Posted on

I’ll believe it when I see it

Scroll down to see more content

Published by

Pied Type

Susan Richards is a retired editor living in Thornton, Colo., near the family and mountains she loves. Her long-standing Pied Type blog contains some 3,800 posts dating back to 2002.

Categories Law, US7 Comments

7 thoughts on “I’ll believe it when I see it”

  1. Excellent cartoon — applicable to many critical areas today, not solely law enforcement. This has been so excruciating to watch as a regular citizen; particularly having known so many excellent officers at all levels. Scared for them and for all of us.

    Reply

    1. I’m proud of Colorado for moving fast to pass new laws. From the Denver Post: “Among the biggest changes, Colorado’s Senate Bill 217 bans the use of chokeholds and carotid control holds, limits when police are allowed to shoot at a fleeing person and requires officers to intervene in cases of excessive force or face criminal charges. The bill requires all officers to use body-worn cameras and departments to release the footage within 45 days, and it allows for officers to be held personally liable for civil rights violations.” The bill is now law.

      Reply

  3. The problem as I see it is cultural, that is, the culture in many police departments. Theirs is a difficult job because they deal daily with that segment of society which is, largely, not law-abiding. It must be hard not to have a jaded view of people in general, and particularly so when occasionally your colleagues are attacked or even killed in the line of duty. Thus, I’ve got a lot of sympathy for the many good cops who must often make crucial decisions amid emotion-charged violence.. In a nation of over 300 million adults it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the barrel, bad apples like Derek Chauvin. Changes are warranted, training must be improved, and more mental-health pros are needed, but we should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

    Reply

    1. Police need to police themselves. Change hiring practices to keep out the macho types who can’t wait to strap on a gun and badge and start ordering people around, and to screen out discipline problems that were kicked out of other departments. Do away with their “qualified immunity.” And if I had my way, I’d get rid of their union. (I confess I have a personal aversion to unions.) Oh, and as the discussions proceed, people need to be aware of the difference between “disband” the police and “defund” the police. Too many seem to think “defund” amounts to “disband,” and it does not.

      Reply

... and that's my two cents