re: Having "The Conversation"

or maybe, just maybe, this is an overreaction to an overreaction. The war on drugs created a war zone in our major cities. The police departments responded by going to war, treating the citizens in those areas like occupied peoples rather than their neighbors they had to protect.

Much of this mentality shift stemmed from the additional numbers of police needed to enforce these new drug laws, forcing police units to recruit people who didn't live in the cities they were policing. Instead of the beat walker being someone of the neighborhood, it was someone who lived elsewhere, who viewed the neighborhood as "hostile" and "dangerous".

The constant stream of police brutality, using police as revenue generators, no-knock raids, false accusations, corruption, poor emergency response times and murders by police created a culture of complete mistrust. These crime-riddled neighborhoods see these "occupiers" as intimidating, threatening, and completely unhelpful and only detrimental to their lives. Because the people don't trust the police, they don't testify to them or tip them off regarding criminal activity. Without this crucial information, solving crimes is much more difficult.

What we are seeing is a response to decades of poor policing. Is this response out of line? Absolutely, but it is not beyond comprehension. We have a real police problem, we have a real crime problem, we have a real entitlement problem, we have a real culture problem in America today. However, these problems are the result of poor policy, and the great thing about poor policy is that it is an opportunity. Poor policy can be changed! We have been given an opportunity to address the issues in our communities relating to drugs, crime, and the police state. By revisiting this issue and our police departments' approaches to crime, we can begin to erode and eliminate the kinds of mentalities that foster such destructive behaviors.

I had a bad experience with cops on UT's campus. And no, I was doing nothing wrong. But my story didn't meet their preconception

I imagine that happens more often than this board gives credit. Is it as bad as the Ferguson's protesters make it out to be? Probably not. But it's out there. There are several documented cases of police brutality and racial injustice...this isn't unicorn spotting.

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What we are seeing is a response to decades of poor policing

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I disagree, KB. On a given night in the Hood...who murders who? It ain't the cops; it's heathen rogues who fight over the easy money in drug dealing. Given that...you want the Cops to just bail out and let the 'war lords' run *their* community? Hell, you're talking Mexico; just a matter of time before the beheading begin.

'An idle mind is the devil's workshop'. Getting a check in the mail, or worse - expecting a check in the mail as a moral duty of a just society - is a pernicious and destructive idea. Witness the consequences...and be damn glad for the Cops who try to sort out the rogues from what's left of the good folk. This is like Iraq; damn near impossible.

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, the community PROTECTS these criminals from police because they do not trust them, with good reasons. Better the thug you know than the thug you don't know.

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Pretty much agree, but for the above, KB. Book it...good folk in the Hood are like good Muslims in Muslim countries....they 'protect' the radicals because to rat them out would mean certain death. War lords, for all practical purposes.

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Sometimes you're just screwed.

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That guy was lucky. He got almost a mil out of the deal.