The lesson is simple:

[crestofwaves]

I just watched two police chiefs, who had no clue what the other would say, comment on the shooting death of the black guy in St. Louis, and I say black because that's what the conflict is.  BOTH said police are trained to shoot at the center body, not the limbs, and to STOP the threat, no matter what it takes.

The lesson learned is simple:  Don't confront the police.  While they are around,they win.  It's as simple as that.  It may not be right, but it is what it is. 

If they just gun somebody down in the middle of the street who posed no threat, well the evidence will be clear. These cases are not clear.  But, "Yes, sir" is the way to go until they are gone and people can return to their own lives.

[P.A.]

So do we now live in a police state? Sadly even good police will defend the bad ones so I wonder if there are any good cops left.

[crestofwaves]

No police state.  I don't feel we do.  I don't do anything wrong, I don't look suspicious, I don't take cigarillos from a convenience store and get pumped up on my own adrenaline that makes me cocky enough to think I can lunge my arm through a police car window, and if I sass the police, I pay. 

Once my husband ( my date at the time) swerved and we were pulled over.  We were headed to the video store around the corner from where we swerved.  The cops shone flashlights in our faces and my husband was very polite. The cops were giving us the third degree like crazy and asked which video stor we were going to.  I snottily answered in typical Jersey Girl fashion "BLOCKBUSTER"S!!!!"  with the implied, you asshole hanging in the air.    That's when they made my husband pull out all his paperwork and gave him a ticket for not having his insurance card up to date.  They won. And I'm not black, and I'm not a kid, but I lost.

Yes the police stop black and Hispanic kids a lot, but, P.A. if I may be blunt, petty crappy little crimes as well as gang related big crime seem to happen in those neighborhoods more than in the neighborhood where I live. Why is it wrong to acknowledge that when it is so obvious.

Look at this, and hear the woman off to the side saying that the treatment is too brutal cause the man just stole a couple of bottles of liquor. 

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/08/20/oakland-liquor-store-cl...

It may not be fair, but it is what it is and I can see where the anger comes from on the part of the black community, and I can see where the police are on higher alert when dealing with them.

[P.A.]

But you were not shot. Nobody is above the law. Not the police, not the mayor, the governor, congressmen and women, or even the president.
Yes more crime does happen in black neighborhoods for many reason. Poverty, unemployment, the thug culture that some adhere to are all causes. We should try to change that instead of shooting them.

[crestofwaves]

It's funny that we are always divided along our political philosophies, even in this issue.  I swing both ways-lib and con--so I call myself moderate. P.A. I know is liberal.  I'll bet Amerknwoman is conservative.

[P.A.]

I am not liberal. I have always considered myself a raging moderate but the conservatives have moved so far to the right it makes anybody to the left of Attila the Hun seem liberal. I voted for a republican in the election that was held here just two weeks ago. He was and has been for years a reasonable a Republican. I have known him personally for at least 40 years. The kind of person we need in office. He lost. That is what we have come to.

[AmerikinWmn]

I actually consider myself independent as I've voted democrat, republican and 3rd party candidates over the years. I will say I'm with you on this issue. We can blame loss of jobs, poor education or whatever but to me the bottom line is crime seems to take much deeper root in communities that are ready to blame everyone and everything except themselves for all of their problems. And in all honesty, I've yet to see a mainly white community take to the streets in protest over a police action (unless we're counting the 'Nam protests), burn down their stores after looting them and blame it all on someone else.If I'm wrong, I'll stand corrected. 

[crestofwaves]

P.A.--No, I wasn't shot.  I didn't get out of the car, I didn't approach the cop, I just smart mouthed him.

As to your not being liberal--who'd a thunk!  I guess, except for a small number, we are all moderates.

[frenchy]

well just to weigh in here .. i used to think i was a liberal but as time goes by i've been movin more and more to the middle of the road .. as far as the police go i'm not in favor of the shoot em up attitude and i wonder why they don't use tasers more too , but i'm also livin in the real world and i KNOW  that anyone who gives a cop who's just doin his job an attitude is just askin for it .. i can understand how some might get exasperated by the intrusion of a cop askin em questions but its their job .. if you ain't doin anything then help em out and answer em and go on your way .. its funny but nowadays we seem to honor our troops fightin in wars that don't make any sense at all and we honor first responders to terror threats be they fireman cops or emts .. but let a cop get in a jam with some punk kid and right away its a racial thing ..nevermind that he has 6 years service with no incidents of abuse ,and lets not acknowledge the crime the punk committed , or the crimes he may have committed 3 months ago or 6 months ago or 3 years ago because this is a racial thing .. why does everything have to be racial ?? cant it just be about a punk breakin the law for once ?? just look at what happened and don't say what color anybody is and then after you see all the facts , then make a determination . let the content of their characters be what you see .. not the color of their skin .. 

[AmerikinWmn]

Agreed. You know it's a race thing as soon as Al Sharpton shows his face and whoever is white better run for cover. I hate it but as crest said, it is what it is. How anyone, including this boy's parents, can look at that video and still stand in front of TV cameras and act like he was an innocent just gunned down by out of control cops is beyond me. Then say he was just a 'gentle giant', a 'boy in a man's body'... I seriously doubt that the store clerk he shoved all over considered him real gentle. He was a kid, big for his age and made the mistake of thinking he could push a cop around too. That's the sad part but making it into some racial crap is ridiculous. At the very least, admit the kid might have had SOME responsibility. I don't imagine that will ever happen.

[Lifesighs]

It seems to me the more the cops cop an attitude of power the less people will respond to them in any situation.

I know all the recent crimes by cop I have witnessed would make me keep my mouth shut and not help them in any way in the future. It would be more of "I didn't see anything" which they truly deserve. I do know of some good police officers however if they're going to protect the murdering bastards out there with uniforms. Too Bad.

[frenchy]

well i saw somethin on the news about the kind of training a cop gets and when asked why they don't use tasers more it was said that they're only about 60% effective .. they also said that if someone is 25 feet away from you they can cover that distance in 2 seconds and then they demonstrated that fact .. that doesn't give you as much time as you'd think if you were in a situation where someone was out to hurt you .. so they're trained to negate the threat .. i think they still have some investigative work to do here but if darren wilsons account of the events is found to be true then i believe they'll rule it a justified shooting .. because he did as the training said he should .. 

[crestofwaves]

I lost the ability to EMBED a video. The button is gone--all the share stuff on my youtube is gone except for the URL, but Chris Rock gives some wonderful advice in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igQDvYOt_iA