suspect take your own taser off you. That alone is reason enough that the cops shouldn't have tasers as standard equipment on their belts. I mean they never go for them as a first resort anyways. If it causes more problems than it solves then its a problem.

    The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
  • qwer12qwer12 PhilippinesRegistered User regular
    It sucks that the only time the protests get major coverage is when looting and/or burning occurs. Before that Wendy's went up in smoke, there seemed to be fewer outlets talking about the massive protests that were still happening

    steam_sig.png

    PSN: jrrl_absent
  • ShadowhopeShadowhope Baa. Registered User regular

    If the modern American press was present during WWII, they’d have stopped covering the war by November 1939.

    Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    Shadowhope wrote: »
    If the modern American press was present during WWII, they’d have stopped covering the war by November 1939.

    Then breathless, non-stop patriotic coverage starting about 2p EST on 12/7/41.

  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    Shadowhope wrote: »
    If the modern American press was present during WWII, they’d have stopped covering the war by November 1939.

    Who knows, America might have even joined the axis

    kFJhXwE.jpgkFJhXwE.jpg
  • MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    There were six highly suspicious deaths of prominent Ferguson protesters in the couple years afterward. Three of them were officially ruled "suicides" but look awfully suspicious, and almost certainly were murders/lynchings/assassinations. Two of them were homicides but golly gee, the police just can't figure out who might've done it. One might have been accidental, but I would absolutely not be surprised to find out it was also a murder/assassination. If the police didn't do it, they're covering for the killers and are accessories at the least.

    And this is a common pattern across the US. The police kill with impunity, because they can can claim their "investigation" ruled it a suicide and then high-five each other. They rule the streets like a mafia; being shot in the mouth is an old code to everyone else to keep their mouths shut because talkers get killed. It's a terror tactic; the police maintain their control through threats and fear.

    That's what these California lynchings are - the police and allies saying "we can kill whoever we want, whenever we want, in public, and you won't know and can't do anything about it."

  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    Phoenix-D wrote: »
    The rationalization is "he could have incapacitated the cop and shot him"

    Which ignores A. he was running away (not everyone is a stone cold murderous asshole like you, cop) B. there were two cops there.

    My local community is trying to hold a local fundraiser to buy lunch for the cops, and then some of them said that cops aren't allowed to take food from the local community because it might be poisoned.

    Like, how fucking paranoid do you have to be to assume that your own neighborhood is sneakily trying to poison you for no reason?

    I had to explain that this level of paranoia is how we got here in the first place.

  • BethrynBethryn Unhappiness is Mandatory Registered User regular
    40% of police-investigated deaths are uncleared in the US normally. I would be hesitant to go full conspiracy of "police don't know who did it but that's because they did it." (I'm also curious if ruling things suicides allows them to clear a death; can't find any literature on that)

    ...and of course, as always, Kill Hitler.
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    Phoenix-D wrote: »
    The rationalization is "he could have incapacitated the cop and shot him"

    Which ignores A. he was running away (not everyone is a stone cold murderous asshole like you, cop) B. there were two cops there.

    My local community is trying to hold a local fundraiser to buy lunch for the cops, and then some of them said that cops aren't allowed to take food from the local community because it might be poisoned.

    Like, how fucking paranoid do you have to be to assume that your own neighborhood is sneakily trying to poison you for no reason?

    I had to explain that this level of paranoia is how we got here in the first place.

    The reason cops aren't supposed to take 'freebies' is that it can be used against them as if it was a bribe. Whether that stops any of them or they give poison as a reason is a different matter.

  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    A lot of cops still get stuff like free drinks. The actual rules vary from place to place.

  • WinkyWinky rRegistered User regular
    Instead of calling local officials for 8cantwait reforms, call and talk to them about 8toabolition.

    8cantwait reforms are already present in many of the same communities with horrible police violence and the promises of a "72% reduction" in police violence are based on some extremely faulty statistical interpretation.

    So you may have seen the "8 Can't Wait" policies for police reform circulating the last few days. Since most of their hype comes from being "data-driven," I've taken a deeper look at the data.

    A thread:

    What the thread boils down to is: "more policies = fewer police killings" is technically sorta correct based on the data, but the effect size is tiny. Heck in the original report, it's established that race and number of arrests are much more significant variables. Also, the "72% reduction" number is nonsense. It's just saying "every individual policy reduces it by 15% so if you go from 0 to 8 you'd see a 72% reduction". Which is silly both because most departments don't have zero of these policies in place and also because that's just nonsense that it isn't possible to support. Also the departments that have implemented the most of these reforms on their own are likely to behave differently than other departments for reasons that don't relate to the reforms. It's a mess!

    Instead of calling your reps/etc for this, just call them and ask them to defund the police.

    Worth noting Chicago meets all of these already. Clearly they haven't fixed the problem.

