Saturday, August 03, 2013

American Police State: Clay Pigeon Division

We've had enough officer involved shooting in San Diego to identify how things are done. A single police officer who shoots an unarmed citizen generally finds himself in trouble. Questions are asked whether he used excessive force. Even after he is inevitably absolved by the District Attorney the officer faces civil suits.

That never happens when there are mass shootings. When a dozen police officers, or more, unload their weapons into a helpless victim their collective judgement is never called into question. This has led to an unwritten police policy, whenever one policeman discharges his weapon, every officer within range automatically fires all their bullets into the target.

While the Cleveland shooting may be an extreme example it is also an appropriate example, 47 bullets riddle two corpses, cops missed on 90 other shots. There will be some noise, perhaps some slight discipline, but in the end little will happen. When dozens of cops fire their weapons no individual is at fault. And police, yet again, get away with felonious manslaughter. 


2 comments:

Unknown said...

It might be an extreme example, but it's not all that rare.

We see footage of kids getting beaten by a gang of cops on a fairly regular basis, stories like Amadou Diallo aren't all that rare or surprising.

My grandfather would ask whose side you're on: Law and order or the criminal's...

knighterrant said...

Frequently, the side of actual law and order is the side opposite the police.