US Police beat suspects up on camera.

[Ginger Lord]

Whoops

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7387755.stm

[MeleeMe?]

Yea they're fucked.

I would want to stomp someones head in too if i had to be a police officer in Philly. Worst job ever.

[Faceman]

No comment.

[Latzen]

Kind of makes the tummy turn...

BUT...

I always try to hold judgement on these kind of things.

It's always different on the ground, in the moment, then after the fact.

I dislike how most media outlets take a vaguely "fuck da po-lice" attitude, assuming that victims of force like that are innocent little kittens that spend their spare hours playing catch with orphans and saving lambs from wolves.

Maybe if we knew these guys, and their histories, we might think they damn well deserved the whupping they got.

Or maybe not.

That's my point.

[MeleeMe?]

A police officer just got murdered in Philly a few days ago when 2 people robbed a bank. They caught one of them and the other got away. All of their police force is out trying to find the guy. Considering that plus the fact that Philly is a crime infested shithole nowadays I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a bunch of cops letting out their anger on some guys that didn't deserve this.

I mean does it really take 12 officers kicking the shit out of 3 guys to get them into custody?

I don't even see how it is possible to be that much of a threat while sitting in a vehicle to justify that much of an ass whooping unless they all had guns in the car.

If these guys did indeed deserve that much of a beating the cops would be quick as hell to release the reason why to avoid the negative media coverage. All signs point to police brutality on this one.

p.s. I love how the news person was sort of giggling while the woman was talking about the beating.

[Stephenson]

I heard the guys were beat up for passing a stop sign...

[Dr. Crawford]

right. the one was murdered the other day, and there was another cop murdered in november.

also, a similar incident happened in july 2000 just like this.

there are a lot of stupid people in philly, i can vouch for that. lots of gang members, from there and trenton all pouring into the suburbs where I live now.

not sure if this was the right call or not, but if i were i would be on high alert against anyone that looks at me the wrong way...

i guess thats why im not a cop.

[WHEATLEY007]

Even if they did 'deserve' a sound beating, unfortunately, or fortunately, cops cant go about doing that. Hitting someone with a truncheon out of necessity, perhaps to make them release a weapon, or say, stop resisting arrest, is within their arsenal of tacticts and they're trained to make the decision wether its necessary, and how to, within the law, carry out the enforcement. But - anyone can see that standing over some guy, and repeatedly kicking them is way over the top. Surely.

[Cheeto]

What worries me is: would this have recieved as much attention and vitriol if there hadn't been that rash of youtube videos and taser incidents lately?

[Faceman]

What worries me is: would this have recieved as much attention and vitriol if there hadn't been that rash of youtube videos and taser incidents lately?

Yes. Those have nothing to do with it.

And for some good news, they caught the skid who shot the cop.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_up ... today.html (http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080508_Suspect_caught__arraignment_today.html)

[WHEATLEY007]

Dog The Bounty Hunter would have caught him in less than 5 days.

[MeleeMe?]

^^
and used nothing but his mullet and racial slurs to bring him into custody.

[Cheeto]

What worries me is: would this have recieved as much attention and vitriol if there hadn't been that rash of youtube videos and taser incidents lately?

Yes. Those have nothing to do with it.
Just seems to me the media, especially 'independent media' (read: bloggers) has been on a ginormous (it's a real word now, shut up!) anti-police kick lately. Filter out any stories about a cop getting shot in the line of duty, or catching a murder, or busting up a gang, it's all just another power tripping maniac going off on a power trip. I can see the value of exposing the stories of bad cops in order to bring greater light and transparency to the institution, but at some point it starts to build an image to the public that police are the enemy.

[PoolShark]

1.) Cops are supposed to exercise restraint. It would be extremely hard to in the case of losing a fellow member of the force. However, this comes with the job.
2.) Cops are not above the law. They only enforce it.
3.) Everyone is innocent untill proven guilty, in the court of law. Not on the street like some Judge Dred bull shit.

As for the media's approach to police... I have a very important question to ask you. And this will determine how you feel about police officers.

Have you ever been in a situation where you saw a police officer on the street or while driving and thought to your self, "Oh thank god. Some one here to help me."?

I'm not refering to a situation where you've had to wait on the police to show up to the scene of a crime or car accident. I'm talking in general.

[Invig]

Dont break the law. Problem solved!

[Dr. Crawford]

no, I never feel like "Oh thank god someone here to help me"

its more of "oh fuck, whats this prick going to do now"

how many times i see them at a red light and they don't feel like sitting at it so they just put their lights on and run through the intersection. i see this almost every day.

I was on 95 the other day, a state trooper started tailgating me and then after a few minutes flashed his lights at me. i didn't know what he wanted so i moved over. he just passed me. there were 2 open lanes next to me (this was like 10pm) but he felt the need to be a dick

[Fenris Wolf]

And just like anything else, the visible minority of douchebags on the police force give the entire rest of the force a bad name. People are people. Some are assholes, some are spineless twats who follow the leader, and some are decent. In regards to this video, it says the officers are responding to a shots fired call. You got three guys in a car who are pulled over, but you don't get the story about why they're pulled over, what they were told to do, or how long they had been pulled over for. Hell, a news chopper was able to get there in time to film it, so they were probably sitting there for a few minutes at the very least, possibly because they matched the description of whoever was taking shots at people the cops were responding too. They call for backup, backup arrives, and the dickheads in the car mouth off - beating ensues. And it could've gone the other way, the cop shows up, pulls them over, and they shoot the cop dead.

Would you all be saying the same thing about how terrible the police are if another one got shot just doing his job, even if he is an asshole?

[PoolShark]

Would you all be saying the same thing about how terrible the police are if another one got shot just doing his job, even if he is an asshole?

It's always horrible when someone gets murdered. Their life taken away, no one deserves that. But it would not change my view of many (not all) police officers.

[Fenris Wolf]

And unfortauntely your view is the way it is because of the few who abuse the power and trust given to them.

[SMELLY OLD MAN]

>:(

Where I live, the few happen to be the most. I know, I worked with them for years.

[Cheeto]

Dont break the law. Problem solved!
Unless you live in a city like mine, where the police are routinely under investigation for inventing crimes to meet unstated quotas, or for just plain abuse of power. Hell just the other day I had a cop nearly crash into my girlfriend and I when he changed lanes, crossing over a dotted lane line in the process, right in the middle of a turn. Had we not seen what he was doing a second before he did it, we would have been sideswiped and ten to one odds the judge would have ruled with his fucking stupid ass.

Most cops are fine, upstanding people there to actually do good and improve their community. Some are assholes. Just like the community at large. Unlike the community at large, cops carry GUNS and TASERS and are allowed to use them. So the penalty for pissing off a bad cop is much worse than the penalty for pissing of a regular bad citizen. So it's safer to assume that any cop you meet is a bad one and avoid them when possible.

[Penguin]

Most cops have my respect by default.

Unless they use unmarked cars to ticket low-level traffic offenders. Then they can all fuck themselves, and go jump off a bridge.

[Cheeto]

Unless they use unmarked cars to ticket low-level traffic offenders. Then they can all fuck themselves, and go jump off a bridge. With a razor wire dildo?

[Penguin]

Wrapped in a coarse grit sandpaper condom.