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    Flying Squid (I hate me more than you do.)Brendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 12:55pm

    But at least the streets of Baton Rouge are once again safe from the menace of illegal music sales.

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      Kony TornheiserFlying Squid (I hate me more than you do.)
      7/06/16 12:56pm

      This shooting could very well (likely?) be unjustified, but if I’m not mistaken, they were called there due to reports of someone threatening others with a firearm. No need to be disingenuous, I don’t think.

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      BrocephalusKony Tornheiser
      7/06/16 12:57pm

      Sometimes its just better to shut the fuck up. This is one of those times.

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    Nunna YorzBrendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 1:08pm

    3 things. If 3 changes could be made it would eliminate most of these incidents and virtually guarantee accountability if/when something does go wrong:

    1. Mandatory, tamper-proof body cameras that are on for every minute that a cop is on duty. They’re paid with tax money, so they’re public servants and should not expect privacy while they’re on the clock. Having those body cameras would protect the public as well the cops since people do file false complaints sometimes.

    2. End broken windows/stop and frisk policing. The police’s own statistics show that all it does is harass minorities and doesn’t get positive results the majority of the time. Why not go back to having beat cops? Cops who live in a neighborhood and patrol that neighborhood will be able to relate to people and see them as fellow humans better than someone who doesn’t. That personal touch can make a big difference.

    3. Stop letting cops police themselves. When something does happen, there needs to be a review by an outside, independent agency, with decision-making authority. Cops and the DAs they work with regularly, are always going to act in their best interests. An outside, independent agency would add some much needed objectivity to how these cases play out.

    Not saying mine are the best ideas or solutions. There are plenty of other ideas floating around, but the only thing stopping any changes like this from being made are the police themselves. Even though technically they serve the public, they have a lot of power over the public and aren’t likely to want to give it up.

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      TheAJxNunna Yorz
      7/06/16 1:23pm

      No, actually they are the best ideas and the most common sense. It does nothing to weaken cops and it does nothing to embolden criminals. They are a lot more workable than many of the more aggressive solutions BLM has proposed and the non-solutions keep things the way they are the police have proposed.

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      Meat HelmetNunna Yorz
      7/06/16 1:26pm

      Good points, but do you honestly think that cops are going to risk their family’s lives housing them in areas with high crime? Especially if they’re white?

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    KomradKickassBrendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 12:57pm

    Police have not disclosed whether Sterling had a gun, or if he did, whether he threatened the officers with it.

    Didn’t they confirm he had a gun? I though the earlier article said they removed it from his pocket afterwards.

    Also

    In the leaked video, a voice says, “He’s got a gun! Gun!” One officer draws his weapon,

    The earlier article said both drew their weapons at about the same time (only one fired). It seems like that could be somewhat helpful in determining if it was a case of a cop just feeling like shooting someone, or if it was a reaction to something the victim did.

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      RockYouLikeAHermanCainKomradKickass
      7/06/16 1:10pm

      Or they could have just been covering their own asses by saying that shit. The Walter Scott case also comes to mind, among others.

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      KomradKickassKomradKickass
      7/06/16 1:13pm

      ETA Ok, it was one of the witnesses that said they pulled out a gun from his pocket after, I guess the police haven’t commented on that.

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    phunkshunBrendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 12:56pm

    The shameful thing is, nothing will come of it. Nothing will change even if they found fault.

    As a black person in this country....really anyone who is not white, but specifically blacks...one basically has to be in their Sunday best while teaching a group of kids how to do long division while simultaneously saving a box full of kittens from drowning in a flooding river to be given the benefit of the doubt.

    ..And even then, some gobshite unfulfilled, middle aged angry white guy will still point out that he ‘had pockets...POCKETS ARE DANGEROUS!”

    Fuck this stupid country, at least sometimes. Really. I’m done.

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      sTalkinggoatphunkshun
      7/06/16 1:14pm

      I wonder about that a lot. If some cops executes me in the middle of the street what will the media use to assure the police loving public that I had it coming. I’ve never been arrested, I don’t live in a “bad neighbourhood” and I don’t dress “urban”, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something.

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      Ihpsdmphunkshun
      7/06/16 1:19pm

      Perhaps there’d be more outrage if the Baton Rouge Police Department had been sending e-mails on an unsecure server.

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    Last Burner, I SwearBrendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 12:50pm

    “Marcelle also said that police had seized footage from surveillance cameras at the grocery store.”

    I wonder if that footage is going to magically disappear.

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      republikkkanLast Burner, I Swear
      7/06/16 12:53pm

      and when they do release the video 14 seconds will be mysteriously erased dues to a malfunction error. bet those pigs are giving each other high 5s and enjoying their time off relaxing at home drinking a beer

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      Kony TornheiserLast Burner, I Swear
      7/06/16 12:54pm

      I very much doubt it, considering everyone is obviously and so quickly aware of its existence.

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    Doofenschmirtz, Inc.Brendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 12:48pm

    Fast forwards a few months and Comey will be back saying that people were “careless” but nobody did anything criminal, so move on.

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      TheRainInSpain'sTherapistDoofenschmirtz, Inc.
      7/06/16 12:58pm

      Still stinging from the news, eh?

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      j4x_TheRainInSpain'sTherapist
      7/06/16 3:23pm

      Be using this a lot

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    BDCBBrendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 1:02pm

    For the umpteenth time, nationalize the cops. Yeah yeah, it's not constitutional, but Jesus, let's aim for it in the long run. It will make these investigations a hell of a lot easier without a bunch of jurisdictional conflicts; the cops will have access to better training; and most of all, the MORE FEDS approach will mitigate pernicious parochial pressures.

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      PetenrepeatBDCB
      7/06/16 1:37pm

      Awesome idea! Then they could police America all at once! Like one big state! Like a police state!

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      Hello_Madam_PresidentBDCB
      7/06/16 1:58pm

      [Serious question] Is that actually unconstitutional? It seems like we can allow municipalities to keep their forces but add in national to check them, and still be within the Constitution. Although the local forces should never have the same level of authority or access to weapons....

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    Sid and FinancyBrendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 1:01pm
    GIF
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      IanSid and Financy
      7/06/16 1:06pm

      Mmhmm...definitely “wecd”.

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    gravit8Brendan O'Connor
    7/06/16 2:57pm

    Racism aside, this is what policing will look like in this country when literally everybody has the legal right to concealed carry.

    Simply approaching any civilian on the street for any reason at all could result in interactions with people carrying concealed handguns, and then what? “Excuse me sir, before I speak with you for any reason, I need to know if you’re carrying a gun?” Yeah that’ll happen, right?

    OTOH, most of the time cops aren’t just tackling (white) people on the street. It’s a shame the new carry laws don’t contain any wording on racial consideration - “While it may be completely legal for you to carry a concealed gun, please remember the potential for an accidental police shooting if you happen to be of a minority or have darker skin when deciding to carry.”

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      j4x_Brendan O'Connor
      7/06/16 3:10pm

      I support a massive expansion of the size\scope of federal law enforecment.

      What I want, specifically, is for every single incident where a civilian is killed by the police to be investigated by a federal overwatch agency. Every single time a police officer kills someone, a goddamn federal investigator from a different state needs to crawl up his asshole ASAP and justify the shooting.

      If the shooting can’t be justified but doesn’t pass threshold for criminal prosecution, the offending officer is fired and barred from ever holding a LE position again.

      The states cannot be trusted to enforce the rule of law themselves.

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