This isn't getting much media coverage, is it? Maybe it's the lack of protest porn that keeps the television crews away from the story. Screaming protesters, tear gas, militarized police, looters, and burning buildings make for a better visual. It appears that none of that happened after this shooting, although friends of the deceased held a small rally.
The New York Times fleetingly reported the story as an "oh, by the way" kind of thing, but nothing in depth of any kind. The White House hasn't commented. The Reverends Sharpton and Jackson haven't been to Salt Lake City. Trayvon Martin's attorney hasn't put his mug on camera over this shooting.
Or when he heard the officer yell "get down!" maybe the kid thought it was a dance contest, who knows? We certainly don't, because the coverage has been atomic particle thin.Now, note the similarities to the Michael Brown story, except in this case there’s no evidence that the victim actually committed a crime, as there is in St. Louis. And note the total absence of any mention of race in this story. There is absolutely no mention of race. Now, from all accounts, Dillon Taylor didn’t obey the cop’s orders because he was wearing headphones. He may not have heard the order to “get down.” He reportedly was trying to pull up his pants in order to get down on the floor.In any case, he didn’t resist. He didn’t hit the cop. He didn’t try to flee, and yet he was shot dead. The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, but in this story there was no reference whatsoever to race.
You might have missed this as well, what with all the Ferguson coverage and outrage and so on. The Police Chief of a small Texas town was shot to death during a routine traffic stop. No protests, no press announcements made by an angry looking Attorney General Eric Holder, no vacation-interrupting statements by a peevish-looking President Obama. Nada. Because this event, like the one in Salt Lake City, aren't narrative compliant.
Police officers who draw their guns and fire when the believe they face imminent danger are excoriated by the police-hating media. Police officers who don't draw, or who don't expect a life ending threat are shot to death by someone pulled over for a routine traffic stop. They are largely ignored by the media.
Balance, people, balance.
I checked. There are about 780,000 police officers in the US. Ninety-nine percent of them are good men and women on a mission to help others. One percent are jerks who should be hounded off the job. And some won't make it the to the end of the shift. The media is doing a good job of painting all of them with the contrived narrative that all cops are bad.
Don't be part of it.
71 comments:
Already some grumbling on the web that Taylor is hispanic, but apparently not a "white hispanic" like George Zimmerman.
The counting up of martyrs by all sides is the first order of propaganda in any conflict.
Blacks relentlessly count their martyrs and demand revenge. See Crack. Blacks have many many allies among whites who want to profit politically from blacks' obsession with counting and avenging their martyrs.
One of them is Meade.
I get the point here, and it's a very good one: among other things, the Administration, the press and the mouthpieces are pretty clearly racists assholes, but another truth of the matter is that our cops have become too dangerous to citizens mostly due to this organizational hysteria about how dangerous we are to them. Just over 100 cops are killed in work related ways in an average year and only a third of those are shooting or stabbings. Being a cop is not even in the top 10 most dangerous jobs. Loggers, fishermen, farmers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, pilots, etc. are all in more dangerous jobs.
I appreciate the job they do, and definitely think Ferguson was a justified shooting, but when a citizen encounters a cop, on average, it's the citizen who is in far more danger from the cop than the other way around.
Policies and tactics have become shoot to kill at the first sign of danger. I think we deserve more courage, respect, control, and discernment from our peace officers. We should not have to fear for our lives from people paid to protect us. The pendulum has swung way too far in favor of the police protecting themselves rather than us.
Some perspective
All better!
"Ninety-nine percent of them are good men and women on a mission to help others."
Really, Michael?
My own interactions in the last few years have been about 50/50 between "just doing their jobs" and arrogant aggressive assholes.
The AAA's would include the young trainee officer who was clearly and deliberately trying to provoke my wife into a confrontation over a faulty tail light. I suppose he was showing the observer/trainer that he had the chops to handle a 105 pound female.
We've given law enforcement an unprecedented level of authority and firepower and they have shown a strong tendency to use their power irresponsibly.
I don't see much of a difference between white people who complain generally that white people are put upon and black people who complain generally that black people are put upon.
