Support NeoGAF

[Enzom21]

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/militarizing-the-minds-of-police-officers
https://youtu.be/773T86dY7wU

Three years ago, amid the protests erupting in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, President Barack Obama ordered a review of a federal program allowing military equipment
to be transferred from the armed forces to state and local police departments. For many, the images of local police dressed in camouflage and travelling in armored vehicles
became a metaphor for the ways in which the lines had blurred between civilian law enforcement and the military—a phenomenon that the journalist Radley Balko has
referred to as the “rise of the warrior cop.” The review resulted in an executive order that curtailed the transfer of some types of military equipment. A new short film by
Craig Atkinson, “Conditioned Response,” which includes unreleased footage shot while filming his documentary “Do Not Resist,” from 2016, suggests that the armored
vehicles rolling through Ferguson were only the most visible indicators of this militarization. Another, more subtle—and perhaps more intractable—form of it is affecting the psychology of the officers themselves.

 

[Cvie]

jesus im only 2:12 into the video but i think this already explains alot about american polices attitudes

 

[DiscoJer]

While I think that's the problem, I think the real problem is that police often expect anyone to suddenly pull out a gun and start shooting them, because they've had that mentality drilled into them.

So sometimes they freak out and kill people seemingly at random. And not entirely random, because some people are deemed more suspect just because of their skin color (and also face more unwarranted interactions with police because of this). But no one is safe because the police are in a state of paranoia

 

[Elaugaufein]

I don't think these are completely independent, the presence of military hardware will cause an "at-war" mindset and an at-war mindset will want military equipment to deal with it.

 

[pirata]

God, that Philando Castille footage fucks me up every time. No person who hasn't had racial hatred and fear drilled into their heads constantly would react like that. It's like a glitch in a video game. It makes no sense.

 

[Cvie]

God, that Philando Castille footage fucks me up every time. No person who hasn't had racial hatred and fear drilled into their heads constantly would react like that. It's like a glitch in a video game. It makes no sense.

the Levar Edward Jones always makes me recoil. I need to see your license, he goes to get the license and gets shot.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Hint: many cops were declined by the armed services. I know one. Was one of my best childhood friends.

The bar is lower. Fear these people they are trying to compensate.

 

[DrKelpo]

good freaking lord... that's insanity.

 

[KDR_11k]

US police is also pretty badly trained, fairly short training duration (average 36 weeks, EU standard is 3 years minimum which was also adopted by many non-EU countries) and seemingly no defined curriculum with some instructors teaching the exact opposite of others (some using one of those shooting videos as example of doing things wrong, others using them as example of correct escalation)...