SOMETHING IS REALLY BEING MISSED HERE

SOMETHING IS REALLY BEING MISSED HERE

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

Including the July 17, 2014 strangling death of Eric Garner by New York City policeman, there have been two other high profile deaths attributed to police departments. The August 9^th shooting death of unarmed Michael Brown and the death by gunfire of Tamir Rice, a 12 year old armed with a BB gun. All three were black, while all three of the police officers were white.

 

Surprisingly there has been little protests with regards to the Rice shooting, but of course the same can’t be said about Garner and Brown. There are similarities for each of the shooting incidents; both were black, and a correlation between all three, the cops in attendance feared for their lives

 

Both Garner and Brown were either walking in the street or on the sidewalk while the Rice kid was playing in a public park. I think in all three incidents there wasn’t any adverse activity going on, you can kind of make a case of threatening, the Rice boy looking dangerous because he had what appeared to be a firearm…..but the 911 call told the dispatcher that the gun look like a toy.

 

I watched the video of the Rice shooting several different times and the cop on the passenger’s side of the squad car opened his door and fired his service revolver at Rice…..all in less than 5 seconds. There seemed to be little chance for the Rice kid to capitulate to whatever the cops commands might have been, personally I couldn’t believe what I was watching, that’s how quickly the sequence took.

 

The Eric Garner death took longer, but the results were the same, a United States citizen lost his life at the hands of an American authority figure. There was a video of the Garner incident which was, to me, graphic, you can call what the cop did as a take-down hold, or a chokehold, I can tell you this, the hold looked suspiciously like the chokehold I learned in the military about a hundred years ago.

 

I DEAL IN FACTS

There is little that goes on in our world that is complicated, not when people decide to get down to the bare facts of an issue. I do not think that the United States is in danger of becoming a police state, say like Germany, anyways not at this time. What we have today is a whole bunch of authoritative people that want to keep their positions; for them, in many cases, their perceived power is like a drug, an elixir of life for them.

 

Politicians are much the same as these power mongering individuals that are housed at the top of policing agencies, the military, fire departments, and actually anyone who figures that he/she is irreplaceable. My friends…..everybody is replaceable, even if you have created your own position. There’s always somebody out there who can do your job as good or better.

 

Policing agencies use the crony, or good old boy system to elevate, recruit, and protect their brethren, didn’t you ever wonder why the cops have the same ranking system as the U.S. military, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and so forth. Right away you get into that attitude that rank has its privilege. I hate to break these jokers bubbles, but politicians, fire fighters, policemen and the military actually are paid by us…..the taxpayers. We appoint, our appointees hire, and are supposed to oversee who is hired, and periodically grade their job performance…..or did you forget that?

 

I can tell you one thing, in New York City, during 2013; the taxpayers incurred $732,000,000 in legal fees for all sorts of police missteps, overreaching their authority, racial profiling, police brutality, and just plain stupid crap. And do you want to know what; the city of New York does not have a corner market when it comes to stupid policing practices.

 

With regards to the size of country’s policing forces, local, regional, state, and federal, the overall legal costs to protect some of these good old boys exceeds a billion dollars a year…..and baby that billion dollars is paid out by who else, the friendly taxpayer. Let’s see, we elect representatives, we pay these representatives, their hire or appoint underlings to do all sorts of fire protection, policing duties, and a thousand other things…..and then our tax dollars pay these underlings, and then, whenever the system breaks, and somebody does a stupid act…..we gotta pay for that too…..wow…..what a scam.

 

The United States is the land of the free, and the home of the brave, right,  we are also the world leader in keeping the peace, and protecting people from despots or dictators…..so why do we need more than 780,000 police in the United States? China has 1,600,000 cops, and Russia has a bit more than 782,000 for the only two countries that seem to need policing protection more than the U.S.

 

I read with interest an account of the police in New York City that appeared in the New York Times which stated that the cops felt betrayed, put upon, and that the reason that Garner lost his life was because he was overweight, out of shape, had numerous health issues, and that if he would have simply capitulated to the officers orders…..he’d still be alive today.

 

EVERYBODY IS MISSING THE REAL POINT HERE

Really the Garner, Brown or Rice killings aren’t the real issue here, each of these people had their lives taken away from them before their time, especially Rice, he was a 12 year old boy. Nobody has the right to take another’s life unless they feel that theirs is in danger of being taken from them. That my friends is the common sense thing here.

 

Both Garner and Brown were big men, over 6’ and in excess of 300#, but the Rice boy was, well 12, and even though one of the cops at the scene of the shooting (in Cleveland) radioed that a 20 year old black man was down, there was a stretch there, unless the 20 year old was a midget.

 

The real rub here is the fact that cops, whether one, six or twenty decided to act with deadly force, “and let’s get over this takedown or chokehold issue, no matter whether Garner was resisting, was out of shape and was a blimp, the actions of the officers did contribute to a death, a death over possibly selling untaxed cigarettes. Come on, get real.

 

The issue here isn’t really a racial issue; anyone with an ounce of gray matter has to admit that cops all over America profile people. Young people, old people, black, whites, Hispanic, Asian, and Muslims, it simply depends on which part of the country that you live in as to whom the cops profile. It may not be right, the fact makes those being profiled uneasy at the very least, and scared at the most.

 

The issue here, the one that most people simply overlook is the fact that peace officers aren’t supposed to be running around with itchy trigger fingers, or bad ass attitudes. Cops only have the authority that we, as citizens of this country allow them to have.

 

Police organizations aren’t supposed to set rules, regulations, and criteria for how they deal with the public…..and guess what; all people aren’t guilty until they prove themselves innocent. But mostly that’s how Mr. John Q Public feels when he is confronted by the cop on the street, or the squad car stops.

 

Tell me, how many of you readers get antsy whenever a cop car is behind you, or is at an intersection, or stops at a business, or building that you are visiting, or work at. Be honest, most everybody would rather never see a cop until you need one.

 

That’s the issue, that’s the tragedy, no matter what anybody says, or feels, cops are usually their own worst enemy. When people get the crap kicked out of them, get wounded or killed, people take notice, and there’s just a little voice in the back of our minds that sets of an alarm wondering if maybe the same could happen to me.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!