News Of Note
Two things in the news caught my eye recently. First, meet DeAuntie Farrow (DeAuntie? Seriously?) This 12 year old lived in a less-than-ideal neighborhood in West Memphis. Two white undercover cops on an apparently unrelated stakeout, saw him running outside at night with a toy gun. The cops, who were not in uniform, ordered him to not move, which always works well with 12 year olds, shot and killed him when he moved. Queue Al Sharpton. It was decided this week that the cops did not violate DeAuntie's civil rights by killing him.
No, I wasn't there. I don't know any of these people. I'll even admit that when I saw the name "DeAuntie" my reaction was to bet this was a black kid (I really don't understand this naming deal). But- and it's a big "but", I've dealt with enough cops to also react on the side of the kid. Should he have been outside after dark playing with a toy gun in a bad neighborhood? Of course not. Were his parents sorely lacking in judgement and oversight? Possibly the former and certainly the latter. Should the cops have shot him? Who knows? Should the cops go to jail? I don't know.
They should be prohibited from being cops anymore.
That's the part of this story that no one is mentioning. People make mistakes and bad things happen to good people and all the nuances of life are happening somewhere. It's part of living that sometimes tragedies (or apparent tragedies) will happen, but to fail to address them is laziness or negligence. Am I calling for more laws? Nope. I'm saying that cops are afforded greater than average trust and responsibility, and as a result they should be held to a higher standard of scrutiny. These cops could be assholes, or they could be saints, but they really screwed up here (and so did DeAuntie). That they will still be cops after all of this is why things never get better in places like West Memphis.
If you get into enough car accidents- regardless of cause, you will eventually lose your license to drive. It doesn't mean that you are a good or a bad person- only that you are not suited for driving a car. Why the hell isn't this same concept used for cops? Lawyers and doctors do. An inept cop can fuck up your world just as much as a bad lawyer or doctor.
My condolences to DeAuntie's family, friends, and neighbors.
The other bit of news is not new per se, but Olbermann covered it, so it's back at the periphery of the noticeable news world. AT&T are some serious motherfuckers. Schmoopie and I don't have iPhones because there is no way in hell we'd do business with these Orwellian cocksuckers. Let them all rot in hell. Here's why
That's supposed to be an eye in the "deathstar" logo (taken from the article linked), but it's not too clear.
No, I wasn't there. I don't know any of these people. I'll even admit that when I saw the name "DeAuntie" my reaction was to bet this was a black kid (I really don't understand this naming deal). But- and it's a big "but", I've dealt with enough cops to also react on the side of the kid. Should he have been outside after dark playing with a toy gun in a bad neighborhood? Of course not. Were his parents sorely lacking in judgement and oversight? Possibly the former and certainly the latter. Should the cops have shot him? Who knows? Should the cops go to jail? I don't know.
They should be prohibited from being cops anymore.
That's the part of this story that no one is mentioning. People make mistakes and bad things happen to good people and all the nuances of life are happening somewhere. It's part of living that sometimes tragedies (or apparent tragedies) will happen, but to fail to address them is laziness or negligence. Am I calling for more laws? Nope. I'm saying that cops are afforded greater than average trust and responsibility, and as a result they should be held to a higher standard of scrutiny. These cops could be assholes, or they could be saints, but they really screwed up here (and so did DeAuntie). That they will still be cops after all of this is why things never get better in places like West Memphis.
If you get into enough car accidents- regardless of cause, you will eventually lose your license to drive. It doesn't mean that you are a good or a bad person- only that you are not suited for driving a car. Why the hell isn't this same concept used for cops? Lawyers and doctors do. An inept cop can fuck up your world just as much as a bad lawyer or doctor.
My condolences to DeAuntie's family, friends, and neighbors.
The other bit of news is not new per se, but Olbermann covered it, so it's back at the periphery of the noticeable news world. AT&T are some serious motherfuckers. Schmoopie and I don't have iPhones because there is no way in hell we'd do business with these Orwellian cocksuckers. Let them all rot in hell. Here's why
That's supposed to be an eye in the "deathstar" logo (taken from the article linked), but it's not too clear.
Labels: Bad news
posted by Stucco at 10:41 AM
8 Comments:
Scared cops in bad neigborhoods have itchy trigger fingers.
Is this a lesson for bad cops or another check mark for darwin? Who knows. But you're probably right they shouldn't be cops anymore.
But did you know many police officers are protected by the Teamsters union?
Incompetence in any profession would surely be enough cause to dismiss the employee. Shooting a child for whatever reason is gross incompetence as well as a tragedy.
Why am i not surprised by the AT&T thing.
Or actually, by the DeAuntie story either.
Both of which are sad reactions.
Just tragic all around... sigh
It's the fact that they weren't in uniform that's the kicker for me. If some random stranger yelled at me to stop in a bad neighborhood at night, I'd run too.
"It was decided this week that the cops did not violate DeAuntie's civil rights by killing him."
I would say that killing someone is the ultimate violation of their civil rights.
And i agree with Jill.
A friend of mine here is Santa Rosa got out of Stanford and became a cop in San Francisco. A black cop, young, smart, idealistic.
A black kid in a bad neighborhood pulled a squirt gun on him and he pulled ducked behind his car door and pulled out his gun.
He quit being a cop and became a fireman.
I'm screwed then, because I've got Bellsouth DSL . . . I mean AT&T DSL with Bellsouth's name still intact. No more porn searches for me.
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