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In these instances, I personally don’t mind social workers taking up some tasks, such a post-incident visits to victims of abuse of any variety but I also feel there does need to be a officer standing by (non-interacting and in his vehicle) on the scene incase things fail to de-escalate. I feel we were relying too sharply that every situation can be de-escalated and while I do feel social workers would do a far better job than a cop in de-escalation, what worries me is what happens when a situation doesn’t deescalate regardless of what the social worker attempts. You can say call an available officer but he’s sitting back at the station at this point and the social worker is truly no less vulnerable than the victim and practically exchanging places with said victim.
From my few interactions with victim advocates (the social work position you are speaking of), an officer is not involved post initial call. The case will be transferred to a detective who will carry on the case to trial, or end, or whatever it may be. They may be involved in forensic interviewing of children and day to day interactions. They will not be involved in any home visits for victim follow-up. For case investigation, sure, but they will not have any role in the assessment and mental health of anyone involved. They know their lane and stay out of these things.
And direct it to social services. How do Austinites see this effecting the city going forward? Do you see the city improving? Do you see yourself staying in the area?
Sounds like socialist Californians continue to infiltrate, and influence Texas politics!
As crime increases, the famous Austin bridge bats will also be leaving Austin, and rightfully so! Tourism will go down proportionally to the increase in crime. It will kill the Driskill (no pun intended). $100,000,000 for SOCIAL SERVICES instead of law enforcement! YIKES! Recently. even anti-police, Alyssa Milano, panicked and called police on a BB gun toting kid!
Nothing has come to past yet. Their last meeting they petitioned to take away atleast $100 million but Budget Changes are not due until next year.
I personally think people are not in their right frames of mind currently with the riots and pandemic, and that this isn't going to go as well as people believe or hope for. I'm personally not for it. Atlanta already attempted this in regards of disbanding several officers and instead of a more peaceful society, crime went through the roof. There were armed civilians performing traffic stops, the looting and rioting continued, and shootings increased to an all time high within a fraction of a month, essentially it became a warzone until Kemp deployed the National Guard. Lets also not forget about Seattle's 'CHOP' zone and the crazy events that ensued there.
I'm neither left or right, I personally do not cater toward either party. I do not like Trump, and I'm not pro Biden, Hillary, Obama either. I see all politicians as the same. They're in it for personal gain and their own agenda.
Will I stay? Where will I go? This stuff is happening in every major city in the country currently. It is what it is I guess.
"Happening in every major city in the country" is overstating the problem. A more accurate statement would be to say that this is "happening in almost every major city in the country run by Democrats." I have no idea why this is, but it is a fact. Google any major city's mayor and you'll find that most cities with high crime rates are Democrat-run. Just saying! Admittedly, Republican-run cities also have crime, but not to the extent of Democrat-run cities. WHY??
Last edited by columbusboy8; 09-27-2020 at 10:36 AM..
"Happening in every major city in the country" is overstating the problem. A more accurate statement would be to say that this is "happening in almost every major city in the country run by Democrats."
Name 5 major cities in the nation that are not run by Democrats.
Off the top of my head, I can only think of 2.
Miami and San Diego.
I don't agree with everything the democrats have been doing, especially in the Pacific region and New York state, and I do agree there are hidden agenda's within their actions, but I also do not believe our right wing is as glorious as they are made out to be either. Democrats have been attempting to address some serious issues this nation poses rather than sweeping them under the carpet, although I do not agree with how they address it, I do appreciate their concern enough to atleast address it.. ..that doesn't mean I agree with the homeless camps, needles, liberation of rights, ect as has been the case in California, I personally feel that is very extreme.. ..and is not helping any of the problems, but our right wing pretty much turns a blind eye to all of these issues altogether while catering completely only to businesses, or the elite, while lower class American's are pretty much left to feed the system or fall between the cracks of society.. Both sides have their own agenda, both sides have ways of manipulating the public, and with all things government, it relates to money, and power.
