Political rants

Ok so my take basically law enforcement should allign with the military and how their cops operate. Imma use an example, because i was essentially a "cop" for about 8 months while deployed. Most who know me know i am a medic in the military thats my primary job. As a medic i am a noncombatant meaning i will never pick up a weapon in a deployed setting. Thats not my job, its the job of the cops. Now while i was a cop because that was what was tasked to me at the time to help supplement the shortage of cops we had. I was given a weapon. It was a self defense tool. Meaning i was not to pull that weapon if they were running, if they got aggressive or rude. My sole task was to defendbif needed. They showed me how to defend myself using non lethal instruments such as a baton. If you have a baton you can essentially break limbs or kill someone. While i never had to use my weapons. I was trained with the lingering theme over my head. "If you kill these people and the reason was not justified. You will be held accountable in court" ....think about that military members in a setting where your life is constantly at risk being told if you kill and cant tell us why you go to jail. Very powerful statement. Now law enforcement they arent held to this sort of standard. Which i think should be applied. You cannot be a cop and expect not to run into danger same way you cant be a military member and not expect to die if put in a situation where it could happen. Everyone thinks it will be fine that wont ever happen to me, but it could. My biggest worry while deployed was a missle attack. Not people and bullets. While cops wont have to deal with that, it is a possibility they could encounter armed people. Therefore i present the "buddy system." Pairs of 2 people with each other at all times. If one runs into danger thebother is there as back up. It negates these instances where you can fear for your life. If i know my partner will save me if i got shot, it makes things easier. https://youtu.be/LgcZqasurE0 Here is an example. Look how this lady is saved by her partner. Yes scary moments like this happen. But her partner steps in and helps. With the buddy system you know you always have back up with you. So you can think a second time before you shoot. Moments like this happen in a split second so i understand the fear people might have. But if ur partner is armed and ready, the other partner can subdue. Whoever holds the weapon calls the orders to avoid confusion. Then dont put yourself in a situation where you can be shot. Call out demands before you approach, make sure you are safe and then proceed. Treat everyone as they are armed so you dont get surprised when you think they are.

I think police reform is something the government should look into. Rather than these dumb gender study bills, pump money into training your police force. Restore faith in the public. When people see police nowadays they fear them. The fear that i could go to jail or be shot, when i obviously know i have done nothing wrong is a bad one. So hold people accountable. When police get away scott free after killing an innocent bystander it shows how bad this system is.

See, that's why I keep my hands on the dashboard when they pull me over. While I criticize them on a lot of things, I know what they do is a dangerous job, and I'm at least going to mitigate that part of their job when dealing with them. In Ohio at least, they do often use the buddy system. One guy stands on one side of the car opposite to the guy you're talking to, and his job is always to look at where you're reaching when you have to present paperwork. Then if the road is heavily patrolled, they will have a second car role up behind and watch from the vehicle. Stuff like that is just smart police work.

The buddy system is good because it prevents less confusion and more safety. Instead of calling for back up whobhave no idea whats going on and could potentially walk into an escalated situation and escalate it further. You have the buddy catch everyone up, while you watch the suspect. Some sectors may have a small police force so its not exactly possible to do so they are spread thin. But i think thats an issue of the county, which leads to an issue of the state and so forth. We need officers trained in the law. Because they enforce it. But in the same right not every law must be enforced. Im not say ik ng break the law but bend it a little just like that dude who nearly got shot for telling the guy off. If they arent harming anyone then leave them be. But also rule with an authority. If you are gonna uphold the law then live by it yourself.

