The police forces in this country are more like mercenaries for the wealthy.

they have always been mercenaries for the wealthy, it's just that sometimes the wealthy are forced via regulation to be responsibly civil.

But there hasn't been much ebb or flow for non-white citizens or non-white activists/protesters. I'm sure we're on the same page here though. The whole thing stinks and needs reform, badly.

would be the amount of publicity it gets at any given time. Sometimes it is foremost in our consciousnesses, others not. The American public have become very complacent about this problem ...until it happens to them.

This is what we've been lacking in most areas, citizen involvement. It's why I deplore term limits as it abdicates the citizen's responsibility to remain informed and involved in their government. It's why I support Sen. Sanders among other reasons.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

I believe they're doing their job as advocated by their members who voted for approval of these contracts. When I hear the objections to these secretive clauses by the rank and file AND they vote down a good contract that includes the same clauses, then I'll blame the union.

An aircraft mechanic has to get a license from the FAA. They have to prove that they know what they're doing, and they have to promise not to do things that would compromise the safety of the fine public -- they have to exercise diligence in their jobs, they can't cover stuff up or pretend they followed the manuals when they really didn't. Any mechanic was found to be "pencil whipping" -- pretending to complete a task that he really didn't -- or who is grossly negligent in performing his duties loses his license.

Why is there not a similar code for police officers? Cleansing the records is the opposite of what should be done. Failing to perform your job properly doesn't have to rise to the level of a proveable crime to make a person unfit to wear a badge.