Ferguson, Mo. Police State?

[Lillybee]

Dear God, this is really happening in America.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/14/l ... ear-homes/

[happy atheist]

Jezebel of all places has a lot of info bout this. It's awful.

http://jezebel.com/ferguson-disgrace-po ... 1621352164

[Lillybee]

I watched the live feed on MSNBC and I think that it is horrible. I haven't seen so many out of control police since I watched the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. At least the people's response to Chicago changed a few things.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Is there anything that would give someone in Ferguson any reason whatsoever to expect that there will be a proper investigation and that the police are qualified in any way to be handling the situation and carrying out their duties in a constitutional manner?

Since when do police get to withhold the name of an officer who shoots someone?

Why isn't there an independent investigation, conducted by a different police force? Ferguson is not a big town, and there is no way that a police force can investigate one of its own officers without bias being a real concern.

Why no dash cams? To me, that's a huge red flag. It's 2014, plenty of police forces have dash cams, and it's a valuable source of evidence. Is that what they fear?

[GolightlyGrrl]

I've been at work all day and I have missed much of the news footage so far. It is chilling.

Huff Po has a lot of coverage:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/bv-politics/

And this is definitely food for thought:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... v-politics

[Mecca]

This whole situation is disturbing on so many levels. Why are we outfitting our police forces with military weapondary and equipment? Some of our neighborhood police have better equipment than the soldiers working overseas in war zones. And my lord, journalist being arrested and fired on? Unreal.The FBI needs to step in and take over the investigation. The local police force is incapable of doing a unbiased investigation at this point.

This is just another unfortunate example of the heavy handed policing. I get it. I get that police put their lives on the line and have a dangerous job. I have studied the system. One of my degrees is in criminal justice, and I have worked side by side with the police within the juvenile system. But I have seen some disturbing behavior that should not be tolerated. I honestly think they need to rethink the hiring and educational process of a lot of police forces. Some of the people I have worked with could barely put a thought together, and the thought of them being the gatekeepers of the system is alarming.

[2xx1xy1JD]

It looks like the decision to replace the county police with the highway patrol was the right one. The heavy-handed tactics were replaced with officers - both black and white - marching WITH the demonstrators. Guess what? The streets were peaceful last night.

I was reading that Ferguson is almost 70% black, and the police force there is almost all white. Why? While I'm not crazy about the notion of hiring strictly based on color, surely "ability to work well with black members of the community in a non-confrontational way" and "ability to avoid conscious or subconscious racial profiling" would be bona fide occupational requirements.

[RosyDaisy]

OMFG WTH! That's just about all I can say due to the shock of it all.

[Chowder Head]

Now looters and a releasing of footage of the guy robbing a store about 15 mins before being shot. I am not saying he should have been shot but it could shed some light on his attitude and mind set before getting into the altercation?

[mausi]

Now looters and a releasing of footage of the guy robbing a store about 15 mins before being shot. I am not saying he should have been shot but it could shed some light on his attitude and mind set before getting into the altercation?

Before he got into the altercation, or before he was assaulted? Because, after what has happened in STL, I'm not sure I believe the officer's claims, to be honest.

In my opinion, releasing the information about Brown walking off with the cigars at this point, after days of unchecked police brutality, was nothing more than a cheap diversion tactic. To me it sheds more light on the attitude of the PD than it does the victim. The Police Department is back tracking, trying to say 'Hey look! He was a criminal!' all while ignoring the very obvious fact that no one should ever be shot multiple times and killed over a box of cigars. It reeks of 'Don't mind us with our military grade weaponry and all the tear gas and rubber bullets we have shot at peaceful protesters, this teenager was a menace!'

An interesting piece on the media; can't remember if I saw it linked above or not. Media bias and race.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 73291.html

ETA: Oops, the article was posted above -- but it is worth reposting.

[Mecca]

I agree that the timing of the information looks nothing more than a diversion tactic. This is, what, the fourth version of the story we are getting from the Ferguson Police Dept.? And no, I do not agree with Brown's actions on taking the cigars or pushing the store owner, but we do not execute people in the U.S. for shoplifting and battery.

[Chowder Head]

Unfortunately, this video has caused the store to be heavily looted.

[Mecca]

Unfortunately, this video has caused the store to be heavily looted.

Yes, unfortunately there was some looting that went on, but a large group of protestors stepped in and stopped it and protected several other buildings as well. The police rolled in again with their massive artillery, yet many eye witness accounts and several journalist reported the cops did nothing to stop the looting. The protestors did.

[mausi]

Autopsy shows Michael Brown was shot at least six times. Two to the top of his head.

[GolightlyGrrl]

Of course, douchebag galore, Matt Walsh, has to say his piece about Michael Brown and the situation in Ferguson.

themattwalshblog.com/2014/08/18/dont-know-happened-michael-brown-stop-pretending/#comments