Are police too quick to use force?

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http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/07/us/california-police-videotape-beating/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The video is on the CNN link. He takes a number of hard shots while she is on her back.

Yes, absolutely!

If the cause isn't the steroid (ab)use among officers, it is the multi-jurisdictional "fusion" law-enforcement centers (http://www.dhs.gov/state-and-major-urba ... on-centers) which combine local police, county sheriff, state police, National Guard, federal FEMA, DHS, DOD, FBI and NSA (in obvious violation of several federal laws like the Posse Comitatus Act) which instruct officers that U.S. citizens are suspected of being "domestic terrorists," and, if a citizen violates any law, the citizen IS a terrorist. FEMA has specifically instructed officers that the Founders (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Paine) WERE terrorists (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oP1Ke70Mi8).

In that kind of professional climate which includes U.S. courts ruling that local law-enforcement agencies may prohibit the employment of officer applicants who enjoy an IQ higher than 104 (http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barr ... y?id=95836), it is hardly surprising that your average officer is taught to be terrified of ordinary citizens and might attack instead of doing the officer's job.

The good news is that there are many, many more officers (and military) who refuse to violate their oaths of office to protect and defend the Constitution for the United States of America (http://www.oathkeepers.org/oath). If you know an officer, ask him or her to join Oath Keepers.

As for the title: Yes, but the reasons vary.

"Shock and awe" is a military technique that has moved into police departments. Essentially it involves a squad quickly breaching and neutralizing all threats within a few seconds. This protects the marines/officers by minimizing potential threat's ability to react. However, this technique is also extremely violent and requires using maximum force to subdue even minor resistance. The essence of shock and awe is now standard procedure in police departments and is used every where from suspicious traffic stops.

While the vidio may seem shocking, there is actually a rational explanation for why the officer was completely justified.

Think about this: an elderly woman, with no shoes trying to cross 12 traffic lanes with traffic moving at 60-80mph. Clearly she is not fully cognizant or rational and is either unaware of the danger or subjecting herself to imminent risk of death unnecessarily. The officer needs to stop her.

However, because he needs to follow her to do this, he is exposing himself to the sames risks to do so, so when she refuses to listen to his order to stop not only is she resisting arrest, she is putting him in mortal danger as he tries to prevent her from crossing. If you pushed someone in front of moving traffic on the highway that would be murder, and that is essentially what she is doing to this officer who is required to pursue her.

So when the officer tried to detain her, she resists, pushing and hitting him with death speeding by 2 feet away.

This is where the shock and awe technique comes in: to gain compliance overwhelming force is used, subduing her long enough to gain control of the system with minimal risk to the officer. It's horrifying and disgusting, but just might be the best option.

and if you've seen my other posts you know how paranoid I am about police and police brutality, but the circumstances make this somewhat reasonable, especially since she suffered no permanent harm.

This incident is only one turd in a sea of sh!t....

This is where your argument fails. I will demonstrate.



Death is at all times speeding by two feet away in this incident. I suggest that the officer made the situation more dangerous to everyone, including people driving their vehicles. One woman walking down the road is easier for a driver to deal with than the distraction of a man beating the crap out of someone. Some of the drivers in the video did stop because of this (which is far more dangerous for other drivers,) if she had been left to walk it is likely the accident she might cause would be less severe.

But the main point and what I referenced at the beginning: "this is where the shock and awe technique comes in." But why? It would be far safer for the officer to escort the woman to wherever she is going (ie. keep her from going into traffic while she goes wherever it is she is going.) In the meantime someone could get a mental health professional there to see what is going on with her. Why must the officer forcibly subdue her? I think I know the answer and I dont like it - that it would be too costly and time consuming to do what I suggest. Much faster just to beat her into compliance. There are other possible answers too, and I like them even less.

Some police, at some time overreact, and while this is inexcusable, I don't think police are properly trained to deal with human behavior issues, Nor are they physically conditioned for the most part, and have no tolerance for noncompliance to instructions or commands. Not to mention people who deliberately provoke and incite police officers. It takes a hell-of- degree of self restraint and discipline when your adrenaline is pumped and people are so unpredictable to handle situations properly when you give commands and people disregard what you say, especially when in a position of authority.

She did need to be apprehended and restrained but he over-did it. Once he was on top of her it shouldn't have been that hard to cuff her. Apparently she made him chase her around and that pissed him off (it would me, too) but as a CHP officer he should be able to rein his anger in a little better.

I am just not getting the obsession with putting people in restraints. She was walking down the road. I still think my solution is better.

This:http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/04/chp-investigating-beating-of-woman-on-shoulder-of-10-freeway/

That's a major accident waiting to happen at any second. I can tell you from personal experience that LA freeway traffic is a bear. To have a pedestrian create the perfect climate for a major freeway tie-up is grounds for a cop to forcefully snatch someone off the right of way. I have no issues with him tackling her and cuffing her but from watching the video it appears he went to far (i.e. excessive force).

Okay, I get it that you can't have people walking down the freeway. But I still think buying time to allow for a mental health worker, even a social worker, would be better. He could have walked along with her. But no, so much better to beat her into submission.

Yeah, but while the cop gets dispatch to find a mental health worker and route them out there and hope they can do something, all that time elapses with someone wandering into traffic. All the sudden you have a major accident to deal with when people start slamming the brakes on and swerving. This isn't just about walking along the freeway, she was getting IN the right of way amongst moving cars. I really don't think it can be explained any better at this point.
[img][800:500]http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime/files/2014/02/DB-crash.jpg[/img]

Well I couldn't click on the link attached to the image to get to the story (damn tablet,) but at any rate I dont think it would actually take that long to get a mental health worker to the scene.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28199303

dude.... she could have accidentally killed people RIGHT THEN whereas response times for police are usually between 10 and 20 minutes. Why would you wait when there is already an officer on scene?

Also, right then, the cop's actions could have distracted a driver and caused an accident. I really don't think she needed to be subdued. This comes down to laziness and a lack of creative thinking on the part of the officer.

Well, the video shows it all.

Only a really incompetent or psychopathic cop would react such a way. "I must punch you down! You are going to cause an accident." What a bunch of BS.

It is obvious that the officer had the upper hand, he knew it, and he didn't care. He threw punch after punch for no good reason.

Cops. They are not your friends.

Shouldn't cops have at least some degree of training in dealing with situations like this? Talk to her, find out what's going on and maybe drive her to a mental health care professional? I don't think it was necessary to use force in this situation.