Investigators are only sent when it's "my people".
bagoh20 said...
Policies and tactics have become shoot to kill at the first sign of danger. I think we deserve more courage, respect, control, and discernment from our peace officers
In fairness, and I do agree with what you say, the environment in the last 40 years has changed radically.
You have gangbangers only interested in body count and drug posses, mostly Caribbean black and nominally Hispanic (wild Indians, really), who are just plain savages who will do anything they can for that quick buck.
That may be racist, but it's the climate in a lot of places.
I'm not trying to be controversial, just honest when I say that I'm more scared of being hurt by cops in my area than I am by criminals, and I spend my days in Compton, CA.
I worry that they will harass me, arrest me, beat me, or shoot me or my dogs, and I can't even defend myself as I might against criminals. Something like a simple mistaken identity, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time can get me killed pretty quick.
For example, I have a couple buildings I'm responsible for in bad parts of town. If I go there at night, and I usually take some dogs with me, I'm much more concerned that the cops will get scared of me or my dogs and shoot us than I am scared of criminals standing up to me. They will likely run. The cops are prone to push an encounter that is very sketchy. I'm glad they are there. I just wish they were bringing safer tactics and assumptions.
In reality, I'm not really scared of either the cops or criminals in a debilitating way, but relatively speaking, I feel helpless against the danger from cops. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, because I read so many stories of innocent people and pets killed by search warrants served by SWAT teams or citizens shot to death for pulling a garden hose or cell phone on a cop, or often just simply verbally standing up to abusive cops. As a freedom-loving State-hating American every story like that burns into my memory.
"The pendulum has swung way too far in favor of the police protecting themselves rather than us."
Exactly.
YMMV, and this is not true of all cops but there has been general mission creep to the point of abandoning the original mission.
So far as the individual citizen is concerned, it's now about controlling and enforcement (revenue generation) rather than protecting and defending.
They protect and defend the State.
"Rabel - so based on your interactions alone, most police are "arrogant, aggressive assholes"?
That may reflect more on you than on them."
That's not what I said. I think my comment was reasonably respectful to you because your work here has earned that respect.
Your response and implied accusation are unwarranted.
And I don't assume all cops are bad. Quite the opposite. I assume they're good unless it can be shown convincingly otherwise. The culture of policing has changed, though, and the militarization is an aspect of that which should be highlighted. It does affect attitudes.
Armatel hits the nail on the head - the police are the blunt instrument used by a corrupt state to cow the former citizens.
They work a short career, retire on lavish pensions and suck on the tax-filled teat in perpetuity.
I know, because all those bloated Y*nkee cops are retiring here. They are assholes, but they carry, so I just keep my head down and shuffle along. Must not run afoul of them - the blue union is a strong one, and one you do not want to be on the wrong side of.
And I'll add that no one is more of a pussy than I am when pulled over by the law. Yes sir, no sir, and a thank you when they hand me the ticket. My wife is the same.
Yet on three occasions in the last few years the lawman has obviously wanted to fuck with us for no good reason. That's my experience, yours may be different.
"Ninety-nine percent of them are good men and women on a mission to help others. One percent are jerks who should be hounded off the job."
I dunno...sounds like a pretty conservative estimate to me. I don't think any profession is that lopsidedly good.
Okay, brace for anecdote.
A few years back I defended a case brought by an (annoying city near where I live) police officer who had to slow down his motorcycle suddenly because my old lady client was turning through an intersection too slowly. He laid it down, skidded out and sustained abrasions and an ankle fracture. We're basically at fault but the guy just had to pile on a bunch of insults about my client and he lied, blatantly and brazenly lied, like he was used to it, and used to getting away with it. Claimed he had no prior claims for personal injury. But he did. Unfortunately for him the SF City atty mistakenly sent me his claim log. There were 15 prior claims for OTJ injuries, several related. Couldn't use it (ethics-remember that the next time you claim lawyers don't have any) but the level of lying was astounding and I'm used to people lying. Also a full-on union suck who showboated at his depo, on the record, about his important job ticketing people for parking violations and traffic infractions and how he felt he had earned his retirement at 50.
