Guybrush

In April 2008, a woman named Mary Brooke Oberwetter attended Thomas Jefferson's 265th birthday, but got arrested because she was dancing to the music on her headphones. Demonstrating against this, some people went there on May 29th to dance and were subsequently arrested and also recieved some pretty rough treatment by the police.



This has roused accusations of police brutality and oppression, but anyone who doesn't live in a cave isolated from the world's media will know that it's not exactly the first time something like that has happened.

Just a couple of examples here. In the first one here, the arrest happens about halfway in.



And in the following video, a chief of police seems to have managed to permanently brain damage a girl with his taser.



I dare say none of this would have happened here as the role of the police and the mentality is very much that they are a service to the people. With that comes a different mentality (I believe) and they don't carry guns or tasers. I realize that things are different in the US and having that kind of force available may be necessary, but from the videos I see and how they for example tase people who don't comply (who wouldn't run from a taser?), it makes me think american police are a bit too willing to use excessive force.

What do you think?

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crash_override

Just as with anything else, you give a few people ultimate power over the masses, and half of them will abuse it. It does happen quite frequently, I have witnessed excessive force by police at least once in my time.

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Sparky

We hire retards to be cops here i strongly believe



I'm not even trying to use an immature term, i think they are actually retarded

Dirty

I'd say for the most part all cops get a bad rap in the US, even though they really are here to serve the people. I feel like foreigners have a warped view of the US in general and believe things are more prevalent than what they really are...Things like school shootings, police brutality, etc. I'll be clear and say I don't defend things like police brutality, but I do view America as everyone else's whipping boy most the time (for instance the Osama thread which is a joke)


That being said, it does happen. With power comes abuse in pretty much anything I can think of. I'm not excusing it whatsoever, I'll be clear on that. There's one video that I am too lazy to find that makes me sick and pissed off where a woman was detained for DUI (I think) and she is acting a little out of hand. The camera is covered up and when it's back on, she is just covered in a pool of blood. It's quite obvious the officer beat her in the face while she was cuffed and she has to be taken to the hospital. It's disgusting.

I feel like sometimes cops only escalate a situation when they use their force. It is definitely needed for cops to have weapons here, and I consider tasers beneficial when used properly, but most of the times the use of one only sends the crowd into a frenzy and causes more outrage. I don't hate all cops, nor do I love all of them. A lot of them just acquire a sense of higher standing over their years on the job and become dickheads. I'm not from the city. The cops here don't do much but drive around aimlessly for hours. One time me and some buddies were at the park after hours smoking cigars and 3 state troopers stopped us and a police motorcycle which was pretty hilarious. But anyways, back to brutality... I feel like brutality needs to be punished, but it seems like the fraternity of law enforcement always tries to cover up things for their other officers. Some sort of higher level should step in to oppose strict punishments whenever it happens.

Howard the Duck

better slight police brutality than the rampant crime and corruption that we have here - though the police here's been known to use force in extracting confessions

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captaincaptain

I don't think police are much worse here than other countries. Although it is a huge problem in this country. I will say most police officers have to deal with pretty ****ty circumstances on a daily basis and most can handle it in an appropriate, legal manner. The problem is when you have over inflated egos of government officials that order cops to use necessary force to "keep the peace". Whether it's people dancing in the streets listening to music on their head phones or WTO protests in Seattle.

I can not stand the use of tasers. They are overused, dangerous, and unnecessary. Any cop that doesn't feel like talking down an individual is given a license to essentially torture people. This kind of police brutality in the USA has gotten the attention of human rights groups like Amnesty International. There have been almost as many death from tasers in the past ten years as there have been from executions.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/as...10482011en.pdf

Searchable Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center

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captaincaptain

That video really pissed me off.

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Sparky

I actually thought the cop was fairly civil in that video. He at least talked to them first and gave them some warnings, he also had a bad ass take down move.

Dirty

I also feel like people instigate the situations in a lot of cases. If a cop is going to arrest you unjustly, wear the cuffs and don't resist and take it up with a legal approach if you want to. In the video, those people weren't going to be prosecuted or fined or anything. I'd be pissed too for spending a night in jail but if an officer tells you that you will be arrested for doing something, then you do it anyways right in front of them, resisting arrest isn't going to exactly help your cause. I'm not saying ignore your rights, I'm saying choose to defend them in a better way which doesn't include resisting arrest and making things harder on yourself. They are gonna cuff you either way.

Mrd00d

I think you're missing the point. Dancing is not illegal. What a sickening video. This isn't Dubai. That's retarded. I mean... "What constitutes dancing?" One dude got arrested for shuffling in place, moving his arms like a windmill. Some of those cops were making some pretty interesting maneuvers. Taking down a college student? I might call that dancing. It's very unreasonable of them not to explain what law they are being arrested under. Dancing in public law? Why did that officer TOUCH that couple that was slow dancing? How can you pull two people apart. Under what jurisdiction?

Explain. Please. I'm flabbergasted.

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