As first opening post as moderator and as a way to get things stirred up in here, I've noticed on the news the last few days that there have been a few "beatings" in LA by the police, yet again.

Now, I think any crook who runs from the police is asking for a beat down, but at what point do the police have to give in and stop inflicting pain on the accused? Especially with video cameras in every citizen's hand these days, police should probably be extra careful about making it clear about the intentions of the officer.

But that leads to police who become afraid to do their job.

The two videos in question are:

1) A guy is in a police cruiser and was putting up a fight. The police loosened his cuffs because of his complaining and put him in the cruiser. I'm not sure of the reason, but one of the officers sprayed the suspect in the face with pepper spray at this point. Obviously I was not there, so it is difficult to judge, but the use of pepper spray seemed like a bit of an overdose. The suspect was in the car, and for all intents and purposes on his way downtown. Then again pepper spray is non lethal, and if the suspect was still giving them a problem, it was probably a good level of force.

2) A suspected high level gang member is pinned down after running from the police. Two officers are holding him down, one with a foot (or knee) on his neck, the other on his stomach holding his arms, trying to cuff him, I believe. The first officer was punching the suspect in the face. The guy is struggling, but the suspect claims it was because he could not breath. So the officer is trying to subdue him, but I think punching him in the face was a bit much. Seems like Cops around here (Cincinnati) are trained to hit the arms and legs to inflict pain instead of possibly seriously injuring the suspect.

The reason this interests me is because like all humans the police can make mistakes, and if I were being suffocated, I would probably be struggling too. The possibility of inflicting serious damage to an innocent person is terrible, but I also don't want to see the police looking over their shoulder for cameras every time they need to use physical force.

So question, do you think police are using appropriate levels of force? And do you think the public should not worry about what the police are doing? Or who should police the police, and how?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65zXlytv01c

I'm all for beating any bastard who runs from the police. Also, if their name is RebelKev I'm for the beatdown thing as well :)

It is about time a person from southwestern Ohio took over the moderating duties here.

mlb Wrote:I'm all for beating any bastard who runs from the police. Also, if their name is RebelKev I'm for the beatdown thing as well :)

It is about time a person from southwestern Ohio took over the moderating duties here.

BR, he made fun of me.

I think the police have to have some level of freedom to do their jobs. It becomes very tricky when there are multiple police officers and especially violent criminals, as you never know what they are going to do and you can be injured, sometimes very seriously, in a matter of seconds. My buddy who is a police office has been off most of this year with a torn ACL which happened while chasing and wrestling a perp.

I just added perp because it sounds cool.

RebelKev Wrote:

mlb Wrote:I'm all for beating any bastard who runs from the police. Also, if their name is RebelKev I'm for the beatdown thing as well :)

It is about time a person from southwestern Ohio took over the moderating duties here.

BR, he made fun of me.

Don't worry Kev, when it comes down to it, mlb will be the first against the wall.

Uh, maybe I should have sent that via PM. :shhh:

I'm all for getting rid of female cops. They're the ones using the pepper spray because they don't have what it takes (physically) to manhandle somebody. Also, I've seen cops shows where the big strong guy is about to get arrested, he just puts the beatdown on the wimpy female cop. Also, it seems like a female cop can never do the job alone. She needs to have a male cop there with her. I think it also means she's much more likely to reach for the gun than a male cop would. Female cops is crock of crap.

Having said that, I think police and police departments vary so much. I think some do the job with a great deal of integrity and others are just "good ole boys". Contrary to what their training tells them, cops do like to settle the score and get even. That means they're going to use too much force if that is the case.

Endzone2 Wrote:I'm all for getting rid of female cops. They're the ones using the pepper spray because they don't have what it takes (physically) to manhandle somebody. Also, I've seen cops shows where the big strong guy is about to get arrested, he just puts the beatdown on the wimpy female cop. Also, it seems like a female cop can never do the job alone. She needs to have a male cop there with her. I think it also means she's much more likely to reach for the gun than a male cop would. Female cops is crock of crap.

Having said that, I think police and police departments vary so much. I think some do the job with a great deal of integrity and others are just "good ole boys". Contrary to what their training tells them, cops do like to settle the score and get even. That means they're going to use too much force if that is the case.

You know, to be honest, I agree. If you're a cop, and you are supposed to be "gentle" these days with a perp, meaning no shots fired unless your life is threatened, the LAST person I want as a partner is a female.

RebelKev Wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65zXlytv01c

Quote:If you jump a turnstile carrying a loaded gun and smoking a joint, then maybe you need you 455 kicked.

lmfao

RebelKev Wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65zXlytv01c

lmfao rotflmao

I heard that in some parts of California you can get in more trouble for smoking a regular cigarette than for smoking a 'funny' one.

I'm waiting for video of cops beating up a smoker.

OptimisticOwl Wrote:I heard that in some parts of California you can get in more trouble for smoking a regular cigarette than for smoking a 'funny' one.

I'm waiting for video of cops beating up a smoker.

There's a video up there of a guy gettin' his ass kicked by tha pohleece smoking a joint. Does that count?

RebelKev Wrote:

OptimisticOwl Wrote:I heard that in some parts of California you can get in more trouble for smoking a regular cigarette than for smoking a 'funny' one.

I'm waiting for video of cops beating up a smoker.

There's a video up there of a guy gettin' his ass kicked by tha pohleece smoking a joint. Does that count?

No. Let know when you have video of police kicking the crap out of a guy who lit up a marlboro in a crowded restaurant or office building. Oh, the humanity....