This is one guy. There are other officers on that force, and on police forces throughout my area, who I know to be good people. But I will say that even among the good ones, the culture does seep into and influence attitudes.
Why didn't the white people of Salt Lake City go out and loot stores to express their legitimate rage at the racist oppressor black cop? That's what I woulda done if I needed stuff. But I don't need stuff. I want stuff. But I haven't descended to the schvarze level of rationalizing theft based on white oppression.
It goes without saying that police shooting publicity should not depend on race nor should the investigation thereof be influenced by the race of the officer or the shooting victim.
(Except that obviously neither of the above goes without saying. So just sayin.)
I used to NEVER be afraid to call the cops on behalf of myself or someone else. And none of them ever made me uncomfortable or regret my decision. But over the years, based on what I've heard and observed, I'm a lot more reluctant to ask for their intervention. I think it's more of a crap shoot than it ever was that things will or will not spiral out of control when the cops get there.
Last night, less than one minute after leaving the park on a walk back home, 4 cop cars pulled up and there was shouting and running and the black yutes gathered on the steps we'd passed ran like hell. One of them threw a gun in the bushes. "Gun! Gun! Gun!"
I thought we were going to get shot. No one fired a weapon.
My sense of safety is lower over the past 10 years, mostly because of the vibrant young men from Chicago who moved here for Minnesota's generous and endless fount of welfare money.
The cops seem like decent types. The news stories of cops killing the wrong people, and yelling "STOP RESISTING" to dead bodies, and getting away with it... is disturbing.
So now I am afraid of them, too. Not respectful, afraid I'm going to be killed for not doing exactly as they tell me in exactly the right way and fast enough.
Shit.
Anyone live somewhere in the world where there's mainly sane people around?
I used to live in such an area in the 1970s.
What the hell happened?
Communism.
Problem is that police are human and humans are messed-up.
I agree with almost everyone about the balance. It's off - esp all these dog shootings.
I know (knew) a young kid who was tased by police after a chase through a field.
The police ran after this teenager because he was growing pot out by Waneka lake. He was a poor white kid from a poor family (almost homeless) - skin and bones he was so thin...
The police mowed him down like a criminal and tased him. The Taser ended up killing him.
(this all happened before legalization)
The family had no financial recourses to sue.
Hate cops much?
"Now afraid of cops" ≠ "hate"
This is one of those times when I feel like I live in an alternate world. I've never had an unpleasant encounter with a police officer or sheriff deputy. And that includes while I lived in Madison during the protest era of the late 60s-early 70s. I don't get it.
And I don't get taking a bad personal encounter someone may have had and painting every officer everywhere with that broad brush.
All cops are.....
All blacks are....
All women are.....
All men are.....
All gays are......
I think it far better to judge individuals by the content of their character. There was a speech about that.
Are there bad cops? Sure. Just like there are bad accountants, teachers, painters, lawyers, etc. I won't lump the good in with the bad.
Instapundit:
"A recent Washington Post column by an LAPD officer saying "If you don't want to get shot, Tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you," illustrates the problem."
My experience last night was typical of good cops doing the right thing for citizens in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My concern is the whether the attitude voiced by Sunil Dutta (a professor of homeland security and 17 year LAPD officer) is a common one, or is he an aberration?
Is the militarization a similar concern?
Nothing to worry about?
Too much Drudge?
Only the bad stuff makes the news.
All the good stuff - not so much.
Copforlife = Meade sockpuppet.
MH, I'm looking for one person here who has said "all cops are..." and I don't see it.
What set people off, including me, was that 99% statement which went almost entirely in the other direction, i.e. "all cops are good." The Little Sisters of the Poor are not 99% good and it looked like a nearly complete exoneration of the type of police behavior we read about and experience ourselves.
Good on you that you've never had a bad experience, but in my opinion a person has to be avoiding the obvious to not see the change in law enforcement attitudes and behaviors that have occurred in the last few years.
The heavy equipment and armament and SWAT tactics are part of the problem, but there's more to it than that.
