Why do the a-hole cops have to taz everyone? (Pittsburgh: live, dangerous)

[charisb]

Police here only need a GED or HS Diploma, right? I think everyone should have at least a Bachelor's degree to become a cop. Of course this will not resolve all issues but given that police need to be experts in human behavior and they need strong assessment and analysis skills, a degree in sociology, psychology, or social work should improve these abilities. I wonder if anyone has ever compared jurisdictions where a BA is required to those who don't require it?
This requirement would also mean the youngest cops would be 22 instead of 18.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Pitt Chick

But I also don't tell trained professionals how to do their jobs.

Really? Tazing someone that isn't endangering others is okay? Really? The guy is on foot. Let him run himself down as you follow in your cop car. Do you think the guy would get miles? Doubtful.

Look at all the deaths from tazing. Heck several in our region posted that I didn't even know about. If the guy just robbed the bank or held someone up with a knife, that is one thing, but running down the street naked is clearly another.

Also it is OUR (WE THE PEOPLE) tax money paying these folks, so your damn right we should have an opinion. There are channels in voicing your opinion on these so-called professionals. What about our mayor, or city council members? They are professionals as well, so yeah I guess we need not tell them how we feel. Let them just make things up as they go along. The Tazer first response idea is a very bad one. Lucky this guy won't die from running around naked for a few minutes. Goodness, we sure are an amazingly intolerant place to think tazing is fine for everything. Hope none of you jaywalk anytime soon. Maybe you will be next.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

So yeah, don't think for a second that tasing people is remotely safe or that people in our area haven't been killed from it.

I had no idea there was so many deaths in our region by tasing someone. I think people need to wake up about this stuff. A first response towards a nonviolent person should be tazing. I just think there are too many cop shows and way too much bravado chest pounding crap. It would be much better if police were more engaged with the city residents, not be so separate. It would be VERY hard to change this in the force, but not impossible. NYC did it and the city is so much better now than in the 90's. There is no comparison at all. Many cops left NYC when these changes were started. They knew they didn't want to engage in the community and be part of the civilian crowd, but in the long run it paid off in spades. We need better leadership and get police to be on foot more and talk to folks. Be more part of the community, not separate.


*Oh and it seems I am using a slang term "taz" instead of tasing, which I guess is correct, but whatever.

[nealrm]

Did any of you READ the story??? Did you miss the part about resisting arrest??? Did you miss the part that he was acting crazy??? Or do you just want to bash the police???

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by charisb

Police here only need a GED or HS Diploma, right? I think everyone should have at least a Bachelor's degree to become a cop. Of course this will not resolve all issues but given that police need to be experts in human behavior and they need strong assessment and analysis skills, a degree in sociology, psychology, or social work should improve these abilities. I wonder if anyone has ever compared jurisdictions where a BA is required to those who don't require it?
This requirement would also mean the youngest cops would be 22 instead of 18.

I don't think that 18 year old boys should be made police officer, they just don't have the wisdom and life experience to deal with a lot of things.


The problem isn't lack of a degree, I don't think. Its more due to the fact that they aren't that good in filtering out the loose cannons that are often attracted to police work.

[charisb]

Originally Posted by nealrm

Did any of you READ the story??? Did you miss the part about resisting arrest??? Did you miss the part that he was acting crazy??? Or do you just want to bash the police???

Unlike some, I have no overarching negative view of the police. I have been treated decently by them when we have interacted. I believe they have a very difficult job and deal with incredibly dangerous situations. I think they get a bad rap too because you hear about all the bad ones but rarely hear positive stories. However, when dealing with cases like this, where the person is clearly mentally ill, it would be nice if there were other ways to cope with the situation without resorting to violence (and I do think using a taser is violent). Especially when it is clear the person doesn't have a weapon.
I think in many instances they are young and not trained enough.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by nealrm

Did any of you READ the story??? Did you miss the part about resisting arrest??? Did you miss the part that he was acting crazy???

