Thanks. I appreciate your perspective, and was waiting for you to chime in.jeepinjayhawk wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 11:16 pmAs a former Law Enforcement officer...yes.DCHawk1 wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 4:22 pmOK.
Is it your contention, then, that the Police Department of the city of Minneapolis is in the habit of using excessive force against and killing black men? That this is endemic behavior among police in Minneapolis and that what happened to George Floyd is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg?
It is a by product of improprieties being ignored...escalating each time.
It of course happens, and gets officially written off. At least, until hard evidence shows it to actually have occurred.
I have seen dozens of police officers throw handcuffed men down flights of stairs.
I have witnessed many dozens of arrests being made outside of Miranda or many other lawful practices.
I have seen, and testified against, sworn testimony that simply went against truth.
If you fall into the mind set that police are infallible....you are part of the problem......barely recognizable to the truth
But 2 things: First, I don't think ANYONE said police are infallible or that they don't make mistakes. In fact, I think EVERYONE has said the opposite, with the distinction being who is to blame and in what proportion.
Second, that doesn't really answer the question about whether violence against black men by the Minneapolis PD specifically is endemic.
The MPD was responsible for killing 8 people from 2013 to 2018. That averages out to 3.0 police-caused deaths per million residents per year. That's BELOW the national average of 3.4 and WELL below the rate for twocoach's beloved Omaha PD (@5.2). (It also happens to be well above the average for the police department whose officers I'm most familiar with, but that's probably not relevant).
4 of those killed were black (1 Latino, 1 white, and 2 not disclosed).
Additionally, statistics show that 90-95% of subjects killed by police were armed when killed. If we apply that to the MPD #s, we get 1 person in six years who was unarmed. In a perfect world, that's 1 too many, granted, but is it proof of anything?
Also, I realize that killings and "excessive force" are not necessarily the same thing, but it's not an unreasonable proxy, especially given the limits of online data.