http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/15/485835272/the-driving-life-and-death-of-philando-castile

http://www.startribune.com/officer-in-castile-case-attended-bulletproof-warrior-training/386717431/

Yet Desertphile’s personal experiences (which greatly exceed my own, limited to merely having a pair of loaded 9mm’s pointed at me in a case of mistaken identity — no offense taken), make me wonder what percentage of police are/are not psychologically sociopathic.

I’ve heard the old police joke, “There are two kinds of people of the world, according to cops: Cops and assholes.” That expresses a mindset, too. An abnormal one. A possibly dangerous one.

I don’t know how the demographics break down, but the things that are showing up in the news these days aren’t helping anyone’s image. And that’s only contributing to making a bad situation worse. The media seem to gladly jump in to fan the flames when they can… Talk about sociopaths!

There are so many — hundreds, thousands — of instances every year where police officers *do* act heroically, altruistically, and with little regard for their own safety that this type of blanket stereotype is not only worthless, but worsens an already deplorable situation.

I’d suggest you read a little; perhaps starting with I’m a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing

There are many good police officers. There are many bad police officers. Pretty much like any other large demographic group in this country.

Well, whenever I approach a car being driven by a man whose skin is darker than mine, when his girlfriend/wife is sitting next to him –and most especially when they have a small child sitting behind them in the back seat– the first thing that goes through my mind is I’m sure that he’s going to want to pull out a gun and shoot me in order to show his family how manly he is.”

It appears that in this case, the police officer saw an automobile tail light that was not functioning properly, so his first thought was “Oh boy! More money to pay my wages!” Police officers see motorized citizens as Automated Teller Machines first; when they see the citizen is black, then they see the citizen as a violent Automated Teller Machine.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? We should train all our police to think that way, shouldn’t we? Don’t we? What the hell could go wrong with teaching our cops to think that way?? (Or maybe Desertphile is onto something… They show up at the academy already thinking that way…)

In my early life (pre-teens to mid- 20s) I worked in the marine transport industry, which usually consisted of hauling fruit from Central America to Long Beach, or Port Angeles, or Honolulu depending on taxation and embargoes. Out of hundreds of law enforcement officers I met, I never met one who was not a violent petty unethical bribe-demanding thug.

Returning to land, I worked in Search and Recovery in desert regions, notably San Bernardino County (California) and Clark County (Nevada). Of the scores of law enforcement officers I worked with, I never met one who was not a violent petty unethical bribe-demanding thug.

Working with Military Police on and around Indian Springs Auxiliary Air Force Base to hunt down and prosecute Big Sheep poachers, I never met one who was not a violent petty unethical bribe-demanding thug.

Currently I volunteer on various Southwest American Indian reservations in their attempts to curb the abuse of alcohol and other drugs (and fight diabetes); of the scores of tribal and federal law enforcement officers I have met, I never met one who was not a violent petty unethical bribe-demanding thug.

My observation is that people who want to be police officers are overwhelmingly brutal, violent tyrants by nature, not nurture— they start out that way as children.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? We should train all our police to think that way, shouldn’t we? Don’t we? What the hell could go wrong with teaching our cops to think that way?? (Or maybe Desertphile is onto something… They show up at the academy already thinking that way…)

Apparently this kind of overwhelming, hair trigger response to perceived dangerous situations is baked into police training these days. Needless to say, it’s predicated on a questionable model that’s become group-think. It’s influenced, perhaps, by all the militarized booyaa-heads that the Bush years unleashed on the world.

>b>“Could there be some traumatic episode in his past that caused this? If so, it should bear on his fitness to wear the badge.”

I have yet to meet a police officer who should be a police officer. I suspect that the desire to be a police officer is reason enough to not hire someone for the job.