Yeah, accountability is a big problem I have with them. But there's another big reason why the public doesn't trust them so much, and its unfortunate because they're only a minority group that unfortunately has a large impact on police culture. They protect their own, which is admirable, until you see half the shit that qualified immunity lets them get away with. And when you take that in conjunction with this little declassified FBI document, well, you might get an idea of why a lot of us in the hills and in low income neighborhoods of cities have more resentment toward them than citizens should with their law enforcers. https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/White_Supremacist_Infiltration_of_Law_Enforcement.pdf This is a heavily redacted report from 2006. And I can see why they can't have transparency on the issue. A lot of the redactions break down how the KKK and white nationalist groups basically "Scientology"ed their way in, as well as the particular tactics of the FBI to track it. As you could see, its not just a bad apple here or there, it was an organized infiltration. We only got to see this document in 2017, but recently a former FBI agent, Brennan German, gave us a rather large, well sourced info drop to talk about a lot of what was redacted, as well as why the FBI failed to warn the public. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/hidden-plain-sight-racism-white-supremacy-and-far-right-militancy-law So reform? Definitely a good idea.

@chocopyro Interesting videos, I'll check them out. @hell_hound7 The "buddy system" mentioned is practically standard police operation. Pairs are considered standard practice, along with calling for additional backup before encountering anything that could pose significant danger. The only reason an officer should ever go into a situation alone is if the circumstances are dire. Additionally, most actions during an encounter are reported to dispatch by one of the officers. The main police strategy I have observed is the used of numbers to overwhelm suspects in most cases. When a suspect is fleeing, the pursuing officers usually can call for more officers to "encircle" the area and eventually close in on the suspect. Ironically, room clearing and breaching tactics used by the military were originally adopted from law enforcement strategies. Now law enforcement asks the military for training on this. On the topic of engagement, all police officers are required to write documentation regarding every use of force, lethal and non-lethal. It is generally understood that lawyers will pick apart those statements. The intent of the report is to provide the officer's mindset during the reported incident, how the incident was perceived by the officer. This of course will be biased toward the officer, but I still believe it is essential to keep this policy. It is important for officers to know they MUST articulate their use of force in a way that makes sense. While it's entirely possible for cops to lie on their reports, the wonderful creation of body cameras helps mitigate this issue. Cameras are probably the best implements for police accountability we currently have. There is no excuse not to issue these to every officer. If police stations can afford armored vehicles and high end rifles, they can afford a camera. However, there are officers who turn off their cameras, and police stations who withhold footage from the public. This is unacceptable. I believe there are some jurisdictions which dismiss police reports if cameras were turned off during an incident, which should be standard practice. The things I think would help rebuild public trust for police would be the following: Greater transparency to the public Auditing and internal investigations from third-party law firms instead of law enforcement agencies Having officers police their own communities Stricter physical fitness requirements Ceasing the use of unmarked or low visibility police vehicles for patrol officers, these should only be used in specific circumstances by detectives or informants Reducing the militarization of police culture and regulating the "image" the police projects to the public, no more OD green and "cammies" for police o7

Tbh i wanna reply to this because you bring up good points and i feel there are areas for improvment but holy hell just writing a long post on mobile for this site is a pain in the ass. I cant even see half my message and constantly have to scroll up so i just deleted it

Basically i wanted to say not every county has the buddy system and this could be due to low manning or often senior law enforcement going out for patrolls by themselves. Or even sheriffs and highway patrol cars with only one officer. The buddy system isnt used everywhere. The training also isnt sufficient. I cant really go in depth, this chat box is killing me

Yeah that's definitely true, some departments have less funding and manpower. There are even smaller departments from different towns that work together and share resources, such as armored assets, as they wouldn't be able to afford them on their own. I'm a little skeptical on the idea of a senior officer willingly choosing to patrol alone however. The police officers are well aware of the dangers of being alone, so I'd think they would only take on a solo beat if they had no other choice. I think a senior officer would be much more aware of the need for a partner. Highway troopers are an entirely different story though, as they are state police, not tied to a city department. It would seem they are far more isolated and spread thin than city level law enforcement. My knowledge of them lacks in comparison to my knowledge of city level law enforcement, so feel free to correct me. I agree regarding the last bit, the posting system on this site is a bit sketchy sometimes and I've almost had my posts wiped a few times using it. w(ﾟДﾟ)w