UC Davis police attack peaceful demonstraters

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i see 3 policemen in that picture, along with how many others? they're outnumbered how many times over? yep, i dare folks who are pontificating to try it some time.

If you look at all the other videos (and there are many on the internet, covering the entire incident, not just excerpts like above), there are about 50 policemen there. There are about 30 within the "circle of kids" to the right of the picture, that were "trapped" by the kids sitting with their backs to them, and were "scared" of those "volatile" kids (the cops, btw, had just destroyed the tents, with the kids doing nothing but sit there with their backs to them in a circle while the cops destroyed their tents and property)

So they had to step over the kids, to get to their faces, so they could pepper spray them.

There was no threat. There was only ego-bruising on the part of the two idiots who sprayed the kids.

Kudos to those young people, for being the acme of peaceful protesting in the face of police abuse. MLK would be proud.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Riot

If you look at all the other videos (and there are many on the internet, covering the entire incident, not just excerpts like above), there are about 50 policemen there. There are about 30 within the "circle of kids" to the right of the picture, that were "trapped" by the kids sitting with their backs to them, and were "scared" of those "volatile" kids (the cops, btw, had just destroyed the tents, with the kids doing nothing but sit there with their backs to them in a circle while the cops destroyed their tents and property)

So they had to step over the kids, to get to their faces, so they could pepper spray them.

There was no threat. There was only ego-bruising on the part of the two idiots who sprayed the kids.

Kudos to those young people, for being the acme of peaceful protesting in the face of police abuse. MLK would be proud.

Yes he would! Except 40 some years later we still have criminals in uniform!

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Yes he would! Except 40 some years later we still have criminals in uniform!

yep, they make the ones doing things right look bad. a few bad apples....

i think police depts need to take a long look at their training, and how often veteran cops go back for re-training. all other professions require that, i wonder if pd's do? my dad has been retired for years, so i don't know how that goes these days.

i also wonder if a lot of people just aren't taking these protests that seriously-they pale in comparison with others, and a lot of people just don't seem to even get what they're protesting. then of course these big city govts are no doubt beholden to the big businesses, just like congress is beholden to wall street.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Danzig

yep, they make the ones doing things right look bad. a few bad apples....

i think police depts need to take a long look at their training, and how often veteran cops go back for re-training. all other professions require that, i wonder if pd's do? my dad has been retired for years, so i don't know how that goes these days.

i also wonder if a lot of people just aren't taking these protests that seriously-they pale in comparison with others, and a lot of people just don't seem to even get what they're protesting. then of course these big city govts are no doubt beholden to the big businesses, just like congress is beholden to wall street.

Re-training should be mandatory at all levels of law enforcement, and psychological exams should be more than a formality....those looking to join law enforcement for power and those who project an overly macho mindset should be excluded.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Re-training should be mandatory at all levels of law enforcement, and psychological exams should be more than a formality....those looking to join law enforcement for power and those who project an overly macho mindset should be excluded.

i agree with that as well.

i wonder if they do psychological profiles?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i agree with that as well.

i wonder if they do psychological profiles?

Yes.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Re-training should be mandatory at all levels of law enforcement, and psychological exams should be more than a formality....those looking to join law enforcement for power and those who project an overly macho mindset should be excluded.

The psychological tests do try to weed that out. But police look for those that can make individual decisions, versus a fire department that looks for a follower/team player. So they do get a different personality.

Some cops are just insecure - like pepper spray boy. He pepper sprayed because his little ego was bruised by the nasty protesters. He was too impressed by his own uniform. He couldn't handle telling them what to do, and they would not do it. And it was in front of his men, too. He was "leading" when he sprayed the kids. He was teaching them a lesson for embarrassing him in front of his men.

Remember that campus police are often "real police" wanna be's. There is usually a reason they are not on a municipal force.

[Honu]

Originally Posted by Riot

The psychological tests do try to weed that out. But police look for those that can make individual decisions, versus a fire department that looks for a follower/team player. So they do get a different personality.

Some cops are just insecure - like pepper spray boy. He pepper sprayed because his little ego was bruised by the nasty protesters. He was too impressed by his own uniform. He couldn't handle telling them what to do, and they would not do it. And it was in front of his men, too. He was "leading" when he sprayed the kids. He was teaching them a lesson for embarrassing him in front of his men.

Remember that campus police are often "real police" wanna be's. There is usually a reason they are not on a municipal force.

Thank goodness he has Union Reps, otherwise he might lose his job for being an azshol e.

[geeker2]

Originally Posted by Honu

Thank goodness he has Union Reps, otherwise he might lose his job for being an azshol e.

ROR!

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Honu

Thank goodness he has Union Reps, otherwise he might lose his job for being an azshol e.

"An ABC affiliate is reporting that the "Pepper Spraying Cop," Lt John Pike was named specifically in a hostile environment discrimination lawsuit in 2003 for use of an anti-gay slur. The suit was eventually settled out of court by the department for $250,000.

Lt. John Pike was specifically named in the lawsuit as having used a "profane" homophobic in reference to police officer Calvin Chang. Chang says he was subjected to harassment within the department before filing his lawsuit."