[bela]

Originally Posted by Git Her Done

Bela- I agree with all your concerns that Abuse of Power by the Police or anyone in a position of power is a very real concern these days. Cell phones and big brother in general has exposed a lot of the abuse and this is a good thing. However, I still personally feel that the Unites States has the lowest percentage of corrupt Police in the world simply because we have laws and our laws are enforced.

Alright then, but I have to tell you, that most of the countries I have been, keeping my nose clean, and staying away from questionable places, was always enough to keep me away from unnecessary police contact, and on the rare occasion it didn't, I never felt the least bit at risk.

It is the IRONY that is at the heart of what Im saying that in my own country, that otherwise law abiding respectful citizens can end up victims if the cop doesn't feel the citizen does not accept his authority as absolute.

Most of the Cop vids on youtube are overwhelmingly from the USA. Does that mean, in Europe, arseholes and cellphone cameras don't exist?


Anyway Truce Bro, I respect your perspective, its just opposite mine.

[Git Her Done]

Bela- I agree with a lot of your concerns, and yes, there seems to be a ton of videos online that show Police in abuse of power situations. But still the U.S. has the least amount of rogue/corrupt Cops in the world per-capita or per person to the total population. I know for a fact if you pull out your cell phone and video a Cop in Brazil, he will arm lock you, take your phone, cuff you, and arrest you, AND throw you in jail for at least one day or more. I know one factual instance (saw it my own eyes on Cidade-Alerta) where a dude was shot in the back multiple times at point blank range in broad daylight around tons of people and families in a family area, and killed for back-talking a Cop while videoing him in Rio. Nobody complained, no protesting, nothing, however the dude could have been a long time criminal with a rap sheet, who really knows the truth but the Perp and the Police.

[Git Her Done]

Originally Posted by bela

It is the IRONY that is at the heart of what I'm saying that in my own country, that otherwise law abiding respectful citizens can end up victims if the cop doesn't feel the citizen does not accept his authority as absolute.

Bela- This is a serious problem and these Ego-Maniac-Rogue-Cops are being exposed thanks to cell phones. The exposed trend will continue thankfully, and this forces some bully ego crazy Cops to tow the line at all times, meaning no more pulling people over and harassing someone because he looks like a guy who flirted with his wife 3 days before at Publix.

Most of the Cop vids on youtube are overwhelmingly from the USA. Does that mean, in Europe, arseholes and cellphone cameras don't exist?

Europe has a different youtube, if I am correct? Also, Europeans have .es / .ru / .po after google so it's a whole other internet over there. I'm sure if you look hard enough you will find all kinds of Police abuse over in Spain or Portugal and maybe even more than the U.S. and I know for a fact that Russia has thousands of videos of all sorts of anarchy in the streets.

Russian Police are like Brazilian Police-they shoot you first as a way of removing you from society, and sadly this kind of brutal mentality does get rid of some very bad people. Their mindset is you eliminate attorneys, courts, judges, hearings, all paid for by you and me, the Taxpayer.

[Git Her Done]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8#t=27

[bela]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnIGY9fOwzI

[bela]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMoTfLykVcA

[bela]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsirlu15uA8

[miami_winter_breeze]

Police brutality is bad - but what I see everyday is homeless people. Homeless people panhandling, babbling incoherently, sleeping, doing drugs, pissing, and just being crazy in general.

I don't really want to see them around me. I definitely don't want to see them asking me for money. I think there is too much of a tolerance for the homeless. I was seeing the same guy, walking around, screaming like he was possessed and flailing around like he's being electrocuted, walking around. One time I saw him sitting on someone's stoop, and I can only imagine their horror to have to walk around him as he rocked back and forth and babbled.

I don't see him anymore, hopefully he was picked up and dropped somewhere far from Miami Beach.

[Git Her Done]

Originally Posted by miami_winter_breeze

Police brutality is bad - but what I see everyday is homeless people. Homeless people panhandling, babbling incoherently, sleeping, doing drugs, pissing, and just being crazy in general.

You live on Miami Beach...What do you expect? My advise is stop complaining and get out of Miami-Dade. If you love South Florida then move to the Keys or Naples, or go north to PBC.

[JM1822]

By definition, "police brutality" can't be anything OTHER than bad. Nothing labeled as "brutal" has ever been good. The problem is that some (or many) people don't understand that law enforcement is not a pretty profession. The police are not usually called to attend to birthday parties and quilting bees. They are called when something bad has happened. There are 800,000 cops in this country. From the sound of some of the posts on here it appears that you think there are at least half a million police uses of force a week.

The use of force is not something that officers should take lightly. I'm here to tell you that in almost two decades in the business, I have only had to go hands on with people a few times. I'm pretty sure that none of my coworkers hop in their car each shift with the intention of whaling on some poor soul with a 24 inch molded plastic baton or energizing them with 50,000 volts from a Taser. When an officer in my department is involved in any use of force (shooting, Taser, pepper spray, physical takedown, etc) it is thoroughly documented and investigated by a supervisor then forwarded up the chain of command for review. Each use of force is tracked and if an officer is involved in THREE incidents in TWELVE months then they get to sit in front of a whole bunch of people and explain why it occurred. In almost two decades in this job I only know of one officer that was involved in three incidents in one year.

The next thing I always read on topics like this is that officers are out there being corrupt or intentionally violating people's rights. If you want to see corruption, go back to 1920's Chicago. Does stuff like that still happen? Yes, I'm sure it does unfortunately. But it's not very prevalent. And what I find somewhat amusing about posts accusing cops of violating people's rights is that the vast majority of Americans don't even know their rights. I'm sure that many of you will poke fun at me for saying this, but do you know how often I am asked to violate someone's rights? All the time. On a weekly basis at a minimum. And you know who asks me to do it? Regular citizens. They want me to arrest people without having probable cause. They want me to force someone to give me a blood sample because the person ran into the back of their car even though they show zero signs of impairment. They want me to randomly search someone or something even though there is no probable cause. And I even had a husband and wife tell me last week that I needed to "force a confession" out of someone.

Folks, law enforcement is a strange occupation. It's very, very rewarding and yet so aggravating at times. I've been doing this almost half of my life. I've dealt with some real losers. But you know what? I have met so many fantastic human beings from all walks of life. I've learned that social status, fashion, skin color, age and other things have no bearing on how someone behaves. Even though many of you think the cops hate everyone, I can assure you that we don't.