Last edited by Need4Camaro; 09-27-2020 at 10:40 AM..
The problem I have with cell phone videos is it doesn't tell the whole story, in my experience you either see what's transpiring for a few moments but nothing leading up to what actually happened. Having the media run with these cell phone videos without knowing the whole story is fueling the fire.
I do not condone brutality of any kind, but there are some times when people do not comply and force has to be used, and there are times where untrained Police Officers go overboard and Police Brutality occurs.
I am going to catch a lot of flack for expressing my opinion, but I believe in this day and age, I don't feel african americans are systemically being picked out for higher uses of force. I just watched a video of a white lady who was taken down by a Police Officer for not wearing a mask. There are similar instances if you do your own research and look at the big picture. I am not denying that in the past african americans were subject to police brutality, I am saying in 2020, in a hypervigilent society with body-cams, dash-cams, I find it to be a rare occurrence.
Lastly, what do you consider police brutality. If a use of force technique was used to subdue a non compliant individual, some people not happy with the arrest can view that as police brutality. Knee on George Floyd's neck, is police brutality.
I agree regarding cell phone videos, as the media has especially been using them as of late to fuel the fire without showing (and even in cases, editing out) important bits of information which show that the victim was not as innocent as one might inherently believe. It's very easy to sit back here without being apart of the situation and become enraged, but seldomly do people do thorough research after the fact to see what really happened. This is why I particularly feel there is a larger agenda at play which also worries me about this, as some of these motifs do seem very biased and why I, even as a black, am not as quick to jump on the bandwagon as I do not feel they inherently are truly out to support me, but rather - support a much larger agenda... I just don't forsee America suddenly waking up and addressing this as an issue overnight and turning the wheels around to resolve it. I believe there is something else in the works.
On the other side, It is true that blacks specifically are singled out more than any other race. I particularly haven't done a great deal of digging to understand 'why' it happens, whether it be because police truly are escorting racist policies, or because blacks in general are more prone to violence (this is also statistically proven) thus more confrontational with authorities. I just know that it does happen.
African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times the imprisonment of whites. In five states (Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin), the disparity is more than 10 to 1.
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In twelve states, more than half of the prison population is black: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Maryland, whose prison population is 72% African American, tops the nation.
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In eleven states, at least 1 in 20 adult black males is in prison.
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In Oklahoma, the state with the highest overall black incarceration rate, 1 in 15 black males ages 18 and older is in prison.
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States exhibit substantial variation in the range of racial disparity, from a black/white ratio of 12.2:1 in New Jersey to 2.4:1 in Hawaii.
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Latinos are imprisoned at a rate that is 1.4 times the rate of whites. Hispanic/white ethnic disparities are particularly high in states such as Massachusetts (4.3:1), Connecticut (3.9:1), Pennsylvania (3.3:1), and New York (3.1:1).
The problem I have with cell phone videos is it doesn't tell the whole story, in my experience you either see what's transpiring for a few moments but nothing leading up to what actually happened. Having the media run with these cell phone videos without knowing the whole story is fueling the fire.
I do not condone brutality of any kind, but there are some times when people do not comply and force has to be used, and there are times where untrained Police Officers go overboard and Police Brutality occurs.
I am going to catch a lot of flack for expressing my opinion, but I believe in this day and age, I don't feel african americans are systemically being picked out for higher uses of force. I just watched a video of a white lady who was taken down by a Police Officer for not wearing a mask. There are similar instances if you do your own research and look at the big picture. I am not denying that in the past african americans were subject to police brutality, I am saying in 2020, in a hypervigilent society with body-cams, dash-cams, I find it to be a rare occurrence.
Lastly, what do you consider police brutality. If a use of force technique was used to subdue a non compliant individual, some people not happy with the arrest can view that as police brutality. Knee on George Floyd's neck, is police brutality.
