Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Good job putting Ramsey in charge. He’s not perfect, but as Chief of Police in Philly, he’s a HUGE improvement over that murderous thug Timoney. He treated the Occupy protestors with more respect than the NYPD did.
He started the evening by tweeting a link to the ACLU, spent the next few hours accompanying marchers as they made their way to City Hall, and generally offered words of encouragement — as long as folks stayed peaceful.
“Protestors have arrived at City Hall,” he tweeted at one point. “Peaceful protestors + Professional police = Successful democracy. Well done Philadelphia!”
“Not going to lie – never thought I’d see an officer tweet out an ACLU link,” one follower responded. “Is hell freezing over at long last?”
“The ACLU and I have a lot in common,” Nestel tweeted back. “We both want people to understand their Rights and we both protect the Constitution.”
Sentiment is fine. But will there be a curtailment of surplus military equipment transferred to local police departments? Or just more training on the “proper use” of such equipment? More equipment substitutes brawn for brains and increases the number of tragic outcomes.
Body-cams may also be fine. However, does the public want such gear because it might cause police to think twice or thrice before shooting or as evidence to hold police officers accountable for what may be unlawful shootings? If the latter, it’s weak tea considering the legal outcomes of recorded police violence. No Charges for Cop Who Killed unarmed man. Incident recorded by officer’s body-cam.
On August 11th, just 2 days after the shooting of Mike Brown, Officer Bron Cruz shot and killed unarmed Dillon Taylor in Salt Lake City, Utah.
[B]eyond calling for additional oversight, community engagement, and training, Obama will not act to curtail the transfer of military-style weapons and vehicles to local law enforcement, officials said, adding that wasn’t even the subject of their review.
IOW — let’s keep training the police just as we have been training police and military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq for a dozen years with no appreciable evidence of improved performance.
This would be like better training and equipment for fire fighters to handle Burning Rivers.
That’s from an anonymous senior official talking to Time magazine. The fact sheet itself suggests otherwise:
During the course of its review, the White House explored whether existing federal programs:
provide LEAs with equipment that is appropriate to the needs of their communities,
ensure that LEAs have adequate policies in place for the use of the equipment and that personnel are properly trained and certified to employ the equipment they obtain, and
encourage LEAs to adopt organizational and operational practices and standards that prevent misuse/abuse of the equipment.
And the forthcoming executive order may
Develop a consistent list of controlled property allowable for acquisition by LEAs and ensure that all equipment on the list has a legitimate civilian law enforcement purpose.
Require local civilian (non-police) review of and authorization for LEAs to request or acquire controlled equipment.
Mandate that LEAs which participate in federal equipment programs receive necessary training and have policies in place that address appropriate use and employment of controlled equipment, as well as protection of civil rights and civil liberties. Agencies should identify existing training opportunities and help LEAs avail themselves of those opportunities, including those offered by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and the International Association of Law Enforcement Standards and Training.
Require after-action analysis reports for significant incidents involving federally provided or federally-funded equipment.
Time’s source is leaking to push an agenda, and doesn’t need to be believed. I’m impressed with this plan as far as it goes.
Believe whatever words you want. The glaring omission of any comment on halting the transfer of surplus military equipment and a reduction in the budget of Homeland Security that facilitated the arming of local police departments over the past dozen years is telling to me. How is “better training in the use of deadly weaponry” different from what the NRA espouses?
That would insure that only those with nothing to lose and desperate for any job would become police officers. The legal fees alone would bankrupt a cop that performed his/her duties appropriately but nonetheless resulted in a tragedy for an individual.
When NYPD, CPD, StLCPD, StLMPD, LAPD, among others start doing honest-to-goodness community policing, I’ll be a believer. At best the LEA’s (as called in the fact sheet jargon) will dance around this program, take its money, and go back to being “tough on black communities crime” as soon as President Obama leaves the White House. Lowering crime rates too much is not in the institutional interest of law enforcement agencies and the overpaid CEOs chiefs that manage them.
No. OTOH, Obama hasn’t addressed the concerns of the Occupy protests either. Or the anti-nuke, anti-drone, anti-war groups. All part of the matrix that includes environmental degradation, income/wealth inequality, authoritarian/punitive USian predisposition.
The only protests in the past fifty-plus years that were worth a damn in producing legal/institutional changes were those led by the SCLC. (Without the cache of “benjamins” that were injected into the gay rights movement, that one would have led to as many serious setbacks as the women’s rights movement has experienced. Truly astonishing that abortion is less accessible today than it was in 1973.)
