Cops are brave, some might say, but I posit to you that true bravery is borne by the man who refuses to serve them. Because truly, there are much better ways to stick it to someone you don’t like than to risk your employment (and other things, probably, this is Texas we’re talking about) just to withhold from them a delicious hamburger.
It’s hard to imagine a better cautionary tale about police use of force than that of James Peters, a former Scottsdale police officer who shot and killed six people between 2002 and 2012. But instead of being taught to fresh-faced academy students as an example of what not to do, Peters himself is teaching police departments how and when to use their guns.
The Wall Street Journal today states that roughly 30 percent of Americans have a criminal record of some sort. We’ve been over this before, but let’s take this opportunity to discuss exactly why the figure is so horrible. No matter how many times you’ve heard it, 30 percent of 318 million people may feel like an abstract concept, difficult to wrap your head around. The havoc wreaked upon those tens of millions of lives, however, couldn’t be more concrete.
This past June, three Santa Ana police officers were suspended after a video surfaced of them joking about kicking a woman in a wheelchair “in the fucking nub” and eating (what appears to be) weed-infused edibles during a raid of a medical marijuana dispensary. And now, those same cops want to ban that video from ever becoming evidence—because they didn’t realize they were on camera.
Writing for the New Yorker, Jake Halpern has turned in the first extensive interview with Darren Wilson, the former Ferguson, Mo., cop who shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown. In conversations at his home, hidden somewhere “on the outskirts of St. Louis,” Wilson reveals he’s not exactly haunted by second thoughts about what happened: He “did his job” that day, and just wants to move on with his life.
Days after McKinney, Texas, police officer Eric Casebolt was filmed pointing his service weapon at a group of unarmed black teenagers at a pool party this month, Gawker submitted a Public Information Act request to the city of McKinney asking to see Casebolt’s records and any emails about his conduct sent or received by McKinney Police Department employees. Today, we received a letter from the city’s attorneys claiming that fulfilling our request would cost $79,229.09.
Fun.
For the crew of Air-1, the Winnipeg Police department’s helicopter, Monday night was spent like any other: flying around scenic Winnipeg, having a fun “convo about blowjobs,” maybe throwing in “some swears and some references to money,” and discussing what exactly is “too much body hair.” The only thing out of place was the audience; someone had accidentally turned on the helicopter’s public address system and the crew of Air-1 was live to the entire West End. And, according to Winnipeg residents on Twitter, some of the North End, too:
