Thanks MikeBKY,
I do think we are missing information at this stage, what we do know and have seen is indeed shocking. However I don’t think it’s grounds for the terrible rioting.
I would have thought with 4 officers present, one at least would be monitoring the suspect.
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I mean “above the law” in that they are supposed to uphold the law and safety but if I were to intervene I would be handcuffed or shot and killed by them
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Sure, and again I wouldn’t necessarily advise that you interfere with gang-related violence, either, for the same reason. But that doesn’t make gang members above the law, it just means you might need to find an alternate response.
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Officers enforce the law to the best of their ability…It sounds terrible and as I said in my last comment, I wouldn’t interfere with law enforcement, but when put in that situation I know it would be hard as heck to just sit with my camera recording. I agree that one of the officers should have been monitoring the suspect,but as with every policy every created, not everything can be covered and not everyone will get everything perfect to the letter. Tiny mistakes compound on each other, and unfortunately sometimes bad things happen. In no way am I saying what happened is ok or oh well, 
happens. I’m saying even though mistakes happen, everyone should be held accountable for their actions, and maybe there should be a system to catch things like this before they happen.
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We shouldn’t have to compare cops to violent gang members…
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I wouldn’t, but I’m trying to convey the meaning of “above the law” as I understand it. The fact that you or I can’t directly intervene and arrest every wrongdoer doesn’t make anyone above the law.
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Whatever helps you sleep at night…
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The police are not above the law and can be arrested, charged, tried and convicted. But practically speaking @BubbaBear917, if you pulled out a weapon and aimed it at the officer with the knee, what do you thing will happen to you? There are lots of police currently at riots. If one of them was alone and decided to arrest one person in a group of looters, what do you think the looters would do?
My point is that before you try to make an arrest, you need to make a decision.
And, as I have already said, while the video is disturbing, there is still more to the story.
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Police now a days are just gang members with a badge and government funding… Not all but even with the riots were seeing how brutal some of the cops can be as well. Shooting teargas directly at reporters. Macing a complying reporter while he was complying arms spread on the ground. Shooting a reporter in the eye bliding her with pepper balls. Arresting reporters simply for being there. The only reason someone would arrest or injure them or scare them away is if they plan on doing something they don’t want others to see.
Not condoning the rioters cause they are scum. But police are becoming scum as well. As I said not all cops are and I’ve never been on the wrong side of one as I am a law abiding citizen. But I’m seeing patterns of brutality on their part. How do you tell people to follow the law when the people who are supposed to uphold it don’t even follow it? Do as I say not as I do I guess. As I said, police are nothing more than gangs with badges now. It’s sad I feel like I can compare cops to crips and bloods.
People often say it’s just one bad cop it’s just one bad apple… They never finish the saying… It’s one bad apple ruins the whole bunch…
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This topic is highly charged and the resulting riots, looting, and protesting (not all the same thing) have made everyone even more edgy and stressed.
I will remind everyone that just because some of a group are bad, not all of the group is bad. If you don’t want people to lump all gun owners in with those who commit horrific acts, you cannot group all police in with the bad ones.
Please also remember, hate speech of any kind is not allowed in the Community.
Thanks for catching my typo, @OldGnome!
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Gang members? Really sir? This is the first post I have read on this forum that angers me. Truly angers me. I am not police but am a retired Soldier. I worked with law enforcement off and on for over 20 years. They are the finest, most honorable and couragous group of men and women I ever knew outside or inside the military.
Since you are willing to paint them all with such a broad brush, go throw a brick at them why dont you. They are gang bangers after all. The things you wrote sound a lot like the things the protestors say. You know, the people you just called scum.
Go get to know some of them. Hear their struggles and tales of loss and sacrifice. Then you come back here and let us know if you still think they are gang members. Watch the restraint they are displaying while being attacked for the last 5 days.
I will now let the retired police on this forum speak their peace.
Gang members indeed!
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Folks, let’s all take a step back and a deep breath. Tensions are running high everywhere. We don’t need it to spill over into these forums.
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Thank you for your service but so youre aware I’m retired military as well. And yes they are gangs. And no I did not say ALL cops were scum I just said a handful are. But that handful makes every other one look like a douche canoe. Have you watched the news of how many cops are being absolutely brutal? Shooting at reporters and arresting them. Now why would a cop get a reporter showing off what they’re doing, want to get rid of them? The only reason a cop doesn’t want a reporter or camera around is cause they’re planning on doing something that shouldn’t be seen. You have your opinion and I have mine. Again, I’m not saying ALL cops are that way but it sure does seem so now a days… Have a nice day, stay safe.
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I will have to disagree with you @BubbaBear917. I know and have many friends who are law enforcement officers. Each and everyone of them do what they do for the good of the people and the community at great personal expense. I am very aware of a local reporter being shot by a corrections officer with a pepperball in Louisville and am also aware that the news crew was advised that they needed to get out of the area they were in because of the unrest.
Yes, there are bad cops, but, unlike apples, one bad cop does not spoil the bunch. The bad ones may make people believe they are all bad, but it does not make them bad.
