i've always been fascinated how american cops just erupt into chaos whenever something did't go how they wanted it to, despite not telling the person what they wanted them to do.
and then be confused why people anre't following orders when shouting conflicting commands from 3 different officers with a dog barking uncontrollably in the background.
thank god the police takes itself more seriously where i live.
American police are just professional schoolyard bullies. They will beat you up, take what money you have on you. If you're a woman or girl it's not unlikely that they will rape you. They will shoot your dog and are hoping with every fiber of their being that you will give them half an excuse to shoot you. Every bit of that can happen with no provocation at all.
Whether it was intentionally designed this way or just something that stuck because it benefitted them, the way they are trained teaches them to behave in that confusing way, and results in them being more often able to justify the use of force (just justify it, they use force whenever they want) because "the suspect wasn't following orders".
My mother is a sweet law-abiding citizen, always follows the rules. But cops make her supremely nervous, and she's terrified of going to jail (even though, like I said, she's done nothing wrong, but that doesn't always matter). I'm afraid she's gonna get pulled over for a broken tail light or something and end up getting hassled because she's "acting suspicious".
I would assume cops get training for dealing with people in stressful situations, but from all the instances of things going downhill so fast for little to no reason, it doesn't seem like the training is sufficient (or like you suggested, maybe they are taught the wrong things altogether). Their mere presence can make people anxious, and stress alone can cause people to have difficulty processing the situation (not to mention the conflicting orders, the dogs, the yelling, the flashing lights, etc). I know that, for the things I've been trained to do, it's a constant struggle to remember that others don't know even the basics of my field, and assuming that they do is a recipe for miscommunication. But when i communicate poorly, it doesn't end with people getting shot.
Giving you contradictory orders is standard operating procedure whenever cops need an excuse to abuse or kill you:
Cop1: "Get on the ground!"
Cop2: "Don't move!"
Cop1: "I SAID GET ON THE GROUND!"
Cop2: "I SAID DON'T F*CKING MOVE!"
But hey, you were being "uncooperative" and that's what the record will show, even though it's literally impossible to follow both orders at the same time.
We had a field day in Middle School and there was a kid getting picked on and I went and tried to stand up for him, cause I got bullied sometimes as well, and after the kids left him alone. The kid shoved me on the ground. Dude grew up to be a cop.
Oh god, I didn't need to see this today. Last night I watched a woman (who was sitting quietly, not causing trouble) be tackled and handcuffed by a security guard inside the bus station. His reasoning was she'd been there too long. The asshole guard called the cops, and it just escalated from there. There's more to the story, I'm just too angry still to get into more detail. Anyway, in the end, they took her in, and I can't stop wondering where she is now.
Sorry for the wall of text, I just needed to get it off my chest. I only recently moved to the city from a small, quiet suburb, so I'd never seen this kind of thing firsthand before. It sucked. I wanted to say or do something, but I just stayed feet and watched, bc it seemed like anything I could do would only make the situation worse. It was the same kind of helplessness I used to feel growing up with an abusive parent.
After the cops left, everybody in the station just kind of stood there and shared a collective sick sigh at how wrong the whole thing was. I love my city to death, but I have to wonder, how do people cope with seeing things like this? What do you do with it?
Filming the encounter is always a good option. Sorry for triggering you with this post, that shit can be disturbing, Policing is seriously fucked and exists mainly to protect property owners, not regular citizens that are the most vulnerable
Oh that's a good suggestion, thanks! Please dw about the post, more than anything I'm just glad people are talking about it. Thank you for the kind reply :)
Oh, and I have a weird question. If one day I do have a video of a similar situation, what's the best thing to do with it? Just post it online? I don't have any social media except Lemmy (and youtube), but I guess it doesn't matter if the point is just to get it out there.
I'm not saying all cops are good but there's a high chance you won't get shot if you don't reach in your waist when they tell you to show them your hands.