Except for the communities that are even more racist than the racist cops. There are methods to train cops to be less racist but the results will be limited while they continue to live among highly racist people who refuse address their own prejudice.
It has potential. I think community policing/ demilitarization go hand in hand.
As long as I’ve been mature enough to analyze human interactions I’ve noticed that bullies are attracted to police forces and that many (more than a healthy amount) police view the populace as prey rather than their customers (which is what the public is).
Community policing at least grants the public partner status in the relationship.
Good job putting Ramsey in charge. He’s not perfect, but as Chief of Police in Philly, he’s a HUGE improvement over that murderous thug Timoney. He treated the Occupy protestors with more respect than the NYPD did.
I mean, just look at how Philly cops handled our local ferguson protests:
Cameras can be purchased, trust cannot…Trust must be earned…like respect…integrity…all the words that have meaning, yet are avoided..
Sentiment is fine. But will there be a curtailment of surplus military equipment transferred to local police departments? Or just more training on the “proper use” of such equipment? More equipment substitutes brawn for brains and increases the number of tragic outcomes.
Body-cams may also be fine. However, does the public want such gear because it might cause police to think twice or thrice before shooting or as evidence to hold police officers accountable for what may be unlawful shootings? If the latter, it’s weak tea considering the legal outcomes of recorded police violence. No Charges for Cop Who Killed unarmed man. Incident recorded by officer’s body-cam.
A direct answer to my question:
IOW — let’s keep training the police just as we have been training police and military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq for a dozen years with no appreciable evidence of improved performance.
This would be like better training and equipment for fire fighters to handle Burning Rivers.
That’s from an anonymous senior official talking to Time magazine. The fact sheet itself suggests otherwise:
And the forthcoming executive order may
Time’s source is leaking to push an agenda, and doesn’t need to be believed. I’m impressed with this plan as far as it goes.
Believe whatever words you want. The glaring omission of any comment on halting the transfer of surplus military equipment and a reduction in the budget of Homeland Security that facilitated the arming of local police departments over the past dozen years is telling to me. How is “better training in the use of deadly weaponry” different from what the NRA espouses?
I’ll believe it when I see a cop at a demonstration that doesn’t look like the son of Stassi.
I bet shyt would turn 180 in a heartbeat if:
1. Policemen were held accountable in CIVIL SUITS.
I’m from a city where one out of THREE dollars budgeted for the police is to settle POLICE ABUSE CASE.
2. Make police pay for their own lawyering when sued.
shyt.would.clear.up.in.an.instant.
That would insure that only those with nothing to lose and desperate for any job would become police officers. The legal fees alone would bankrupt a cop that performed his/her duties appropriately but nonetheless resulted in a tragedy for an individual.
When NYPD, CPD, StLCPD, StLMPD, LAPD, among others start doing honest-to-goodness community policing, I’ll be a believer. At best the LEA’s (as called in the fact sheet jargon) will dance around this program, take its money, and go back to being “tough on
black communitiescrime” as soon as President Obama leaves the White House. Lowering crime rates too much is not in the institutional interest of law enforcement agencies and the overpaidCEOschiefs that manage them.It is a gesture though.
Question: Does it address Tef Poe’s concerns as a resident of St. Louis who has been involved in the protests in Ferguson?
Tef Poe, Riverfront Times: Dear Mr. Obama, a Letter from Tef Poe
No. OTOH, Obama hasn’t addressed the concerns of the Occupy protests either. Or the anti-nuke, anti-drone, anti-war groups. All part of the matrix that includes environmental degradation, income/wealth inequality, authoritarian/punitive USian predisposition.
The only protests in the past fifty-plus years that were worth a damn in producing legal/institutional changes were those led by the SCLC. (Without the cache of “benjamins” that were injected into the gay rights movement, that one would have led to as many serious setbacks as the women’s rights movement has experienced. Truly astonishing that abortion is less accessible today than it was in 1973.)
You can’t be serious. This is an iron pig.
Yeah, except for the racist cops.
Except for the communities that are even more racist than the racist cops. There are methods to train cops to be less racist but the results will be limited while they continue to live among highly racist people who refuse address their own prejudice.
It has potential. I think community policing/ demilitarization go hand in hand.
As long as I’ve been mature enough to analyze human interactions I’ve noticed that bullies are attracted to police forces and that many (more than a healthy amount) police view the populace as prey rather than their customers (which is what the public is).
Community policing at least grants the public partner status in the relationship.
police view the populace as prey rather than their customers (which is what the public is).
The real customers of the police have always been the “haves” who are to be protected from the “have nots.”