Is there a video of him "resisting arrest" or do you just trust that to be true because they say so?

It did appear he was acting a bit off, but it doesn't appear he was doing anything that warranted the taser. He wasn't hurting anyone.

It is a tough job and a judgment call perhaps, but it's perfectly legit for us to sit here and say it was the wrong call. There are a lot of things that go wrong in police work. It's not all justified just because they are the police.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by greg42

Is there a video of him "resisting arrest" or do you just trust that to be true because they say so?

It did appear he was acting a bit off, but it doesn't appear he was doing anything that warranted the taser. He wasn't hurting anyone.

It is a tough job and a judgment call perhaps, but it's perfectly legit for us to sit here and say it was the wrong call. There are a lot of things that go wrong in police work. It's not all justified just because they are the police.

So the rule of thumb now is to NOT trust police officers, but to only believe it if we see it on video? An oddly acting naked man during rush hour resisting arrest really doesn't fall into the category of "I would only believe it if I see it." IMHO, I would think he would resist arrest.

Also, I am pretty sure stripping naked and bouncing your bits up and down the sidewalk during rush hour is illegal, and quite frankly not appropriate for anyone to have to see.

It's pretty simple...if you don't want this to happen to you avoid taking your pants off in public, and don't get black out drunk on St. Patrick's Day and act a fool. Could be pure ignorance on my part, but can someone provide a case where the person did not bring it upon themselves? I don't believe cops are hiding in alleys and just firing tasers off at people walking by. That is something that I would only believe it if I saw it...

[ElijahAstin]

Now that Curt has (presumably) sobered up a bit, I will say that in fairness, tasering the man may not have been the best call. I say "may" because there's no video showing him resisting arrest; regardless of whether we're inclined to give the cops the benefit of the doubt, we simply do not know if their use of a taser was a proportionate response to his behavior.

What I will say is that advocating the police let a quite possibly mentally ill person just galavant around until he "runs out of steam" is nonsensical. Even if that man wasn't a danger to others (and no, Curt, just because someone isn't armed doesn't mean they aren't dangerous) he could very easily have been a danger to himself. Stripping your clothes and taking off in a mad dash is erratic behavior that warrants law enforcement action, though again, I do remain agnostic on whether tasering in this situation was the right move.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

So the rule of thumb now is to NOT trust police officers, but to only believe it if we see it on video?

Unfortunately for all the good guys out there, yeah, it's hard for me to ignore the bad stuff that happens to people who don't deserve it. Resisting arrest is a common claim that is difficult to disprove.

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Also, I am pretty sure stripping naked and bouncing your bits up and down the sidewalk during rush hour is illegal, and quite frankly not appropriate for anyone to have to see.

That's true, but is it appropriate to use the taser on the guy? Clearly he wasn't in his right mind, but he didn't seem to be an imminent danger to others. We can't pretend the taser is a non-lethal weapon. It just usually is. If there were no taser option, should they have shot him? This one is admittedly not clear cut. But there should be some reasonable judgment exercised when determining the proper course of action. I can't put myself directly in the cops' shoes, but it's difficult not to think that the guy was not a threat enough to get out the taser.

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

It's pretty simple...if you don't want this to happen to you avoid taking your pants off in public, and don't get black out drunk on St. Patrick's Day and act a fool. Could be pure ignorance on my part, but can someone provide a case where the person did not bring it upon themselves? I don't believe cops are hiding in alleys and just firing tasers off at people walking by. That is something that I would only believe it if I saw it...

There's a whole lot of naivety in this country regarding having nothing to worry about if you do nothing wrong. Here's a good example off the top of my head that I read recently: https://medium.com/p/9f53ef6a1c10/ Note I don't think there's a taser in that one, but I'm sure I can find those too.

My thinking these days is that you only really have nothing to worry about if you manage to completely avoid interacting with the police.