Wait, wait wait! I am not going to give you more of the same “he should have / he shouldn’t have” garbage about this shooting.
Plenty of people will be on that topic. I have a different look, and it has always driven me crazy. Read carefully the LA TIMES article linked above. Then read it again. Did you catch the talk about the KIDS participating in the protest? What? Are you kidding? You brought your kids?
I think adults should use their 1st Amendment rights however they want. Blah Blah Blah is the worst I can say. But when you bring your minor children to a protest that (already is, or) may turn violent, you are a fool. If the cops start putting down that riot, the kids might get hurt. Even if the cops, once again, exercise their discretion and stand on the sideline, the protesters themselves might inadvertently harm their own.
Arrest them for child endangerment, I say. What do you think?
Nothing really surprises me anymore. Parents who would bring small children to a protest like that are only trying to instill fear and hatred of the Police into their kids by taking them to an anti police rally.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they were even hoping that their child, for whatever reason, would cry. Maybe they get bumped by another protester, just so that the parent can say “the police purposely created a volatile situation and my child was injured.”
People should have to get a licence in order to reproduce…
Sorry if I sound bitter, had a crappy shift.
I’ve been reading your blog for a few days now, and I think the dialog you have with your readers is fascinating. I’m a military vet, and I’ve got combat and limited LE-type training that I picked up while I was in. This means I’m somewhat empathetic to what POs are faced with every day. It’s difficult being a cop.
It’s great that you’ve set this up and have offered honest and unfettered access to people who are mostly considered aloof difficult to talk to. This is why it pains me to read people antagonizing you and calling you names. There are better ways to go about making your point and I hope those people realize that you do is put people on the defensive when you say things like that.
I considered the popular blanket hatred and fear of cops as puerile and immature, but recently, I’ve been paying more and more attention to incidences involving cops and abuse of power and I’m becoming increasingly concerned.
That said, I do agree with a lot of people who say that sometimes police lock it up (to use military parlance) more than they should. Discretion is the better part of valor. There’s a word in the Laws of Armed Conflict, proportionality, which pretty much says don’t ever use more force than is needed (don’t bring a gun to a knife fight). There’s also a phrase you hear sometimes, “Handle things at the lowest level,” which means don’t elevate things unless you absolutely have to. You can see this in your above comment, “Arrest them for child endangerment, I say.” There’s no need for that. I don’t suffer fools gladly and I too loathe it when people bring kids to protests (it’s exploitation!), but I think diving into the deep end, arresting them and flinging some charge on them is the wrong approach to take. From a PR perspective, those kind of tactics are eventually going to blow up in your face and from an emotional perspective, it will only cause you more heartache in the long run. Handle things at the lowest level. When you arrest someone, you’re changing someone’s life forever. Most deserve it, but some don’t. Discretion is a virtue.
All this said, I’d to know if you’ve watched this video, and if so, what you think about it: I know it’s alarmist media propaganda, but I think it makes some valid points. http://www.myspace.com/video/boilingfrogs/the-largest-street-gang-in-america/54162036
One last thing: it seems you haven’t updated or posted anything in a while; I hope that changes. I enjoy reading your blog and I’ll continue to delve into past posts until I reach the end.
Thank you for your service.