As for the other actions by police, I have seen many short video cuts. I may not agree with what an officer did based on what I saw but I did not see everything the officer saw or otherwise perceived and what lead to the decision to do what he did.
I am not saying police have carte blanche to do what they want and agree they need to be held accountable, however, they have a difficult job that rarely has clear cut answers.
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I agree with you. I respect you and believe that when you were a cop were a good one. And I’m sure that in Kentucky in your local area your police/sheriffs are outstanding people. I agree that the majority of cops are decent people just doing there job. I also think that the corruption runs down from the top.
Look at cops like officer Greg Anderson. He seems to be an outstanding police officer, but look where being a good cop got him… Fired for standing up for the Constitution. Because his Chief agreed with his post, but the second politics got involved the Chief bent over to the governor and took it. I wish more cops were like officer Anderson and the several others who have been fired or reassigned or placed on some sort of leave for standing up for the right thing.
The cops and sheriffs who are marching with the protestors for instance in Flint Michigan are being welcomed with open arms by real protestors. I call them real protestors cause, as of now, they are peaceful and causing no damage. The rioters like in Minneapolis are exactly that, rioters and scum.
But lately a lot of cops are doing some shady and questionable things. 15 times over the weekend reporters were arrested, shot at, maced, and tear gassed to get them away. Last I checked the press had a right and responsibility to cover what was going on without getting harmed by the police. They were warned to leave yes but they also have a duty and protected rights to report the news and what’s happening. A reporter who was sheltering in place at a gas station got maced as he was laying on the ground hands out and was complying with cops. He was clearly marked as press, he was clearly and loudly saying he was press. And for absolutely no reason a cop maced him. The video is on YouTube and easy to search.
As I said most cops are decent but there are also an overwhelming amount of bad ones on a power trip. Have a nice day and stay safe.
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Maybe going forward, this is how we need to fix the problem.
In your example, Anderson got fired not because of his boss, but because of his boss’s Boss. Remember a few years back the Parkland shooting, many kids died because of poor training/leadership from their chief and on up to the Mayor/council. An example of going too far in the other direction is Seattle, Portland where police have been turned into glorified babysitters and look at the problems in those cities.
What we need is to prop up those officers who do things the right way and bounce out those who dont.
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First, thank you for your service.
I could see cops not wanting reporters around because they are fueling the rioters and fear mongering on TV
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Last night in Minneapolis on a quiet street in a residential community several blocks away from the riots, a Humvee followed by several dozen police in riot gear marched down the street yelling at citizens on their own front lawns to get inside… When 1 person asked why because nothing was going on a officer yelled to “light’em up” and a barrage of paint balls were launched at them…
These were regular people on their own porch on a quiet residential street. Dozens of officers in full riot gear… Can anyone justify that? Yes, those cops are nothing more than gang members with a badge. As I’ve said before not all cops are like this. I praise the officers who are keeping the peace and even marching with protestors. But that was a large group of cops doing that. They were being shady and taking anger out on unarmed non violent people on their own front porches.
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I feel this is very important, so I’m going to risk putting a few thoughts out there on the matter, respectfully offered to my valued new community at uscca.
Every group has it’s bad actors, and among some groups the bad actors are particularly difficult to bear because of their power , importance, and protected status. This includes officers of the law, judges, Doctors, and a number of others. worse still is the fact that we can hardly maintain our modern lives without the work they do being done right. The good among them are the great majority, and are more valuable than gold, and we routinely under value them. But the cost of a bad one is almost impossible to calculate. It’s understandable we should revile the very idea of them, but there is a very common trap we must not allow ourselves to fall into. - that of taking a few bad actors, ( sometimes literally paid “actors” ) and lumping everybody else in the group together with that one, or few, bad examples. They do that to us as gun owners and we can’t solve the problem by doing the same thing our selves.
Yes, we as a society should come down on those proven bad cops like a ton of bricks once there is no doubt and all the facts are in. In the mean time we should support and appreciate the rest of them for the tough job they choose to do for us, and afford them the benefit of the doubt until we know. ( though in this case there seems little or no room for doubt )
As for taking on a the bad ones, and the judgment of the moment, I can only say this.
I was trained to understand that in a situation of the moment like that, you had a choice to make. As a back country emergency responder, knowing no other help was going to arrive, I could either do what i knew had to be done to save that life, and trust the justice system to see i had made a good choice in that moment, or, I had to allow that situation to continue and ,possibly, let that person die. But if i did act, I HAD to understand the level of risk and responsibility i was taking on if i chose to act outside the established, expected, normal courses of action. That included the possibility that my efforts might fail, and i might rightfully be suspected of causing the death by my actions !. It was one of the toughest choices I might ever have had to face, thankfully, it never came to that. The good police officer may face that kind of situation on any given day!
I would like to offer the idea, respectfully as a new member, that we might lead on this, by example, in the recognition of the fact that not all of our fellow gun owners are persons who we would wish to be held up as representative of the rest of us as responsible gun owners. I am quite sure there are many dedicated police officers who are at this very moment, as outraged as we are, and more deeply grieved, at the actions of the few.
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Very well put. I apologize to you as a new member in seeing this conversation get so heated. I do not apologize for what I said, as I stand by that belief, just for the way it was worded.
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