I don't know all the reasons for it but clearly an us vs. them (except for you) mindset has developed even in the smaller agencies.
I used to feel the same way you do now, but times have changed.
@Sixty.
Ha!
I'll bet it is.
The profile is blocjed, but google did find this 'copforlife' with a dead blog.
And that copforlife profile is not blocked, suggesting a name change for a different blogger.
On a similar note, I found it hilarious on the AUG 27 Instapundit AAlt quote,
this exchange in the comments:
KCF
Althouse herself flings the racism charge rather loosely.
She went ballistic about the Obamaphone video in 2012. She even saw the letters "NIG" on a child's pajamas in a 2008 Hillary commercial and said that was racist.
What does she expect would happen when calling people racist gets people fired?
Glenn Reynolds
Actually, didn't she debunk that "NIG" thing?
KCF
Nope, endorsed it.
See:
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/03/few-more-thoughts-about-clinton-ad-with.html
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/03/why-are-letters-nig-on-childs-pajamas.html
annalthouse
I stand by the pajamas. I think every frame of a significant, expensive political ad like that is carefully done. I know the word on the actual pajamas is "night," but I'm not accusing the pajama manufacturer of subliminal messaging, only those who made the ad. There was a whole racial context to that ad that deserved discussion. But I don't "fling the racism charge rather loosely." What I've said is focused and careful.
KCF
Of course you stand by it. Sheesh.
NoWhey
And here she is - probably drunk, but that's par for the course, explaining that it isn't an issue of the color of skin, rather the thinness, of hers, in particular.
Nothing you do is careful or focused - you voted for Obama at least once, thereby, proving, for all time, that you are an over-educated fool.
HEY - THERE GOES MEADE WEARING SHORTS!!!
The sign the protester is holding shows a cop in riot gear. Was the responding cop in riot gear? If so we are in trouble.
The cop was responding to a situation where a gun was possibly present. I don't know how het up the officer was, but the kid going for his waistband probably looked enough like going for a weapon to cause the cop to shoot. I don't know if it was an overreaction. When anyone is confronted with a cop who has a gun drawn on him, he should automatically stop moving.
I have told my son that if he's stopped by the cops he should tell the cop he's reaching for his wallet, and do it very carefully.
On a similar note to what Pogo just posted...
I recalled sometime after 9/11 2001 on the news about a kid that was asked to digitize a video recording of some water reservoirs in NY. The kid thought it might be suspicious since the men where middle eastern. But held back reporting it because he was afraid of being called... you guest it.
I'm sure i could find it if i dug it up, because even NY senator Schumer went on tv to say no its not racist to report a suspicion.
Well there you go - a homophone that had never even occurred to me, courtesy of the Spanglish Kid.
All bets are off.
All pirates AAARRRRRRRRRR.
Al Gore are liars.
All Irish.....are drunks.
All Italians....carry knives.
All Polacks...are dummies.
All Puerto Ricans....wear pointy shoes to kill cockroaches in the corner.
All men are liars
Nick Lowe
Alpacas are fleeced.
All for one and won fur awl.
Altoona piano for dollar.
All ee all ee outs in free.
All the doo dah day...
All vwee der zain!
I'm not saying whether cops are better or worse than they used to be, but I think the policies they employ are much more dangerous for us in service of making them much safer. I want them safer, just not at the cost of my life. They get paid to reduce my risks by increasing their own if necessary. I don't think many see it that way.
Can anyone explain why they shoot the hell out of people any time they shoot. It seems like the policy is to empty your gun into the center of mass regardless of the threat.
Training, baby - shoot until the threat (real or imagined) is no longer a threat.
So don't be a threat.
"So don't be a threat."
If a man is put in fear of his life so easily, maybe he should do something else. We need brave, self-controlled, disciplined people in these jobs - people who don't need to empty their gun just to to resolve tough situations. They need leadership that puts the safety of citizen they encounter as the highest priority. I'm sorry if you have to take risks to do this job, but if that's too much to ask then do something else. If it was easy, anyone could do it. Are cops special people or just run of the mill Joes with a gun and some training. I want special people in these jobs. The demands, as well as pay, benefits and respect they want demands special people.
