Brickbat: Record-Breaking Year

Yncohen / Dreamstime.com

Phoenix police have been involved in 31 shootings so far this year, matching a record set 2013. There were just 25 shootings by police in all of 2017. Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Officer-involved shooting trends, among the most polarizing statistics in police work, are notoriously tricky to unwind. With anything, a lack of reliable data ? and of a national clearinghouse that methodically tracks police shootings ? often makes answers elusive.

News outlets and nonprofits now track fatal encounters.

Libertarian moment.

[Duke of url]

"If this trend continues, we're going to eventually wear out our 'justified shooting' rubberstamp"!
/ D.A.

[Radioactive]

issuing the barneys more bullets? now they each get 2!

[Deconstructed Potato]

"If we don't kill more people this year, then the budget for OIS will shrink next year! We all love those OIS so let's get shooting people, people. The next item on the agenda is the espresso machine. This is funded through asset forfeiture so if you want to keep buying the expensive coffee for it then make sure you seize more cash and cool expensive stuff!"

[sarcasmic]

Obviously this is proof of the escalation of the War on Cops. Why else would officers be shooting people if the people weren't waging war on them? Well, other than failure to obey, contempt of cop, and pissing off the police. All of which are capital offences. But other than that, there's a War on Cops!

[Cyto]

A neat tidbit buried in the article: Similarly sized cities do not see similar levels of police shootings. Philadelphia is about exactly the same size. They have had 4 police shootings so far .

[Ron]

Well maybe Philadelphia cops needs to start acting like cops. also maybe it has something to do with its proximity to the border

[crufus]

Philly cops prefer a more hands on approach so they like to beat people or give them a nickle ride.

[Jerryskids]

Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared.

Oh, come on, we all know the reason violence is more commonplace now than in the past. Say it with me now.....

"Hey, you got your Trump in my MS-13!"

[Jerryskids]

Following a link to a link in the article about the commissioners authorizing a study leads to this:

Ken Crane, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the union representing officers, said the study isn't needed because there already is a process whereby investigations occur after a police shooting.

He also said that Williams asking for the study implies there is a problem within the Phoenix Police Department. Crane said the city should instead use the money to inform the public on how to react to officers when they are being questioned.

Which reminds me of the Dunphy editorial after one of the high-profile shootings wherein he explained that cops are like an occupying enemy force (my words, not his) rightfully edgy and suspicious that every single person around them is potentially an assassin and therefore the mundanes have a duty to respect their point of view and act accordingly, much like a hiker in the wilderness needs to be aware of how to react to a bear or a mountain lion or any other vicious predator. When you see a police officer, stand still with your empty hands in plain view, don't make eye contact, don't make any sudden movements, do whatever they tell you to do without hesitation even if you're given conflicting commands from multiple cops, etc. And for God's sake, whatever you do, don't be a poor black man in a bad neighborhood.

[sarcasmic]

I while back a commentor was reminiscing about the police academy. He said that they are trained to use conflicting commands to disorientate and confuse people. When he asked about what happens if one of the officers kills the person for the impossible task of obeying multiple, conflicting commands, the response was "Sucks to be them."

Needless to say, the person ended up not joining the force because he couldn't fit in with a bunch of depraved-heart murderers.

[perlchpr]

Which is exactly why, in a sane world, we'd all treat police exactly like how you'd react to a bear or a mountain lion or any other vicious predator, and shoot them as soon as they showed any sign of aggression, since they're clearly a lethal danger to their surroundings when riled.

Or, I suppose, we could just take away their damned power.

[sarcasmic]

Or, I suppose, we could just take away their damned power.

Or limit criminal law to acts that harm the life, liberty or property of others.

[perlchpr]

Even if we did that, it would be insufficient without reform for the way we let cops get away with murder.

[sarcasmic]

Victimless crimes turn the cops into the aggressors. That's why so many people view them as the bad guys. If they ceased to enforce laws where they are the aggressors, and instead went after the aggressors, the entire dynamic between the cops and these communities would change to the point where it wouldn't matter.

