Hi everyone, recently in my city there has been a lot of issues with police using extremley excessive force.

Before reading on, I suggest looking at this new article from a few days ago http://www.news-press.com/story/news/crime/2014/07/14/cape-coral-police-detail-violent-arrest-suspects-family-cries-police-brutality/12634125/

the video is very graphic, don't watch it if you don't like agonizing screaming.

I personally feel like things like this are happening way too often than they should be. Police have been put on a pedistal of greatness and they feel like they are above everyone else. Don't get me wrong though, police in certain areas of the country to a great job and should be applauded but where I'm at, nothing productive happens from police besides beating up stoners and killing black people. (which still isn't productive at all)

What is everyones opinion on this. I'm sure someone is going to side with the police on this and I'd like to hear why.

This is wrong. If these officers are allowed to keep their jobs after this, then something is seriously wrong with this society. 

tornadocam :

I see what you are saying about how they need to learn better ways to communicate with autistic people, but unless you tell them they aren't going to know and probably won't have any other way to figure it out.

This reminds me of a story from California where there was a deaf guys and he didn't hear the cops come behind him and they were talking to him but he just kept doing what he was doing because he couldn't see him. So the cops grabbed him and he jumped and the other cop shot him and killed him.

It's sad when stuff like that happens, the loss of a life for a dumb reason.

jack3604 : Wow, did that really happen? That's awful. Most of the cops here are okay but some are out of hand, we've had an accident once where a policeman was too aggresive and shot somebody and killed him.

.

juuldude : Yes juul it's pretty sad that this happens on a regular basis but isn't usually recorded, or if they are recorded they don't get recognized by the news.

hellno163 : Exactly, but police do this pretty often and its nothing new so you just have to avoid police.

I dont know exaxtly what its like in the usa (except from tv etc, and they love to make drama) but in the uk, I rarely think its a matter for concern. Only a few have so much as a tazer, and they have to anawer for using it if they do.
A guy in riot gear pushed a man, who then died of a heart attack, and he got eaten alive for that.
Not that I disagree, there was no need to push him. If an individual accidentaly but preventably causes a death, its man slaughter. The police arent abovebthe law.
That being said, he was found not guilty, he did lose his job though, thats something.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SYM3KOByTDw

Yeah but like 
thenumberone : said, those who get recorded are eaten alive by social media and everybody starts to hate them. It's a difficult situation I say.

Yeah, they do go too far. 

A police man should be calm, protective of INNOCENTS, and wise.

without wisdom, they have little business being involved in situations where innocents could be killed.

You HAVE to be wise in order to react to situations as described above, like with blind, or deaf people, or people with Autism. 

Otherwise, bad stuff can happen.

I have several educated, experienced opinion about this but since you say things like:

"but where I'm at, nothing productive happens from police besides beating up stoners and killing black people"

Here's another one:
This reminds me of a story from California where there was a deaf guys and he didn't hear the cops come behind him and they were talking to him but he just kept doing what he was doing because he couldn't see him. So the cops grabbed him and he jumped and the other cop shot him and killed him.

That man's name is Jonathan Meister.  He was never shot and he is currently alive.  No one killed him.

So, you won't be open-minded.  You made up your mind a long time ago about law enforcement and nothing anyone can say will change your mind.  I laughed when I read the part where you want to hear why anyone would side with police.  Again, you won't care and it won't change anything so I won't go into details.  I will, however, leave these here:

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/04/23/police-officer-saves-man-from-train/

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/12/montgomery-county-police-officer-saves-baby-s-life-with-cpr-98676.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-off-duty-cop-saved-lives-in-mall/

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/memorial/memorial_wtc.shtml

To quote the NWA: "F*ck the police!" I live in ehh the working class areas, drugs and violence and all that, but it's no Compton thankfully, I've seen police do horrible stuff, I've seen them beat up a pregnant woman because she tried to resist arrest (it's understandable in most situations, but a pregnant woman?" They arrested this drug dealer with kids, they harass kids and stop them for "mandatory searches" I know my rights, I can just ask if I'm being detained if not, then I won't comply. Believe what you want, but the police are more of just power hungry, a few decades ago the police were your friends, now everyone fears them.

Every once in a while here in America a story about police brutality will make it on the news, and it turns huge. It seems to happen more often than it should, which is to say it happens at all. An officer's job is to protect citizens and keep the peace. If the officer feels that he is personally threatened, his colleagues are threatened, or the safety of other citizens nearby is threatened, I believe that he has the right to act violently toward someone. Otherwise, no officer has the right to mistreat anyone. To me, anything an officer does to intentionally hurt someone or that can be considered forceful or violent is brutality.

So, I'm taking no sides here. There are situations in which an officer beating and even killing someone is 100% justified, and there are situations in which it is 0% justified. It depends largely on context.

I'm very blessed to live in a town that hasn't had any shootings in at least the last year or so. But I've seen plenty of videos very similar to this one, and I think its just wrong. I think there are corrupt cops out there that take their job way too seriously. And its not just people, I've seen videos where they do it to animals too (mostly dogs). A perfect example...the Hawthorne, California police that killed the Rottweiler. I don't really want to give the YouTube address, but if you haven't heard of it, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDBZr4ie2AE&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWDBZr4ie2AE&has_verified=1

I will warn you, this video is graphic. I'm only trying to prove a point to show how brutal police can be when the situation clearly does not call for it. And I'm only offering the video to people who want to see what I'm talking about.