I suspect we need to go through a period of lawlessness -- particularly in NYC -- in order to get back to a respect for laws. There are people in Ferguson right now trying to morally justify looting.
@Pogo: That exchange was like a cudgel but didn't it kinda prove that GR may have a blind spot when it comes to AA?
I mean, it sounds like he really thought that she debunked the pajama message when really she went on record saying that it was credible and deliberate. This kind of shows lack of reading comprehension on his part. It surprises me, frankly.
Exactly.
He doesn't want to see it, doesn't want to know.
Well, they are old friends. Maybe he's being protective. That stuff happens. It only matters when the stakes are higher.
I want special people in these jobs. The demands, as well as pay, benefits and respect they want demands special people.
Exactly, and I feel the same way about teachers as well. The question is how do we load special people into these professions. Or even define special people.
Wait a minute you want retards to be policeman?
That doesn't sound right.
Chick, he 'deleted' his question, but you can still view it if you click on it.
The 99% number isn't even close. There's a fair number who are bullies and jerks. If you have to interact with cops frequently, it's just a matter of time before you have a bad experience. But there are bad experiences, and there are bad experiences. I'll take my chances with an overbearing cop much quicker than with a twitchy crook......If you live an ordinary kind of life in a nice neighborhood, it's possible to go years and years without ever having to interact with a cop.
@Chickelit @Pogo - GR still needs fill-ins when he is on vacation. Probably doesn't want to offend the ones he already has. Weird thing was his linking to CMC one day last week.
Weird thing was his linking to CMC one day last week.
They are our very own blogger elite who know better than we about such things.
@Haz: I guess I would need to see the link Insty referenced. I can see Althouse being afraid to call any black a racist, but GR is usually a straight shooter.
Perhaps her thinking is that while it's inappropriate for any white to call any black racist, calling out other whites is a moral imperative.
Is this mirrored by Crack -- thinking it inappropriate for any black to call a white racist? His record screams no but her record is silent on that -- Golden Rule or double standard?
I think it better to call out racism whenever it appears, especially when it's blatant.
The point you are missing with Insty is that he, like SWMNBN, is an alcoholic. Just another drunk who cannot be fired, who likes his drunken blogger buddies and will defend them, probably because they are too much in the bag to know any better.
He just happens to be much better at blogging than his idiotic imitator, and he damn sure married better.
But being stewed all day every day has led him to the point that he just mails it in. Random links with "Fatter, please" and "Bacon, is there anything coffee can't do?" and similar shop worn zingers show how bad off he really is.
My guess is that he defends her because he nailed her back in the day.
Ew, that's disgusting - man, now I need a drink!
SWMNBN?
Where did you get the idea that GR drinks?
Have you been paying attention? I have - he never stops talking about alcohol, he used to post pictures of bars damned near every day, talks endlessly about various types of booze, and if you look at him, he usually looks drunk or hungover.
Boy has a serious problem, but it's his and his alone to deal with.
Cheers!
I don't read Insty, as a general rule. He's def got a great gig with the aggregater/Amazon portal thing. Right place at the right time.
As I said about Althouse, enjoying wine, or booze, as the case may be, does not make one a full-time lush.
So what's your poison, Sixty :)
Haz, CMC has gotten linked by GR in the past, think. A few years ago he used to talk about how GR wouldn't link to him anymore, etc. He's found an angle, lol, good for him. Personally, CMC is pretty much a shit as far as I am concerned. Not a good faith interlocutor.
Althouse was smart, in a way, to snap him up.
Sobriety, look into it.
chick:
"I think it better to call out racism whenever it appears, especially when it's blatant."
When I was five and living in on-base housing, I remember a black girl, around 13(?) talking with me on the front porch. She was sniffing pepper and pretending to sneeze and I was laughing. Later, my baby-sitter said maybe I shouldn't be talking with her(?), and I shot back, 'you're only saying that because she's black! (Though, of course I probably said colored.) She did not reply.
"Sobriety, look into it."
Pardon?
Why, did you burp?
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