Are cops getting more brutal, or are smartphones, social media, etc just pulling back the curtains

[Godhumor]

A lot harder to hide behind the blue wall when anyone anywhere can be recording, tweeting or photographing.

Frankly, I think it is getting harder to sweep under the rug these events and police forces are handling that fact very, very poorly.

[LWolf]

1. I think the brutality has become more known outside

local communities. It's always been there.

[Godhumor]

3. Absolutely agree n/t

[stevenleser]

16. Agreed, I think it has always been there. Scary really. Nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. A bit of both

The rest of society has become more alienated and cruel... so have cops, but cameras everywhere are pulling the curtain off.

[kelliekat44]

4. A lot of both. nt

[Anansi1171]

5. Both, but its not just the smartphone and other cameras becoming ubiquitous...

.. its Social Media!

[deathrind]

6. Both.

Cell phone cameras and social media are definetly pulling back the curtain but by the same token cops have definetly become more aggressive. During the 45 years of my life I have been pulled over numerous times for traffic violations. Long gone are the day when the cop walked up to my window with a pen in one hand and the ticket book in the other, now it is one hand on the gun and the other hand free ready for whatever. But I can't really blame them...citizens have become more aggressive as well...ultimately that is who I blame. This "sovereign citizen" thing going on and people walking around with their AR's and sidearm would only naturally put cops on a more aggressive footing.

[gwheezie]

7. I think they're getting less brutal

I think we are more aware.

[GoneOffShore]

18. Not sure where you live, but that's not the case in Philadelphia.

[gwheezie]

21. I live in rural Virginia

There are local stories about the good old days where if you were white you could take the law into your own hands against African Americans and the sheriff wouldn't arrest you.

[LWolf]

22. I hadn't thought of this in way too many years,

but I know you are correct. I'm white, and have lived most of my life in places and with people that, as I'm beginning to realize, at least on the surface, interacted well together.

My father, though, who thankfully didn't raise me, was one of those good 'ol boys. And so were all the people he associated with, which is why my mom got the hell out of dodge when I was just an infant. I didn't have anything to do with him for 15 years, and then, as a teen, was shipped off to live with him for 6 months to "get to know" him. I spent that 6 months quiet and keeping my head down, because I was isolated and powerless, and what he had to say about, and was willing to do to, *lovers was bad enough. Even his daughter.

I heard. I heard what they thought; I heard their opinions. I heard their stories, although they were careful to leave specifics like names, times, and places out. I never SAW; they didn't take their daughters.

That was in the 70s, and I've never been back. One could hope that things have improved in the last 40 years, but I should never have made that assumption.

I'm realizing that, just because I've spent most of my life since with better-minded white people, I shouldn't have stopped paying attention. I'm sorry.

[Exultant Democracy]

26. Number of people killed by cops has gone up every year since 1995, crime overall plummmeted

during the same period. I they are less brutal why do they kill more people even when those people are committing a lot less crime.

[gwheezie]

34. I quess the statistics are more accurate.

This is a direct quote from a retired LE in the county where I live said at an informal gathering. "Back in my day that nigger would be feeding the crabs" I took that to mean the person he was referring to would be killed and dumped in the bay. So maybe there is no way to determine how many times that happened so maybe there is more police killing these days but how would we know?

[kimbutgar]

8. I agree on both also

People I've known for over 20 years have become mean bitter people since they started watching Fox. I think 9-11 was a turning point in this country. Police officers became defined as rock stars who could do no wrong and it went to their heads. Fox flamed the fires and then when President Obama was elected the rascism exploded. A lot of police officers watch Fox because they continued to be cheerleaders for law enforcement.

[Cal Carpenter]

9. Mostly the second one

What we are seeing these days aren't exceptions as far as cop behavior. They are exceptions because people are actually talking about them, and the media is even covering some of it.

[PoliticAverse]

10. It has been suggested that there may also be some link to steroid use. n/t

Last edited Thu Jul 23, 2015, 11:44 PM - Edit history (1)

[Downwinder]

11. Beat downs have become shootings.

[Uncle Joe]

12. It's a combination of the two, militarization of the police forces; to deal

with the increased firepower subsequent to the NRA's belief that "more guns equals less crime" only serves to create a chasm or gulf between the police and those that they're sworn to "protect and serve."

The police; in general evolving into swat teams simply can't be as intimately connected to the people when they're armed and armored to the teeth, they lose connection to the community.

Of course smart-phones and social media are also pulling back the curtain.

Thanks for the thread, Godhumor.

