OT Black Man In Minnesota Dies After Cop Kneels On His Neck/ Portland Riots

False equivalence. There are so many things a cop can't see during a traffic stop.

 

Sure, and how many traffic stops erupt in violence? We don't need to wait for the future--what percentage of these stops are leading to armed violence (where the person stopped had a weapon)?

 

In 2018, Oregon had 13,707 DUI cases. I don't see any way that you can safely turn the enforcement of drunk driving offenses over to glorified meter readers.

 

I would guess very few. But you can be damn sure you're glad you have a gun when they do.

 

1009% disagree with this. Just google cop killed during traffic stop. (for videos)

 

I do think that speeding violations could be enforced with existing technology of radar and cameras to reduce the number of officer-involved traffic stops.

 

Why not? Do they result in violence particularly often?

 

There's certainly more potential for that with someone who's judgement is impaired. But that's not the main issue. In most if not all states, Oregon included, DUII can lead to felony charges that can result in prison time and loss of driving privileges. IMO, you need a law officer to gather evidence (field sobriety test, breathalyzer, etc) and, potentially, arrest the suspect.

 

What you're saying is that you need people with training. I think you've misunderstood my position, then. I wasn't saying we should send meter-readers out in police cars to do traffic stops. I brought up meter-readers as an argument that just because you could encounter violence doesn't mean it makes sense to be armed. I absolutely think traffic stops should be handled by trained police. I just don't think they necessarily need to be armed.

 

We'll have to disagree on that one. As a citizen, I'm not going to ask a law enforcement officer to potentially put their life on the line without the ability to carry a firearm. I get that the Black community has a different perspective on this and I understand why, but I think disarming the police is not the answer. The answer has to be in increased training, psychological assessments, and stronger citizen oversight.

 

Other countries seem to do fine "disarming" the police, though. From what I've heard, for example, police officers in the United Kingdom don't carry firearms. And I've never heard that being police is hellish in the UK.

That said, I'm not arguing that the police should be entirely "disarmed." Some police should have guns--those responding to robberies, assaults, etc, for example.But I think not having armed officers handle the more routine stuff is a smart experiment in deescalation.

 

I think you'll have to search pretty long and hard to find another "civilized" country with over 300 million firearms in the hands of the general citizenry. I think that there are ways to look at some innovation, maybe by pairing a social or mental health professional with a police officer to handle many of the situations that cops currently take on on their own. I think sending out teams of social/mental health professionals on their own is going to far too often end up very badly.

 

The pits that Joe didn't win over the police organization endorsement. I hope that doesn't mean it coming down to who supports police and who don't.

 

What an entrepreneur!

 

This tells me something about you, in this case you jumped to a conclusion without knowing all the facts. This is a common but very plebeian error.
The truth is that those barricades were set up to prevent automobiles driven by insane people from driving into the crowd thereby killing a maiming a lot of people. The Feds also leaped without looking.
It helps to reserve judgement until one has a picture of what's going on that is more clear.

 

That was nice of the city to set up barricades, to not be moved, for public safety during mass gatherings.

I support these autonomous zones. Bring back the CHOP.

Summer of love!

 

Now, I know you're not that ignorant of what's going on. However, when your life is on the line you do what you have to do. There have been other instances where the police were able to do nothing to prevent automobiles from careening through crowds killing people before it happened. Maybe you'll stand by while you take a chance on someone, even yourself, from being mowed down and killed in a very potential atrocity but not me.

 

Bullshit. He'd be shot.