Police showing solidarity for a charged cop

[hot enough]

16 minutes ago, Argus said:

You, on the other hand, have fringe opinions derived from places most people would want to bathe after briefly exploring.

There you go again, with those well known Argus facts. 

[GostHacked]

22 hours ago, Argus said:

 The gloves were issued to him, though, and with no guidelines or restrictions on their use.

Correction, these gloves were NOT issued to that officer, or officers walking the beat. They are issues to riot cops. He was not a riot cop.

[Argus]

30 minutes ago, GostHacked said:

Correction, these gloves were NOT issued to that officer, or officers walking the beat. They are issues to riot cops. He was not a riot cop.

Why are you trying to correct me with incorrect information? That seems an unwise thing to do.

They WERE issued to him as a member of the Guns and Gangs unit. Many other police officers bought their own and wore them, and have for years. The police department has never issued any kind of guidelines for their use. 

[H10]

On 4/1/2017 at 3:45 PM, bcsapper said:

Only if absolutely necessary, to keep you safe.

Awful, the things we ask them to do, eh?

So he is going to keep you safe by killing you?  That is a very big oxy moron.

[kimmy]

On 4/1/2017 at 10:18 AM, Argus said:

This is a subject which has drawn heavy commentary locally, from all levels of media, from local government and local community groups, not to mention citizens.

I think police have brought the situation upon themselves.

I certainly agree that in many of these cases it is possible that the officers involved did nothing wrong.  However we have also seen the most egregious and blatant police misconduct excused and whitewashed. People don't trust that police will be held accountable for anything, and that they can literally get away with murder.

We saw the RCMP willfully release false information before clearing the officers of any wrongdoing in the manslaughter of Robert Dziekanski. They attempted a complete whitewash of the situation, and only backtracked when citizen video proved they were lying through their teeth.  How can they be trusted? We've seen how far they'll go to cover up for their own. Ultimately, Kwesi Millington received a slap on the wrist for lying to Judge Braidwood, and a $50 fine for loitering or something like that. Justice?

Many cases in the US have somewhat the same outcome. One recent example: the death of Freddie Gray.  Gray was loaded into a police van uninjured, He was comatose and died shortly afterward. The van was a 3 minute drive down the street from the police station where Gray eventually ended up, yet the van took a 45 minute drive all over Baltimore. When Gray emerged he was a bloody pulp with a broken neck.   Baltimore police have paid millions of dollars to compensate victims of "nickel rides" for damages, and only the stupidest of dumb-people would doubt that Gray's death was the result of a "nickel ride" gone wrong. Yet somehow none of the officers involved in Gray's death had even heard of nickel rides, and despite the best efforts of the Baltimore prosecutor, none of the officers involved received even a slap on the wrist for his death.  Granted that Gray was a ne'er-do-well with a history of petty crime, what exactly warranted his execution in police custody?

Sure, this cop or that cop might have acted properly. But asking people to step back and have faith in "the system" isn't very persuasive. Peoples' faith in "the system" is irreparably damaged when it comes to police accountability.

 -k

[Guest]

10 hours ago, hernanday said:

So he is going to keep you safe by killing you?  That is a very big oxy moron.

Obviously that's not what I said, and I daresay you know that.

You don't have to reply to absolutely everything.

[GostHacked]

On 4/2/2017 at 0:17 PM, Argus said:

Why are you trying to correct me with incorrect information? That seems an unwise thing to do.

They WERE issued to him as a member of the Guns and Gangs unit. Many other police officers bought their own and wore them, and have for years. The police department has never issued any kind of guidelines for their use. 

Seems like that information has changed since the charge of manslaughter. At first CBC was reporting that these were not issued to him and he got them on his own.

[Argus]

2 hours ago, kimmy said:

Sure, this cop or that cop might have acted properly. But asking people to step back and have faith in "the system" isn't very persuasive. Peoples' faith in "the system" is irreparably damaged when it comes to police accountability.

Why? If you read my postings you'll see I have been as hard on the police as anyone else here where I see misconduct. That includes the RCMP case with Robert Dziekanski, the abuse of protesters in both Vancouver and Toronto, the shooting of Sammy Yatim, and the overall militarization of policing. I recognize the issues with police, both here and down south, and have said so. That doesn't make me instinctively support a narrative which makes no sense, as it doesn't in this case. It doesn't make me support those racist agitators in BLM. I still look at each case individually. 

Looking at this, I do not see any racial connection, despite how the media and BLM have played it up. I see cops chasing down a suspect, tackling him, and struggled to get him handcuffed. If that included a few punches, so what? This isn't something like Rodney King, where cops stood around wailing away at a guy with clubs and fists and feet for an interminable time. This was a couple of punches, according to witnesses. Well deserved, as far as I can tell. Given the charge of assault with a weapon the focus is on the gloves in this case, and given the gloves were issued to him to use then any problem with the gloves is the responsibility of the police department, not the individual cop.