[forsaken mortal]

13. It's probably always been there.

People with authoritarian and social-dominator type personalities tend to be attracted to that job.

[beevul]

25. Essentially, predators.

People with authoritarian and social-dominator type personalities

Essentially, predators.

[Comrade Grumpy]

14. Yes.

[Recursion]

15. If I had to guess I'd say cops are less brutal than 20 years ago

we just all have cameras with us 24/7 now.

I have no data for my belief that police are less violent now, but every other category of violence has gone way down over that period so I'd be surprised if police violence did too.

[Marr]

17. I think it's something of a feedback loop. Since Rodney King, really, the public has

had a more and more regular view of this behavior. It's changed the perception of what a cop is-- and that drew more of that sort to the profession. But it's all happened along with the militarization of the police, changing racial demographics that have made racists more aggressive, and increasingly obviously 2-tiered justice system, wealth disparities, etc.

[Marrah_G]

19. I think they have always been cops who are brutal

I think cell phones and social media have shone a light on things that people tried to pretend did not happen.

[Yo_Mama]

20. Both. There are training issues with younger cops and cell phones are exposing that

This has been building for some time (bad training) but I think the older cops kept things more in line. As they retire, the police culture has shifted more to the "shoot, shovel and shut up" mentality.

Police culture is a very severe threat to good cops, of whom there are still quite a few.

The fact that police have responded to complaints and proof of bad actions by trying to prevent the citizenry from recording them is just an example of how things have degenerated.

http://peopleslawoffice.com/the-right-to-record-police-officers/

Even after they are losing these cases, police forces are still trying to prevent the public or the press from recording them. It's a wholesale violation of civil rights that is astounding.

The reality is that across the country, police are not trained to respect and do not believe in the citizenry's basic civil rights. This is why they have lost such support. Note that I have been warning about this for years - way before the publicity last year. White people don't trust the police. No one trusts the police any more. The police are the only group that doesn't know that. I warned about the backlash.

Most people in this country under 40 now look at cops as lawbreakers and liars, and that's because all too many of them are.

It will require very sustained pressure from the people to allow the good cops to promulgate a better police culture.

[librechik]

23. both. n/t

[Facility Inspector]

24. It's always been that way, in some ways worse

(e.g. vagrancy arrests, P-farms, getting "lost" in local jail systems) except now people have video cameras in their pockets.

I remember when the phone was wired into the kitchen wall, so that alone is pretty amazing.

[Ilsa]

27. I think technology is pulling back the curtains on

Several problems, including racism and PTSD. I suspect some LEOs are racist and sexist pigs. But I think others have been exposed to too much trauma. It's screwed with their heads to the point that they are angry and rationalize their warped attitudes and behavior.

I'm beginning to wonder if there should be a time limit for a career as an officer patrolling a beat.

[treestar]

30. Yes

They should rotate them. Between desk jobs or detecting or the like.

[Turbineguy]

28. I suspect some have always been this way.

I have dealt with a number of policemen who were coked to the gills on power. Especially younger ones. On the other hand I have also dealt with policemen who were courteous, professional and really interested in keeping a person out of the grease. This was especially true during my teenage years (thank goodness)!

In Washington state I have seen State Troopers assist motorists with changing a flat tire. In Lynnwood WA I saw a policeman really trying to get a teenage girl out of trouble by trying to reason with her, but she was just too angry to help him.

In Portland OR I saw a policeman arrest a homeless guy and he slammed the guy's head into the car door jam. The guy was already handcuffed and quiet, not resisting in any way. Both policemen looked at me and I thought I might be in for the same treatment.

[treestar]

29. Pulling back the curtain

It was probably much worse. Would not even make local papers.

[Man from Pickens]

31. Cops ARE getting more brutal, and in a big way

Check out the number of SWAT team raids, for example. Went from being an extremely rarely-used tactic to standard operating procedure to the tune of 100,000 raids every year.

Check out year over year stats on the number of people killed by police. We set a record last year. This year, we passed that record barely past the midway point of the year.

This is escalating violence, not merely more-exposed.

[Half-Century Man]

32. The easy and regularity of police defaulting to street avenger

Suggests that the recording is the new element to a regular routine. This has been going on for a long time. Exactly as the AA community has been saying all along.

[mmonk]

33. More brutal. Militarization plus court rulings against citizen protections have enabled bad

behavior. Couple that with the killing of young black unarmed youth, this country is going wrong fast. And also, a DOJ that isn't aggressive enough.

[Liberal_in_LA]

35. brutality existed before. ask older people of color