There is some truth to that, but if someone is sitting on the ground, not fighting, with their hands behind their back, literally just sitting there, punching them in the head is not called for. I don't care what led up to it. This happened to a protestor in Portland. It's on tape. If the situation is now under control, then there's no need for that. That was what happened with George Floyd. He was NOT fighting when he was killed. At that point, the situation was under control, put him in the back of the car, and take him in. If the situation is under control NOW then what happened before is irrelevant. Being pissed off is not an excuse for brutality.
There is some truth to that, but if someone is sitting on the ground, not fighting, with their hands behind their back, literally just sitting there, punching them in the head is not called for. I don't care what led up to it. This happened to a protestor in Portland. It's on tape. If the situation is now under control, then there's no need for that. That was what happened with George Floyd. He was NOT fighting when he was killed. At that point, the situation was under control, put him in the back of the car, and take him in. If the situation is under control NOW then what happened before is irrelevant. Being pissed off is not an excuse for brutality.
I agree with this as well, there have been instances of both cases, where the cop goes way overboard after detaining a civilian such as George Floyd, or instances where excessive force was used even when they were not detained such as Jacob Blake in Kenosha Wisconsin, whom while was resisting, did not pose immediate threat to the police to warrant shooting him. There however are cases also where the victim was primarily at fault. There are also instances where the media paint it one sided, such as In the Rayshard Brooks case. He resisted arrest to the core, stole a taser from the cop, and pointed at him attempting to fire but was shot by the cop. The cop was fired and arrested for murder and they were hasty to throw the book at him. The media edited out all the clips where Rayshard tussled with the cops, and also edited out the clips where the cops attempted to at first subdue him with a taser. They only displayed the clip where he was shot shortly after firing the taser at the officer.
There was also the video in Aurora IL where they only showed the scene of a officer pulling out a black woman, but did not show the events leading up to the point, of which the lady was driving with illegal tags, no identity, and refused to be detained... that went viral - but the rest of the story was kept secret from the public until the department themselves released it.
I personally feel, its very easy to get entangled up in our fears over these circumstances, and that is very dangerous because it causes us to act irrationally.. ..but rather.. its better to stand back and look at these situations case by case...and especially to dig as deep as we can before judging them. (not accusing anyone here, just stating in general)
So I have dug through this thread a bit. I'll keep my thoughts to myself for now. This account is new, but I have an account here on CD that has been active for over a decade. I am not a troll and I have no reason to make anything up, because I wouldn't want to waste the time.
With that said, I don't want to associate my main account with my occupation, especially with the current climate. So that is the reason I made this account. I am an Austin PD officer and would like to answer any questions you might have about the defunding stuff, other things going on with APD, or LE in general . Or at least the questions that I can answer. I am no high ranking official or anything, but I have been on the streets for 5+ years.
But yea, that's pretty much it! Ask, comment, insult, away, or whatever, lol.
Thanks for the opportunity. I definitely have questions, and hopefully they’ll be taken in the good faith manner intended.
What kind of situations would you say your training was geared toward?
What sort of goals/pressures from superiors/quotas do you deal with? How is success measured?
Have you worked in other professions besides law enforcement? If so, how would you compare the “brotherhood” with your coworkers to those other professions?
I see a lot of behavior from police that seems to indicate that they won’t explain anything until their suspect is in custody, which seems to cause a lot of panic and escalation among both parties. In particular I think about the Michael Ramos shooting. This article has a full-length video showing the full encounter. For the life of me, I cannot piece together how more than two or three officers (one with a gun raised, one doing the window check) were needed to verify the situation described in the 911 call. I cannot figure out why they wouldn’t even explain to Michael while he was fully compliant the call that led to such a dramatic response. I cannot figure out why a shot was fired seemingly out of nowhere. They occurred well after the flinches down toward the waist (which seem to be to shut his car door). I cannot figure out how the officer (whose body cam footage is in the following link) feared for his life since the car was never pointed in his direction. Maybe I’m just used to the seedier side of life, including having friends who live in this area, but nothing about the entire call response seemed warranted. I haven’t seen any info about what was found in the car, but the 911 call described sounds like the guy was just hotboxing with weed in the car with some neighbors calling him in. Can you please shed some light? https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07...tin-video/amp/
Last edited by Westerner92; 09-28-2020 at 12:09 PM..
