...prosecutors are NOT prosecuting cops who kill. Prosecutors rely on police testimony to get their convictions, causing a severe conflict of interest when it come to prosecuting bad cops. If a special prosecutor was mandated in ALL police killings, maybe we could get some justice in this country. Until we change the laws to require this, the problem will never be solved.

If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast our nets.

This nation is absolutely awash in firearms, and concealed-carry is now legal in all 50 states. This is the 800-pound elephant in the room that no one seems to want to discuss, as it relates to law enforcement's mind set regarding what constitutes a threat.

was trying to fight them, or "it looked like they had a gun".

Then there is the problem of people who enjoy power and authority becoming cops.

Would be nice if it was that simple though.

For years people complained about black guys wearing their pants low (which was so dumb! Who the f cares). Now if they try to pull them up people think they are going for a gun! They can't win!

Lying is what makes them these creatures above the law. They are literally taught to lie to proceed in an investigation.

There are probably a lot of "simple" solutions here...

Cops might actually learn to be honest with people and stop trying to get in their heads in order to get them to say or do something incriminating. It's not that I think cops are purposefully killing people, I think that their psychology is, "I am here to assume this person is a criminal, I am here to force it out of this person, by whatever means necessary." Usually, most of the time, it involves getting people to talk. Usually. But then you get situations where there is too much doubt in what is going on and they get paranoid and take that force to a whole other level.

Wrote about this to an extent when Ferguson happened: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025403633

Recursion

I think a greater empathies of education in how to be a police officer is the first step - today most police officers in the US have 90 days - to 1/2 year to go true all the education to be a proper police officers - in most other countries it is a long course to be a police officers - between 2 and 3 years - often at a university level education - where many will be asked to leave - recourse of inability to be a good police officer, or because they are not able to follow the education properly... And even then, after 3 years of education - you will be educated more as time goes - in new ways of handle things - in a less violent manner if posible... A video I put on the media board a few Mount's ago - show how a Norwegian patrol in Tromsø (a northern City) acted when they had to arrest a drunken man in the town centre - and from some of the messages that video got here on DU - most of them was surprised he was not beated to the ground - or outright killed by th officers... Specially as he was using a rather foul language to the police officers...

Diclotcan

...first we have to find a way to prove that a cop is using the "I felt threatened" defense as an excuse to kill black people.

The "he looked big and scary" defense is wearing thin, especially from people who carry guns and get to shoot citizens as a part of their job description.

stuff. Unfortunately, that type of job is very attractive to sociopaths because they can get away with more than the average person, and can carry a gun. I think they try to weed them out with psychological testing, but it doesn't always work.

Cops being cops like to hurt and kill people--that's why they became cops. As they become more and more emboldened to the idea that street level executions are a perfectly acceptable law enforcement tactic, a white guy will be gunned down.

Some cop at some point will kill an innocent, unarmed white kid in a nice neighborhood, and all hell will break loose. At some point even the right-wing militia types will see the police as the enemy.

This I fear is just the beginning of what will not be so much a race war, but the defense of our few remaining rights against the rapidly encroaching police state.

powerful story, and he drew the same conclusion i posted below. (evidently while you were posting this one.)

i'm just stunned that scott walker signed that bill.
???

I never actually believed that the Bible was anything but stories to teach us lessons. If however, God actually ever struck anyone down with dramatic action, it seems like the time may have come again. Should he start with cops or prosecutors??

I do not want cops treating any white people as they do black people, I just want it to stop altogether.

though these incidents clearly expose the role of racism, we do need to recognize that race is merely the backdrop here to the real issue, which is that we are living in a police state.

if you think racism is the real issue, you need to remind yourself of occupy, and the fact that these strong arm tactics were used there, as well, and with general impunity. race did not matter there. nor did it matter at the tea party rallies where guns were openly carried, brandished even, along with calls for revolution and assassination of the prez; none of those folks were ever treated the way the occupy folks were, and certainly not the way blacks are.

race is the backdrop because promoting racism, inciting racism, is how those in power stay in power (see third reich, esp. julius streicher). this is all about property owners, mostly the 1%.

racism redirects the blame for everyone's ills from the 1% to [insert convenient target group here]. blacks are easy in the US because of the history, not just from slavery, but from the southern backlash from the civil war. why do you think reagan chose philadelphia, MS, to launch his '80 prez campaign? that's what turned the south from blue to red, capitalization - both figuratively and literally - on racism.

this entire uber-class, overlord effort to won the world and everything in it, they're content for the police to use blacks for target practice in order to (1) ultimately protect their property and place in power, and (2) make sure the rest of us knows what will happen if we get out of line.

don't get me wrong; racism in this country is just off the scale wretched and vicious, and yet actively ignored. but we really need to keep our eyes on the prize here. MLK knew this. we cannot get rid of racism until we get rid of poverty. and we cannot get rid of poverty without getting rid of the whole concept of the 1% ownership class.

but the suggestions - tho heartfelt and reasonable - are just not realistic.

many have noted that there would be - and already are - difficulties with defining 'actual threat.

make folks stop lying? good luck with that one.

and tho i share sentiments with TNNurse - as always (hi there) - the wrath of god seems to work on a glacial karmic clock that will do nothing apparently to make it stop.

so here is my observation: the problem seems to emerge where the prosecutor conducts the grand jury. they have a vested interest, however, in the outcome; nature of this beast. they work with and rely on officers' cooperation in bringing cases to trial that they want to come to trial. even a ham sandwich. they therefore appear to act - only in these cases where police officers might be charged - not as prosecutors but as their defendants in quasi-trials that by design do NOT include cross-examinations of their carefully selected witnesses and experts.

so here is my solution: EVERY DEATH OCCURRING DURING A POLICE ENCOUNTER MUST, BY LAW, REQUIRE AN INDEPENDENT PROSECUTOR AND A SPECIAL GRAND JURY.

it seems to me this would go a long way toward giving each and every police officer pause before they go all godzilla on the public. and it would still give them legal protection.

this would also require some serious closet cleaning of the criteria for when lethal force is really necessary. (not, for instance, toy guns or cigarettes or psychosis or hoodies, and certainly not hands up! also too, disrespect and bad attitudes are NOT grounds for summary execution!)

and, while we're on it, we need far better standards for hiring these folks. sheez louise, tamer rice's killer? holy crap!! the kid's family should get gazillions for cleveland's failure on that one.

Richmond CA's police chief implemented different training and an expectation that all officer-involved shootings would be second guessed. The officer involved shootings have been reduced dramatically even though the city itself still has high crime areas, gangs, etc.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_26482775/use-deadly-force-by-police-disappears-richmond-streets

would not put the finger in the trigger to start with.

police have been trained to see citizens as threats first and foremost -- much like a soldier in combat. And what happens in combat? Collateral Damage!
And you know what? They don't care.