From another thread:
Seen it, commented on it before. I said at the time that not only should all four of them be fired but so should the RCMP officers who defended them, including the 'use of force' sergeant who testified at the inquest that they followed procedure. I was also bloody mad at all the mess at the G20, not just the cops who arrested people or assaulted people for no justifiable reason, but all the others who testified afterward that the didn't see anything, or didn't see what happened.
Why does this happen? Because it's the nature of a paramilitary organization which cherishes esprit de corps and machismo to see itself as elite, and to see itself as a brotherhood (and sisterhood), as us against 'them' whoever the them is. I have heard that nobody really understands police like police, and because of that they tend to gravitate towards each other even outside of work, as friends. As such, we see numerous instances where cops cover up for what other cops are doing, or even lie on their behalf. I don't know what to do about that other than equipping them all with cameras they can't turn off, and firing anyone whose official report conflicts with his camera.
West Point has an honor code which says that you'll be kicked out not simply for lying, cheating or stealing, but if you fail to report another cadet for violating the honor code in some way. I don't know if the police are taught something similar when they're in training and don't know if it works, but we should certainly hold police to at least the same code. And we don't. For example, when a police officer is being investigated for shooting someone by an external agency (in Ontario it's the SIU) they usually refuse to cooperate and often refuse to be interviewed. The cop in Minneapolis who shot Justine Damon has, to this day, refused to give any statement as to what happened, and he's still employed, even if on suspension.
This is not just a matter of low ranking officers either. In Ontario, the SIU has complained about a lack of cooperation from Ontario police forces on a variety of investigations. As far as I'm concerned this should absolutely be a legal requirement.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/02/22/star_exclusive_police_ignore_sius_probes.html
I agree with all of this.
And that's the one complaint I have about the Black Lives Matter stance on the issue... this is actually a problem that's far more complicated than "they hate us cuz we black". That's such an easy argument to dismiss. People look at the number of non-black victims, and they look at the number of black cops caught participating in this violence, and they think "BLM is wrong. BLM is full of it."
BLM isn't wrong, BLM is just too hung up on one aspect of the issue to talk about the real problem. The real problem isn't that cops are racists who hate blacks. Police violence against black victims is a major outcome of the problem, but racism isn't the root cause of it. The root cause is that cops have created a culture where they're not accountable.
It bothers me when people take the stance that "why should I care what happened to Freddie Gray? He was a dumb thug. He had nothing to contribute to society. If the cops didn't kill him, somebody else would have." His life might not have been much, but it's the only one he had and he didn't deserve to lose it just because some cop decided to "teach him a lesson".
There's a possibility that maybe he would have discovered The Flying Spaghetti Monster in prison, got his life straightened out, maybe written wonderful poetry or created an outreach to get kids out of crime or done something else worthwhile with his life. But leaving that aside, giving the cops a pass on this because Freddie Gray was a deadbeat loser gives them a pass on this culture of entitlement and non-accountability they've created.
If you give the cops a pass for killing a loser like Freddie Gray, you're also giving them a pass for trying to cover up the death of Robert Dziekanski. You're giving this guy a pass for kicking a completely compliant citizen right in the face.
If you give them a pass for accidentally killing Freddie Gray, you're giving them a pass for everything else they do.
-k
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