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    I've been thinking that at some point, police must acknowledge the increased risk for injury it death on the job and shooting first to preserve their safety isn't acceptable.

    Similarly, I know my life is at risk when I care for TB positive patients at now COVID-19 patients on a daily basis. That's part of the job.

    Okay I don't think that metaphor stands exactly as written, but it's something that has been rolling around my ahead especially since the latest shooting at Wendys.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    I can assure you that:

    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    2. Cops will absolutely - department policy or not - take free food, beverages, pretty much anything not nailed down. Business owners tend to want cops to be around and friendly and usually won't let their employees charge cops for $5-10 in food or drinks.

    3. In many cases the cops working a town / shift have good relationships with many of the people who work at fast food places and gas stations. At least the people working those jobs long term and / or off shifts when there isn't anything really going on.

    When I worked midnights at a gas station, I frequently spent hours talking to bored cops because it was a pretty boring job. We had a 'cop' key on our register to track but zero out anything they wanted, and we could only charge for gas (the city had an account), tobacco, and lotto.

    Having that relationship with the cops paid off on several occasions where I wouldn't have / shouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    zagdrob wrote: »
    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    While I've heard of many accusations of this, just like the trend of writing "pig" on receipts a great many turned out to be false and cops all over the country were dumb enough to discuss new methods of getting people fired from restaurants on public social media, so short of the employees filming it themselves I don't believe any one of them is true. See, when a Cop gets extra pickle instead of light pickle, they don't go Karen, they get some random line cook fired and maybe even arrested.

    Hevach on
  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    zagdrob wrote: »
    I can assure you that:

    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    2. Cops will absolutely - department policy or not - take free food, beverages, pretty much anything not nailed down. Business owners tend to want cops to be around and friendly and usually won't let their employees charge cops for $5-10 in food or drinks.

    3. In many cases the cops working a town / shift have good relationships with many of the people who work at fast food places and gas stations. At least the people working those jobs long term and / or off shifts when there isn't anything really going on.

    When I worked midnights at a gas station, I frequently spent hours talking to bored cops because it was a pretty boring job. We had a 'cop' key on our register to track but zero out anything they wanted, and we could only charge for gas (the city had an account), tobacco, and lotto.

    Having that relationship with the cops paid off on several occasions where I wouldn't have / shouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt.
    When I worked at 7-11 (forever ago) we used to give first responders (police included) free coffee. It's not something that is way outside social norms. And the flip side of that is that the police were there...often. And every convenience store, gas station and even the King Supers that were within 6 blocks of that 7-11 had been robbed, but the store I worked at never was. The manager was convinced it was because the police stopped in there to fill up their mugs with coffee (and they did). I always thought it was because we were really busy all the time. And there just wasn't the opportunity for an armed robbery.

    zepherin on
  • R-demR-dem Registered User regular
    Somehow I'd missed the Kim Jones interview in the last thread. I just watched it while refreshing myself on the OP and hot damn. That was an incredibly powerful summation.

  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    While I've heard of many accusations of this, just like the trend of writing "pig" on receipts a great many turned out to be false and cops all over the country were dumb enough to discuss new methods of getting people fired from restaurants on public social media, so short of the employees filming it themselves I don't believe any one of them is true. See, when a Cop gets extra pickle instead of light pickle, they don't go Karen, they get some random line cook fired and maybe even arrested.

    It's been (jesus) twenty years since I was a teenager who worked in food service, but I personally witnessed people spitting in food that was going to a cop or 'accidentally' dropping the food on the floor and still serving it to them. The 'ass burrito' wasn't something I saw firsthand, but the people who told me had no reason to lie and it definitely tracked with the person who reportedly did it.

    It was more 'edgy teenager' than any real hate but it definitely occurred at least in my town.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    zagdrob wrote: »
    I can assure you that:

    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    2. Cops will absolutely - department policy or not - take free food, beverages, pretty much anything not nailed down. Business owners tend to want cops to be around and friendly and usually won't let their employees charge cops for $5-10 in food or drinks.

    3. In many cases the cops working a town / shift have good relationships with many of the people who work at fast food places and gas stations. At least the people working those jobs long term and / or off shifts when there isn't anything really going on.

    When I worked midnights at a gas station, I frequently spent hours talking to bored cops because it was a pretty boring job. We had a 'cop' key on our register to track but zero out anything they wanted, and we could only charge for gas (the city had an account), tobacco, and lotto.

    Having that relationship with the cops paid off on several occasions where I wouldn't have / shouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt.

    An alternate way to interpret this series of statements is:

    The local organized crime syndicate called "the police" expect to be given hand-outs and small bribes routinely when they pass through to ensure both that they will respond with force as needed, and will not arrest you when it's more convenient than investigating.

