The Ferguson thread

[JollyMon]

I had to stop watching the news. I was getting too upset. Every time I hear that Lawyer for the Brown family my blood boils.....

 

[churchmouse]

In an interview this morning, the step father said; "we want to know what made officer Wilson wake up with a chip on his shoulder and kill our son". Why didn't the interviewer ask "why did your son wake up with a chip on HIS shoulder, and get the belief that it was OK to strong arm a store owner, and then ATTACK a police officer".

The media keeps those two idiots in front of a camera and the world is enabling them to act like idiots. Petulant children not held to task living outside social norms. Expect no different from them. We are the enemy.

 

[churchmouse]

I had to stop watching the news. I was getting too upset. Every time I hear that Lawyer for the Brown family my blood boils.....

I was driving my spousal unit a bit nuts so we changed the channel.

 

[JollyMon]

Geraldo wants tasers not tanks.

I remember hearing that last night before I turned in. Dont most departments issue tasers already?

I mean the only thing that I somewhat agree with is body cams (Though I wouldnt want to be recorded every minute I am at work, how would I INGO). I do think they would show a lot more to a story then what a few eye witnesses saw though hear say from a cousin that saw it from 2 miles away. Does our local police on INGO have a position on body cameras (I'm sure it has been discussed before).

 

[Doug]

I remember hearing that last night before I turned in. Dont most departments issue tasers already?

I mean the only thing that I somewhat agree with is body cams (Though I wouldnt want to be recorded every minute I am at work, how would I INGO). I do think they would show a lot more to a story then what a few eye witnesses saw though hear say from a cousin that saw it from 2 miles away. Does our local police on INGO have a position on body cameras (I'm sure it has been discussed before).

A body camera may keep you out of jail, but you can still be driven into bankruptcy by a prosecution for civil rights violation by the "Justice" Department.
They don't have to win to destroy your life and you can't sue for malicious prosecution.

 

[GlockRock]

I remember hearing that last night before I turned in. Dont most departments issue tasers already?

I mean the only thing that I somewhat agree with is body cams (Though I wouldnt want to be recorded every minute I am at work, how would I INGO). I do think they would show a lot more to a story then what a few eye witnesses saw though hear say from a cousin that saw it from 2 miles away. Does our local police on INGO have a position on body cameras (I'm sure it has been discussed before).

I've been pushing for body cams for my dept for awhile. Currently we have in-car cameras with external body mics that record our conversations with the public. I don't mind having everything I do recorded. I have nothing to hide from anyone.

 

[ccomstock001]

Smith: Unrest in Ferguson is unacceptable, but sadly understandable

Apparently tearing up your town is perfectly ok if you have a reason

 

[VUPDblue]

I am OK with the body cameras, depending on the policy that is driving them. If they are going to be actively recording my entire 8.5 hour shift then I say no way, absolutely not. If they are going to be recording only citizen interactions, I am OK with that. I don't need or want the department storing footage of me taking a dump, getting some Starbucks, pumping gas etc.....

 

[hoosierdoc]

Would it be up to the officer to turn the camera on then? I see your point and wouldn't want the footage recorded the entire time either. You can imagine the accusations when in the moment the officer forgets to turn it on when something suddenly happens though.

 

[GlockRock]

Would it be up to the officer to turn the camera on then? I see your point and wouldn't want the footage recorded the entire time either. You can imagine the accusations when in the moment the officer forgets to turn it on when something suddenly happens though.

Mine is activated when my emergency lights are activated, or when I manually turn it on.

 

[VUPDblue]

Would it be up to the officer to turn the camera on then? I see your point and wouldn't want the footage recorded the entire time either. You can imagine the accusations when in the moment the officer forgets to turn it on when something suddenly happens though.

That's pretty much sums up the entire debate over these things. One large Indiana department I am familiar with recently got body cams and it IS up to the officer to turn them on to record citizen interactions, which they are required to do. I can see, especially at first, when forgetting to turn them on would be an issue. Not just a legitimate "forgot to turn it on" issue, but a real nefarious non-use issue. Another decently sized department I am familiar with has dash cams with external body mics that the officer wears. Any time the blinky lights on the car are activated, so is the camera and mic. The Officers also have a button that they can use to activate the recording if the blinky lights are not being used. I am of the opinion that the dash cams set up in this manner are preferable to the body cams. Another good reason why I feel that dash cams are preferable to body cams is that when the body cams are worn on the "center mass" of the body, they often get obscured by body parts of the officer or during a struggle, or even knocked off-center entirely and are then only good for the value of the audio they captured. This brings us back to the dash-cam setup I mentioned.

