“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by yogo on Sunday July 07, 2013 @05:40PM (#6003641)

These things are still pretty rare. Unfortunately, once you start raiding barber shops and pool halls with so much heat something like this is bound to happen. I still find it to be an honorable job with honest guys that put their lives on the line; however, statistically there's always going to be some hot-headed trigger-happy guy involved. Plus even if they're not on the force they're in some neighborhood as the unofficial neighborhood watch.

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by llamataboot on Sunday July 07, 2013 @06:13PM (#6003790)

Give someone assault weapons, train them to believe that they are fighting for good, and remove all legal and moral contraints and watch how quick they turn into a "bad apple". It's not a personnel problem, it's a structural problem. See Stanford Prison Experiment, etc.

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by jlgreco on Sunday July 07, 2013 @09:51PM (#6004636)

Put a bad apple in a barrel, leave it there for a short period of time, and observe that all the apples are now bad. Rotting apples release ethylene gas which is a ripening agent. Through the release of this gas, bad apples will "spoil the barrel" if they are not diligently weeded out and disposed of. Bad cops don't release ethylene gas. The mechanism that rot uses to spread through a police organization is called "The Blue Wall of Silence".

I love the "bad apple" metaphor because when you remember to say the whole thing it becomes clear that it is actually an argument against ignoring issues in an organization because only a few people are the "cause". If a police department "only has a few bad apples" then (according to the metaphor) those bad apples must be removed swiftly and decisively or the integrity of the entire department will be compromised.

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by sneak on Monday July 08, 2013 @01:07AM (#6005273)

Exactly my point above; I'm glad it came through.

I love this "bad apple" tidbit, it's going in the top drawer of the toolbox. :D

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by epsylon on Monday July 08, 2013 @01:26AM (#6005308)

> Stanford Prison Experiment

Relevant SMBC http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=3025#comic

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by unethical_ban on Sunday July 07, 2013 @06:05PM (#6003751)

People would be more forgiving to individual departments and officers if ever there was fair punishment and contrition for crimes committed by law enforcement. There is always an excuse or a legal loophole, with no admittance of guilt or evidence of self-reflection.

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by jessaustin on Sunday July 07, 2013 @08:04PM (#6004212)

Also, if there were even a chance of fair punishment, police would change their tactics to favor low-risk encounters rather than the Wild West raids they favor now.

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by njharman on Monday July 08, 2013 @01:15PM (#6007842)

> These things are still pretty rare.

Prove that. You can't, cause it's a negative. It seems much, much more likely that "The times these things are uncovered and get national press attention is rare." For the few times that are, how many are not, 10x? 100x? I can't know, but I 100% doubt we catch 100% of these things.

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Re:“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book” by cgag on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:31AM (#6011402)

If you participate in a SWAT raid on a barber shop on any level, you are not an honorable or good person.

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