    Or even more simply, you have to give cops small bribes regularly to ensure they keep an eye on your place (i.e. do the job they're supposed to do anyway.) Places that don't give regular small bribes won't be protected as well by police,

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  • Captain InertiaCaptain Inertia Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    I can assure you that:

    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    2. Cops will absolutely - department policy or not - take free food, beverages, pretty much anything not nailed down. Business owners tend to want cops to be around and friendly and usually won't let their employees charge cops for $5-10 in food or drinks.

    3. In many cases the cops working a town / shift have good relationships with many of the people who work at fast food places and gas stations. At least the people working those jobs long term and / or off shifts when there isn't anything really going on.

    When I worked midnights at a gas station, I frequently spent hours talking to bored cops because it was a pretty boring job. We had a 'cop' key on our register to track but zero out anything they wanted, and we could only charge for gas (the city had an account), tobacco, and lotto.

    Having that relationship with the cops paid off on several occasions where I wouldn't have / shouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt.

    An alternate way to interpret this series of statements is:

    The local organized crime syndicate called "the police" expect to be given hand-outs and small bribes routinely when they pass through to ensure both that they will respond with force as needed, and will not arrest you when it's more convenient than investigating.

    Or even more simply, you have to give cops small bribes regularly to ensure they keep an eye on your place (i.e. do the job they're supposed to do anyway.) Places that don't give regular small bribes won't be protected as well by police,

    This is racketeering

  • PolaritiePolaritie Sleepy Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    I can assure you that:

    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    2. Cops will absolutely - department policy or not - take free food, beverages, pretty much anything not nailed down. Business owners tend to want cops to be around and friendly and usually won't let their employees charge cops for $5-10 in food or drinks.

    3. In many cases the cops working a town / shift have good relationships with many of the people who work at fast food places and gas stations. At least the people working those jobs long term and / or off shifts when there isn't anything really going on.

    When I worked midnights at a gas station, I frequently spent hours talking to bored cops because it was a pretty boring job. We had a 'cop' key on our register to track but zero out anything they wanted, and we could only charge for gas (the city had an account), tobacco, and lotto.

    Having that relationship with the cops paid off on several occasions where I wouldn't have / shouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt.

    An alternate way to interpret this series of statements is:

    The local organized crime syndicate called "the police" expect to be given hand-outs and small bribes routinely when they pass through to ensure both that they will respond with force as needed, and will not arrest you when it's more convenient than investigating.

    Or even more simply, you have to give cops small bribes regularly to ensure they keep an eye on your place (i.e. do the job they're supposed to do anyway.) Places that don't give regular small bribes won't be protected as well by police,

    This is racketeering

    Yes, just like all the other things the cops do that are crimes if anyone else does it.

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  • EriktheVikingGamerEriktheVikingGamer Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    zepherin wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    I can assure you that:

    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    2. Cops will absolutely - department policy or not - take free food, beverages, pretty much anything not nailed down. Business owners tend to want cops to be around and friendly and usually won't let their employees charge cops for $5-10 in food or drinks.

    3. In many cases the cops working a town / shift have good relationships with many of the people who work at fast food places and gas stations. At least the people working those jobs long term and / or off shifts when there isn't anything really going on.

    When I worked midnights at a gas station, I frequently spent hours talking to bored cops because it was a pretty boring job. We had a 'cop' key on our register to track but zero out anything they wanted, and we could only charge for gas (the city had an account), tobacco, and lotto.

    Having that relationship with the cops paid off on several occasions where I wouldn't have / shouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt.
    When I worked at 7-11 (forever ago) we used to give first responders (police included) free coffee. It's not something that is way outside social norms. And the flip side of that is that the police were there...often. And every convenience store, gas station and even the King Supers that were within 6 blocks of that 7-11 had been robbed, but the store I worked at never was. The manager was convinced it was because the police stopped in there to fill up their mugs with coffee (and they did). I always thought it was because we were really busy all the time. And there just wasn't the opportunity for an armed robbery.

    This is closer to it, though it's probably some degree of both. The busier a store is, the less likely it is to get outright robbed but the more likely it is to be targeted for scams. This due to the fact that most robbers are looking for targets of opportunity where they are isolated/smaller amount of people around while scammers are looking for distracted employees at the register who can't keep track of everything that's going on in a transaction or at the store.

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  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    Erlkönig wrote: »
    Apparently, it's not a once-in-a-lifetime way to...ahem...commit suicide.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Chavis_Carter

    Looks like it was a thing that (reportedly) happened once a year between 2012 and 2014.

    That dude was definitely murdered, but the bit about being left-handed is actually completely irrelevant.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkoGBOs5ecM

    34:00 in.

    Sherlock Holmes was written by someone who had an education from the late 1800s. Granted he was a doctor, but saying that, literally 100 years later that some of the plot elements don't hold up is kind of bullshit. It's the equivalent of calling The Adventures of Tom Sawyer garbage because there issues we can see with 100 years of knowledge that Mark Twain didn't necessarily have.