My husband and I have had more bad experiences with policemen, than good ones. Now, naturally, I suppose any interaction with a policeman is typically bad since you've likely broken a law.... but I'm referring to policemen that carry out their obligations with an unnecessary attitude.  Due to our experiences, my husband has no love for cops.

On the other hand... I tend not to judge so deeply.  Although we've only encountered excessively rude police, I'm sure their jobs can get tiresome and it becomes difficult to keep handling people that are pushy, defensive, and threatening.  I can say that, as a teacher, there were times I was likely unnecessarily short with a student... simply because I dealt with bad kids all day.

I also think that police get the short end of the stick.  They are upheld to a moral standard that many people aren't as pressured to meet.   If they break those standards, they are immediately plastered all over the news.  This unfairness in journalism and social media paints a picture that is grossly over-exaggerated.  I'm sure there are more policemen who DO their jobs properly.... than those that don't.

Again, I can only spin a perspective based on my own experiences. How many times have you seen news about a teacher who had inappropriate relations with a student?  Does that mean the vast majority are?  Now, how many times have you heard news about a teacher who's students made amazingly high scores on the ACT or SAT?  Do you think there are many teachers who -don't- affect their students positively?

I'm not denying that police brutality is an issue.  I'm simply trying to point out that we live in a society where bad news spreads faster and more frequently than good news.

There are people out there who are brutal, who have sexual relations they shouldn't, and who commit vast amounts of fraud.... but it's due to the standards society holds for police, teachers, or the government.... that we seem to think a small category defines the majority.

There have actually been several instances of police brutality in the news lately, and it is frankly disturbing. I don't understand why some of these officers (and I do say some, because not all are that bad) feel the need to abuse their authority in such a way.

California Highway Patrol beat a woman on the side of the freeway. Staten Island police killed a man by using a choke hold. Those were just the biggest stories this month. It is never necessary to beat a person who is begging you to stop. Ever.

And for the record, Compton isn't that bad. I grew up ten minutes from there in Paramount. Maybe in the 80s or early 90s it was worse?

I think that I might have not explained my reasons for posting this cmopletely. I'm not saying that all police officers are bad. I know that there are those good ones even that buy food for little kids and homeless poeple, which is always nice to see. Here is what I'm reffering to when I say this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyAksbfKIK0

It's sad to see the good cops going and the bad cops not only beating people, but usually keeping their jobs.

warmaker :

I would agree with you.

I should have stated this earlier, but I actually do really like policeman because of stories like the one you posted.

They also deal with the worst side of people everyday.

I think that they deserve more respect. And of course, things are different from person to person, place to place. I actually do honor a lot of policemen, and find them honorable people for what they do. Those are some great stories warmaker.

We just have to look at it like everything else in the government.

We need people with character to take these positions.

warmaker : I'm going to start off this post by saying sorry for the very delayed reply.

Why do you seem to believe that my opinion is less educated than yours though? An opinion is not fact in any way making both of out opinions equally valid. And Where I happen to live police forces really do target certain people more than others. People who do absolutely nothing wrong, and as seen in the video they make excuses or fake allegations to justify what they do. I know your going to say or at least think something along the lines of "you can't smell through a video, how do you know that he didn't have marijuana". But it's up to you what you want to believe.

And about Jonathan Meister, you seemed to have gotten upset that I unknowingly twisted the story and I'd like to apologize for that, I was simply going off of memory since I was very sure that I was right.

As far as not being open minded, of course I'm not being open minded, but neither are you and if you wouldn't mind I would still like to hear reasons on the opposing side of this argument since I haven't heard too many people speak in favor of these police officers that commit very serious and real crimes against innocent (innocent until proven guilty) people.

Sword legion : Wait wait wait wait. A police officers job is in fact a very serious job and should not be taken lightly. They are here to serve and protect the people of the United States (or whatever country) and without them (even with these crimes they are committing) the United States would be a very free place. And by free I mean you could go to your neighbor and kill them and if someone has a problem with it they could kill you without any repercussions. You do not want to be free, you want to be liberated and to have liberties.

I haven't trusted the police in years. I have my reasons for this, some are legitimate, some are biased, and some are totally unsound. 

One big reason is because I know one person who is now a police officer. He has always been a complete a-hole, and used to deal heroin but was never caught because his brother is also a police officer and helped it get swept under the rug. That kind of crap works in a small town like where I grew up. 

Another reason I don't trust the police, and I mean no disrespect to the men and women who wear the uniform with nobility, but there are a lot of people who were the "well, I'm not cut out for anything beyond Burger King, maybe I'll join the military" kind of people. Those same people often leave the military and get jobs with law enforcement, because it's the only thing they know how to do. Unfortunately, what they did in Iraq and Afghanistan does not translate well to working with the American public, and that's why these sort of events tend to happen.

I've seen *hundreds* of videos like the ones in this thread, some have gone viral with *millions* of views. I'm hoping soon there will be enough public outcry that something is done on a national scale.