Is Police Authority Excessively Powerful in America?

[skywise]

phatmonkey said-

explain to me why they should be holding them some other way.

Because rubber bullets are potentially lethal weapons if they strike a person in the head. I had it explained to me thus, regarding the rubber bullet protocol- there are three zones..
green zone is the legs- use it to back people off and warn,
the yellow zone is the torso below the shoulders- use it to knock a person down,
the red zone is supposed to be off limits- above the shoulders because that is considered lethal force.
Since when are cops given the go-ahead to use lethal force against American citizens excercizing their first amendment rights?

 

[Njorl]

Police have too much power if we let them get away with it. Sometimes it is hard to hold them accountable for abuses. Where I live, I think they do a good job. One county over (PG county Maryland) they are an abomination.

"Killing with impunity"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/w...ode=&contentId=A64231-2001Jun29&notFound=true

Here are some highlights:

"Almost half of those shot were unarmed, and many had committed no crime. Unlike many departments, Prince George's top police officials concluded that every one of the shootings was justified. "

In 1997, police said they shot and killed a distraught college student because he attacked them with a knife. When his family sued years later, the officers admitted under oath that the dead man never touched the alleged weapon – which turned out to be a butter knife sitting on a kitchen counter. "

And my favorite (least favorite really):

"In 1998, two officers said they fatally shot a Landover teenager in self-defense after he tried to grab their guns. In fact, records indicate he was shot 13 times in the back while he was unconscious and lying facedown on the floor."

In PG county Maryland, being a police officer is sufficient justification for any shooting.

I can't believe this still goes on. It was like that when I was a kid growing up in Philadelphia. A friend of my brother's called a cop a pig. The cop pulled out his gun and shot him, in front of many witnesses. He then cuffed him and refused to let an ambulance take him away. They threw him in the back of a wagon and let him bleed to death. Nothing happened to any of the cops involved. Persistant lawsuits finally changed the Philadelphia police significantly for the better.

Njorl

 

[member 5645]

Originally posted by skywise
phatmonkey said-


Because rubber bullets are potentially lethal weapons if they strike a person in the head. I had it explained to me thus, regarding the rubber bullet protocol- there are three zones..
green zone is the legs- use it to back people off and warn,
the yellow zone is the torso below the shoulders- use it to knock a person down,
the red zone is supposed to be off limits- above the shoulders because that is considered lethal force.
Since when are cops given the go-ahead to use lethal force against American citizens excercizing their first amendment rights?

So the cops should HOLD the gun at waist level? Or may I suggest that somehow the cops can actually AIM the gun, while holding properly? There is no other proper way to hold that shotgun. It takes a few degrees change to shoot at another body part, and eye level is the proper way to hold the butt against your shoulder and aim.
So I repeat, how SHOULD they be holding them? Not what should they aim at, how should they be holding them?

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by phatmonky
So the cops should HOLD the gun at waist level? Or may I suggest that somehow the cops can actually AIM the gun, while holding properly? There is no other proper way to hold that shotgun. It takes a few degrees change to shoot at another body part, and eye level is the proper way to hold the butt against your shoulder and aim.
So I repeat, how SHOULD they be holding them? Not what should they aim at, how should they be holding them?

They should aim it at the ground, unless they are actually shooting it.

 

[member 5645]

Originally posted by Zero
They should aim it at the ground, unless they are actually shooting it.

Well they are shooting it - we aren't discussing whether they are right or wrong to go after this crowd, we are discussing how they should be holding the gun.
With 100's of people, if the cop wants to target several, the gun needs to be in a firing position in order ot go quickly from one target to the next. Holding it at the ground after every shot is stupid and allows attacks of opportunity on the police.

If the police shoot one suspect, and it enrages another, he needs to be prepared to shoot the other. In this situation, the crowd is already dispersing, and people are also throwing things - the situation has already escalated, thus he is doing what he should.
Now the reason for the situation's escalation can be easily pointed to the cops as a whole, but the gun holding is not wrong, nor is it reckless

 

[russ_watters]

Originally posted by motai
Hmm... Seems like tellie is another word for television or telephone, most likely the former.

I know, there just aren't a lot of Americans who call it that.

Here's the "robo-cops" pointing their guns at eye level-

There is absolutely no context given for that photo - not enough information to even figure out what they are doing exactly, much less if it is right or wrong. For example, on what do you base the assumption that the guns are loaded with rubber bullets?

Useless, useless discussion. The general topic of police authority is a good one though.