  • OneAngryPossumOneAngryPossum Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    I worked at a pizza place that provided free pizza to cops, and in exchange the drivers never got ticketed for speeding.

    In a separate town, I was witness to a speeding ticket going away because of the driver’s relationship with the manager of a local Coca-Cola warehouse (they provided free drinks to the cops on the regular).

    I was younger, but it always struck me that cops seemed to be bought very cheaply, at least if white folks were buying.

    OneAngryPossum on
  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    zepherin wrote: »
    zagdrob wrote: »
    I can assure you that:

    1. Fears of food items being tampered with are not unfounded. I heard of several cases in my hometown including a case where a Taco Bell employees wiped their ass with a tortilla before serving it and spitting in a cops burger or drink is basically a running joke.

    2. Cops will absolutely - department policy or not - take free food, beverages, pretty much anything not nailed down. Business owners tend to want cops to be around and friendly and usually won't let their employees charge cops for $5-10 in food or drinks.

    3. In many cases the cops working a town / shift have good relationships with many of the people who work at fast food places and gas stations. At least the people working those jobs long term and / or off shifts when there isn't anything really going on.

    When I worked midnights at a gas station, I frequently spent hours talking to bored cops because it was a pretty boring job. We had a 'cop' key on our register to track but zero out anything they wanted, and we could only charge for gas (the city had an account), tobacco, and lotto.

    Having that relationship with the cops paid off on several occasions where I wouldn't have / shouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt.
    When I worked at 7-11 (forever ago) we used to give first responders (police included) free coffee. It's not something that is way outside social norms. And the flip side of that is that the police were there...often. And every convenience store, gas station and even the King Supers that were within 6 blocks of that 7-11 had been robbed, but the store I worked at never was. The manager was convinced it was because the police stopped in there to fill up their mugs with coffee (and they did). I always thought it was because we were really busy all the time. And there just wasn't the opportunity for an armed robbery.

    This is closer to it, though it's probably some degree of both. The busier a store is, the less likely it is to get outright robbed but the more likely it is to be targeted for scams. This due to the fact that most robbers are looking for targets of opportunity where they are isolated/smaller amount of people around while scammers are looking for distracted employees at the register who can't keep track of everything that's going on in a transaction or at the store.

    Shoplifting was occasionally an issue, but panhandlers outside were a huge problem.

  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    I worked at a pizza place that provided free pizza to cops, and in exchange the drivers never got ticketed for speeding.

    In a separate town, I was witness to a speeding ticket going away because of the driver’s relationship with the manager of a local Coca-Cola warehouse (they provided free drinks to the cops on the regular).

    I was younger, but it always struck me that cops seemed to be bought very cheaply, at least if white folks were buying.

    Historically, the cost to bribe people is lower than you might believe.

  • ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    The 'why there are no good apples' story from the end of last thread reminded me:

    My old boss' husband was a state patrol captain. This is like, 2003-2004.

    This one time I was riding with her in the company car, and she gets pulled over on the Interstate for speeding (20 over).

    He rolls up and says hi you were speeding.

    She says hi I'm state patrol captain's wife.

    He says sorry ma'am you were 20 over you're getting a ticket.

    She flips. The fuck. Out. Repeatedly asks if he knows who she is, does he not know who the fuck she is? Asks for his badge number. He goes to his car to do something, she throws a huge shit-fit to all the passengers about how she's being treated and that this guy is capital-F Fucked when she talks to her husband.

    He comes back, sorry ma'am, made a mistake, here's your warning.

    She scowls and peels out after he goes back to his car, and then fucking whines the rest of the way to the office about the incident. None of us say a word. She gets out and stomps off inside, the rest of us just sit in silence for a bit and then wordlessly get out and walk inside.

    I was 19 at the time, still living at home. As soon as I got home I asked my parents if I should call the state patrol and report what happened. They both looked at each other and then said, "We're proud of you if you do, but you really, really shouldn't." I told them I didn't understand.

    My dad goes to his office, comes back with a bunch of speeding tickets and warnings. I'm like, "What? Why are you speeding so much?"

    "I'm not," he said. "I wrote a letter to the editor for the local newspaper that I didn't like cops passing us on the right on our street when the signs say clearly not to*. And that got published in last month's paper."


    What's really frustrating is that nearly 20 years later, talking to my dad, cannot convince him that police are corrupt. Fucking goddammit.



    * it was a one-lane street with a parking lane on the right, but the street has been extremely busy for as long as I can remember and people pass on the right a lot when folks are turning left (there is no left turn lane), often hitting parked cars. There are signs every 50 feet saying no passing on the right. But the cops have done it for as long as I've lived here.

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