Comments on: Another Isolated Incident

By: supercat

supercat — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:46:23 +0000

1. Why do cops repeatedly make the same mistakes?

Very simple, really. They’re not mistakes.

Mistakes are actions which have unintended and undesirable consequences. The consequences of an action need not be severe for it to be a mistake–personal unhappiness at the result would suffice–but there must be something. In many cases there are no consequences whatsoever for cops who raid innocents. Until that changes, such attacks on innocents will not be mistakes, but rather a routine part of operations.

By: Andrew Williams

Andrew Williams — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:32:02 +0000

The word isolated, of course, is dripping with irony.

By: Dave Krueger

Dave Krueger — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:19:32 +0000

I have a few questions?

1. Why do cops repeatedly make the same mistakes?
2. Why do cities refuse to compensate for the damages?
3. Why are procedures never changed to eliminate likelihood of repeat occurrences.

Essentially, based on the behavior of the cops and the cities in cases like this, the collective answer to these questions seems to go something like this:

“Because we can, you pathetic bunch of whiners. Who’s gonna stop us? You? You best shut yer mouth or we’ll come back and fuck you up good.”

By: Guido

Guido — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:35:54 +0000

After leaving said raid, one of our valiant men in blue decides to make a stop for Red Bull and some twinkies. Here is what ensues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paonzAQD0C8

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:19:41 +0000

When does the civil disobedience start and where does the line form to join up?

By: dsmallwood

dsmallwood — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:14:47 +0000

any word on her dog?

By: Marty

Marty — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:06:38 +0000

I believe the governor appointing the board in st. louis dates back to the civil war- they wanted state control of the board to prevent a confederate mutiny. My memory’s a bit clouded, but I think I’m in the ballpark.

Being in st. louis, this is major news to me, but I cannot recall any of the local news outlets carrying it…

By: Mike Leatherwood

Mike Leatherwood — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:44:59 +0000

Was looking at the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners page on the St. Lou police site, which is what I assume is the board mentioned in the article. Nothing but political appointees/nominees from the state governor, so I am not surprised they don’t care about the citizenry. Why the governor is appointing people to serve on a city board, I will never know.

By: Nick T

Nick T — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:36:32 +0000

Not only is this inhumane and immoral not only does this breed contempt and mistrust between police and the citizens but it’s just outright dumb.

With different lawsuits and settlements in the news, police and cities would be wise to offer this woman an apology and a few thousand dollars as a settlement of any future claims. Maybe also to set aside some city funds for exactly this purpose.

It’s true that sometimes admitting a mistake can work against you if the person later files a suit, but there’s ways to get around that pretty easily. And even if you didn’t want to come out and say that, nothing stops you from making other nice gestures like inviting the woman or her representative to a meeting.

Or like, not being a dick to them after the fact.

I think we’re now at a point where we can’t even expect police to act rationally out of self-interest, but rather out of ego.