Ferguson / Staten Island Decisions -- No Indictments

With Brown/Wilson you have to use your imagination to envision what happened.

The insanity of Staten Island is that you watch a half-dozen cops choke the life out of a man who keeps gasping that he can't breathe. Jesus Christ, once he was on the ground they could've just tased the fucker or just hog-tied the shit out of him. That's what makes no sense in this case. He was on the ground and could've been arrested pretty fucking easily. It makes no sense when you watch it. I say it all the time, but it's 2014 -- how in the fuck does such idiocy continue to pervade our society?

 

You seem to be saying, "Teachers should be held to as high standards as cops are."

I guess I won't argue that point.

Cameras are probably the best way to hold cops to those higher standards (with the added bonus of spotlighting all of the "heroic" cops).

Cameras are probably not the best way to hold teachers to those same standards.

 

Why do you engage YF? He clearly hates the way this conversation is going and has no answers, so he wants it to become something that it isn't about.

 

Having been raised on Staten Island, this has crossed my mind. I would bet there is nowhere on earth with a higher concentration of cops and fireman (sanitation workers, too) than SI. The career goals of many of my friends was to get out of high school and take the Civil Service exam. I think it would be difficult to get a jury to indict a cop there under any circumstances, even if the prosecutor was actually doing his job. It's a shame but that's kind of what Staten Island is like (generally at least).

 

Teacher performance is subjective. The law is objective. A camera that records a policeman's actions can determine whether those actions were legal or illegal much easier than a camera that records a teacher's actions can determine whether those actions were "good" or "bad." You'd have to provide funds for a judicial committee to handle the avalanche of complaints from parents who are convinced they see favoritism on film, who are convinced they see unnecessary detentions handed out on film, who are convinced that they see a teaching style that is not conducive to the way in which THEIR child learns best on film ("JOHNNY FAILED THE TEST BECAUSE THE TEACHER DID NOT EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT THOROUGHLY, JUST LOOK AT MINUTE MARK 25:43!"), not to mention all of the complaints from both sides of the political aisle about adherence to curriculum ("THE TEACHER WISHED THEIR CLASS MERRY CHRISTMAS BUT NOT HAPPY HANNUKAH!" "THE TEACHER GLOSSED OVER THE TRAIL OF TEARS WHEN LAUDING MANIFEST DESTINY!"). I once had a social studies teacher warn our class about how America would come to regret the day it re-elected Bill Clinton president. What if that was on film? He was a fine teacher as far as I can remember, he just felt a certain way about the election. What if a liberal activist parent saw it? There is no way schools could ever equip themselves to handle the absolute shit storms that would evolve.

Plus, I'm not sure you understand the cost of recording and storing seven-plus hours of video with audio per classroom per school per day of the year. You'd need NSA-level servers.

 

WHY should officers have the camera on them. Cant they turn it off or cover it up or break it? Just put camera on all corners and have the enitre country under survaillence to be reviewed by ...?

 

Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait ...

 

You must have never been to Maryland or D.C. and seen their speed cameras?

 

Whitey gets choked too.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/28/knoxville-cop-fired-immediately-after-photos-show-brutal-choking-of-student/

 

How about cameras on coffee machine repairmen?

After all, you have to make sure the machine is fixed properly, so that no patrons get sick or hurt from drinking coffee from a faulty machine.

Better yet, cameras in every restaurant kitchen, since the public trusts that their food comes from sanitary places.

Or how about if every CEO has a camera on them to make sure they are doing everything on the up and up if their corporation receives a tax break or taxpayer money for their business?

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/what-i-did-after-police-killed-my-son-110038_Page2.html#.VICu0THF-y4

Our country is simply not paying enough attention to the terrible lack of accountability of police departments and the way it affects all of us—regardless of race or ethnicity. Because if a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy — that was my son, Michael — can be shot in the head under a street light with his hands cuffed behind his back, in front of five eyewitnesses (including his mother and sister), and his father was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who flew in three wars for his country — that’s me — and I still couldn’t get anything done about it, then Joe the plumber and Javier the roofer aren’t going to be able to do anything about it either.