[Old Mexican - Mostly Harmless]

The greater number of shootings can be explained by a siege-mentality that exists in police departments which is creating an increasing cadre of trigger-happy street executioners. Now everybody and his 87-year-old grandmother is a threat to 'society and order' in their paranoid minds.

[Conchfritters]

Justine Diamond in Minneapolis would agree, but the cops shot her in the face.

[Jerryskids]

There was the case in Alabama a couple of years ago where a cop shot a guy with a cellphone in his hand he mistook for a gun, upon drawing his weapon and ordering the guy to drop the gun the guy instead pointed the "gun" at the cop. The cop was of course cleared of any wrong-doing because the guy should have known when the cop yelled "Drop the gun!" he meant "Drop whatever that is in your hand!" and should have dropped it rather than attempt to show the cop that it was a cellphone in his hand and not a gun. "Put yourself in the cop's position", essentially. Well, yes, let's do that. How many times per day do you suppose that cop sees somebody with a cellphone in their hand? How many times a day - or, hell, how many times a year - do you suppose that cop sees somebody with a gun in their hand? Is he going to shoot everybody he sees with a cellphone? Is the cop so ignorant that he doesn't understand the average person has never had a cop point a gun at them and that having a cop point a gun at you might be a WTF! moment where you're panicky and not thinking clearly? But sure, expect - require even - the average person to completely understand a cop's perspective in split-second decisions and excuse a cop for not understanding the average person's perspective.

[TangoDelta]

That would be like asking the panicky trigger happy cop to put themselves in the average person's position when they are harmlessly holding a cell phone and trying to demonstrate their innocence to said cop by showing the cop that it isn't a gun.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

Police shootings have increased because Drumpf's election has emboldened white supremacists. Just as hate crimes against marginalized people have skyrocketed over the past 18 months, racist cops are even more likely than before to terrorize communities of color and put bullets in black and brown bodies.

#Resist
#HandsUpDontShoot
#BlackLivesMatter

[gaoxiaen]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared." FYTW.

[Jimbo BTR]

Cops are dyslexic.

#Shoot
#HandsUpDontMatter
#ResistBlackLives

[What's that smell?]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared."

Climate Change

[loveconstitution1789]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared."

Trump.

[Cy]

Dreamers gotta Dream!

[loveconstitution1789]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared."

No R-e-s-p-e-c-t

[Roger the Shrubber]

Well, I can eliminate one person from being the owner of your anonymous commentator handle.

[sarcasmic]

If he had said 'R-E-S-P-I-C-T' we'd know who the owner was.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Did you notice their URL misquotes their own headline? They aren't called the Daily Fail / Flail for nuttin'!

[loveconstitution1789]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared."

TDS?

[loveconstitution1789]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared."

Undermining of Rule of Law.

[loveconstitution1789]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared."

Police Unions.

[perlchpr]

*rings the bell*

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

[AlmightyJB]

Too many cops. That's why.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3034.....p-program/

[widget]

This is old news. Two weeks old! But here is a roundup of Sarah Jeong's Tweets:

https://tinyurl.com/y9bvrk63

The NYT must be very proud of their new hire. It was not just a few indiscreet Tweets from a while back. There are hundreds of them. She kept this up until recently.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Previous years were low because they substituted dogs for humans.

This year they ran out of dogs.

[Longtobefree]

I think it is because all the new training has improved their shooting skills, so now they actually hit the people they shoot at.

[The Scathe]

"Officials are trying to figure out why the number of shootings has soared."

Answer: They, quite literally, get off on it.

-- In the class recorded for "Do Not Resist," Grossman at one point tells his students that the sex they have after they kill another human being will be the best sex of their lives. The room chuckles. But he's clearly serious. "Both partners are very invested in some very intense sex," he says. "There's not a whole lot of perks that come with this job. You find one, relax and enjoy it."