This is all my opinion so take it for what it's worth. I don't mind being recorded while engaged in my duties, but I am vehemently opposed to being recorded the entire time I'm on shift.

 

[hoosierdoc]

An on-body camera activates when your lights turn on? Or are you referring to the dash cam? Our Mooresville officers I believe have cams on their pocket. They are touch activated. I often wonder if I'm being recorded while talking to him

 

[VUPDblue]

I believe we were both talking about the dash cam.

 

[OakRiver]

I had to stop watching the news. I was getting too upset. Every time I hear that Lawyer for the Brown family my blood boils.....

I found a great cure for that; ignore any and all news reports about Ferguson

 

[GlockRock]

I was speaking of my dash cam.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I am to the point I would prefer to have a government issued tracking device on my person that records audio and video while I work. I have to time when I saw a patient, when I talked to consultants, when I decided to admit someone, when I ACTUALLY admitted them, when I interpreted the EKG (not just entered it into the computer, but actually interpreted it, so I am recording an EKG time twice), when I decided to give clot busters for stroke, how much time I spent in a sedation, how much time I spent providing critical care to a patient, how long I counseled someone to stop smoking, etc....

I am so tired of the .gov demanding I document so much garbage. I was at dinner last night with a colleague who said he wants to just wear a gopro and upload the video to Obama at the end of shift and they can extract whatever info they want. We're tired of it.

 

[Bill of Rights]

Smith: Unrest in Ferguson is unacceptable, but sadly understandable

Apparently tearing up your town is perfectly ok if you have a reason

No. It's not OK. Being angry is OK. Physically acting out is not. From the article: "The anger in Ferguson is undeniable. The looting and the fires completely unacceptable. But what bothers me most is that to many people, none of this is understandable."

I understand THAT they are angry. I understand WHY they are angry. I don't agree with their reaction to anger; they're acting like children having a temper tantrum, which is exactly what the prosecutor, Obama, and idiots like Sharpton and Jackson (not specifically in this case, but those of their ilk) want to happen. When you create unrest, when you incite riots from behind a camera and/or teleprompter and a position of power and/or influence, you often do so with a goal of declaring martial law, or as close to it as you have the ability to declare, such as having police in riot gear, smacking more heads and causing more unrest.

Granted, we're only getting one side of the story, but Wilson's interview with Stephanopolous was pretty clear. He did what he was supposed to do.

Sadly, the masses in the "burn this m*****f***** down" crowd were whipped up and would not consider anything short of Wilson being violently killed as "justice". Had he been indicted and not convicted, we would have seen the same. Had he been convicted and not executed, we'd have seen the same. Had he been executed, we would have seen the same, but in "celebration".

It's sad. The only way out of this would have been for the "story" to have been, "Man attacks officer, is killed." No race-baiting, no community uprising, no Sharpton/Jackson antics... as Joe Friday is often misquoted, "Just the facts."

Blessings,
Bill

 

[Lammchop93]

I watched the interview with Officer Wilson, and one thing really strikes out to me. Wilson states that when Brown grabbed his handgun, and Wilson tried to pull the trigger, it would not fire because Brown had his hand on top of the gun. That obviously makes zero sense. The only thing I can think of is that the gun may have been a double action, and brown had his hand on the hammer, and this prevented it from cocking back and firing.

Here is a link to the interview. What do you all think?
https://gma.yahoo.com/ferguson-officer-darren-wilson-having-baby-125121474--abc-news-topstories.html

 

[Bigtanker]

I watched the interview with Officer Wilson, and one thing really strikes out to me. Wilson states that when Brown grabbed his handgun, and Wilson tried to pull the trigger, it would not fire because Brown had his hand on top of the gun. That obviously makes zero sense. The only thing I can think of is that the gun may have been a double action, and brown had his hand on the hammer, and this prevented it from cocking back and firing.

Here is a link to the interview. What do you all think?
https://gma.yahoo.com/ferguson-officer-darren-wilson-having-baby-125121474--abc-news-topstories.html

They gun was a SA/DA Sig. So it is possible for a hand to be in the right spot to keep the hammer from moving. Just like a striker fired gun having the slide moved and being put out of battery.

 

[VUPDblue]

Wilson's gun was a Sig. Wouldn't a hand blocking the hammer cause it to fail to fire?