Effect of videophones on police doing their job.

[JJSCOTT2]

Thoght this would be a good topic for discussion since it seems like every day there is a new video coming out where cops taser somebody and then a bunch of people are either like A.) yeah thats what you get or B.) boo hoo, cops are so mean someone stop them. So here's how I see it.

Pros: The widespread use of videophones nowadays has the effect of keeping bad cops in check. They know that there is a good likelihood anything they do will end up on youtube and therefore they need to be reasonable.

It makes a good investigative tool for determining what happened in a certain situation instead of witnesses just saying the opposite thing of whatever the cops say (this is especially applicable in "race cases" where people tend to default to the "the cops were racists" mantra instead of actually looking at what happened)

Cons: The biggest problem I see with this is that it seems that the general public has no understanding about the way cops are trained to do their jobs, or the ability to use rational thought whatsoever. Everytime one of these videos comes out and its completely clear that the suspect was blatantly resisting arrest, you'll still get these pansy ass ACLU bastards whining about it. My fear is that a lot of good cops will lose their careers because the department has to save face and make someone the scapegoat even though this is EXACTLY how they were trained to do their jobs. If people have a probelm with it, complain about the training (this is especially true of the double-tap rule, how many cops have been sitting on the witness stand being grilled by prosecutors relentlessly asking 'why was it necessary to shoot twice?' It pisses me off to no end). [/u]

[Stoneburg]

I think pansy ass ACLU bastards are a good thing.

[emmasdad]

[JJSCOTT2]

[iceman5]

[JJSCOTT2]

[Allstar7]

if criminals don'[t want to catch a few lumps when they're resisting arrest or running from cops or causing a car chase. that can hurt of kill innocent bystanders.....then should not commit crimes. Discuss.

[Molina]

[Allstar7]

[redhouse]

It might just be me, but i get the impression cops are often genuinely feared in urban America. I dont know which breeds which, but I think part of the reason such a fuss is made about cops abusing their powers is because a lot of people seem to expect it of them. My experience is limited to LA and to a lesser exent, New York and San Fran, but the general public's attitude towards cops in the big cities in the US is definitely a lot more fearful than pretty much every other country i've been in.

[EscapePlan9]