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Originally Posted by molson
Wasn't he arrested? Charged with murder? Resigned before charges were even filed? I'm so confused.
Is your theory, honestly, that he conciously killed that guy, thinking that he would get away with it because he was a police officer?
I guess that's theoretically possible, if he was mentally disabled, but that's hardly the most reasonable explanation. It's definitely the explanation that would allow people to feel justified destroying property though, so I can understand why it would be so appealing.
Officers really don't want to kill people. Even if it's justified, it puts their career at tremendous risk. Nobody does that just for kicks.
What about the officer in this case? Do you think he just wanted to hassle black people?
And back to the first question - what exactly does a police department do to 100% ensure everyone feels that if they execute someone, they'll be held accountable? And further than that, how do you get rid of all bad seeds? You've said that officer murders are "what happens" when you don't weed out bad seeds - I'm sure they would love to know how to do that (beyond firing)
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I don't know his explanation for killing the guy. I do know that it isn't the first time a cop has abused his power and killed or beaten someone, and it won't be the last. This isn't unchartered territory in this country. My guess is any number of reasons for it, just as there are any number of reasons people kill each other.
I do believe there is an element to these officers that feel they can get away with anything. You can tell from the Moats' video that he feels he has the power to "screw him over" and arrest him for a minor traffic violation. I can't imagine that this is taught in the academy, so I would have to assume that he felt no one would really find out (or care). His mistake was that Moats' was an athlete known in the area and had a rather compelling story that the media ate up. I'd imagine this kind of stuff goes on all the time with nothing being done. I doubt this is the first time this officer has gone on a power trip.
As for what the police department can do in the future, I'd say stop covering shit up. The officers in the BART shooting went around and illegally confiscated cell phones for a reason. Act upon complaints properly and hold fair investigations. In Chicago 17 of the 10,000 complaints ended in disciplinary action. They had some officers with over 100 complaints for police brutality and did nothing. Show the public that you are serious about eliminating the bad seeds in your department and they will give more leeway when bad things do happen.