Thanks for the opportunity. I definitely have questions, and hopefully they’ll be taken in the good faith manner intended.
What kind of situations would you say your training was geared toward?
What sort of goals/pressures from superiors/quotas do you deal with? How is success measured?
Have you worked in other professions besides law enforcement? If so, how would you compare the “brotherhood” with your coworkers to those other professions?
I see a lot of behavior from police that seems to indicate that they won’t explain anything until their suspect is in custody, which seems to cause a lot of panic and escalation among both parties. In particular I think about the Michael Ramos shooting. This article has a full-length video showing the full encounter. For the life of me, I cannot piece together how more than two or three officers (one with a gun raised, one doing the window check) were needed to verify the situation described in the 911 call. I cannot figure out why they wouldn’t even explain to Michael while he was fully compliant the call that led to such a dramatic response. I cannot figure out why a shot was fired seemingly out of nowhere. They occurred well after the flinches down toward the waist (which seem to be to shut his car door). I cannot figure out how the officer (whose body cam footage is in the following link) feared for his life since the car was never pointed in his direction. Maybe I’m just used to the seedier side of life, including having friends who live in this area, but nothing about the entire call response seemed warranted. I haven’t seen any info about what was found in the car, but the 911 call described sounds like the guy was just hotboxing with weed in the car with some neighbors calling him in. Can you please shed some light? https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07...tin-video/amp/
So he answered my questions sorta, but the mods took it down, I assume because double accounts are not allowed. I don't doubt the veracity of his claim about being APD because I remember a similar screen name talking about how he only pulls over people who clock in at 5 mph over the speed limit.
To paraphrase:
APD requires nine months of training, generally focusing on the "badass" side of things like water rescues and target practice.
He said quotas are illegal and immoral, but I don't remember anything about talking about goals or measures of success.
He worked mostly service industry and oil rigging before becoming a police officer. The old timers are more closely bonded together than the younger officers who haven't formed bonds yet.
He wouldn't comment on an ongoing investigation. But he did describe a hypothetical scenario where a robbery suspect was described as "a black male wearing a white T-shirt and jeans with a gun" last seen at Lamar and Rundberg. He said he'd approach at gun point and arrest any black man wearing a white T-shirt and jeans within a half mile or so of said location, no time for explanations. I wanted to follow up with questions like:
- How long it would take to respond?
- Why would he respond to an allegedly armed suspect alone when it's clearly APD protocol to approach allegedly armed suspects with several pointed rifles?
- Why would a robber on the run be walking alone and ready to shoot a cop?
- Why would he expect this (likely unsuspecting) pedestrian to not panic with a gun in his face and no explanation as he is constitutionally entitled to?
The first three questions had innocuous enough responses even though they seemed a bit canned, but the last answer took me aback. He imagined himself in the exact scenario where an unarmed black man with the wrong attitude gets killed.
Well for what it’s worth I’d be kind of irked as well if I were out minding my own business and suddenly here comes a cop with his gun aimed at me and preparing to arrest me while I have no idea as to what’s going on... would I resist? No, but it wouldn’t be something I’d be thrilled about... Especially because I know something like that would probably never fly in a place like West Lake Hills or even Lakeway. So I can understand cause for concern in that approach.
In the cops approach though, it is true that you don’t know which one is armed, who committed the crime, if the person you’re attempting to apprehend is the true villain and if it is, if he will retaliate with fire power..
Don’t really know of a good way to mitigate something like that, I guess that’s why there’s such a phrase called collateral damage.
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