Why cities can’t control their police

[Just Jeepin']

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-rochester-shooting/

Very painful read. I only got partway through before I had to give up.

It purports to tackle the question of how cities are struggling and failing to reclaim the authority to police the police.

[jminer]

@Just-Jeepin This is a hard problem, they've become so entrenched and such a touchpoint I don't understand how to actually solve this. 20 years ago, people didn't like the police and mostly saw them for the oppressive force they are but kind of accepted them as a necessary evil. This last 5 year shift into bold support of them feels really foreign and has motives under it that are unpleasant to think about.

[Just Jeepin']

@jminer I think that depends to some degree on your background. I grew up in suburbia, and 20 years ago I had much more respect for them.

[jminer]

@just-jeepin That's fair, maybe it's a rural Missouri thing. Our local police were corrupt fuckers then though and everyone knew it. Once it became a black V blue lives matter thing though those stupid blue line flags got hung right next to the stars and bars everywhere.

[DipodomysDeserti]

@jminer Yeah, my dad grew up in New Jersey, and they were mostly viewed as corrupt fucks in the '70s and '80s. He was friends with a few cops growing up, and they were all connected. The dumb agro kids with no skills all became cops (and goombahs) back then.

[jminer]

@dipodomysdeserti This is how it was growing up in the 90s in Missouri. The kids with rage issues became the cops so they could keep bullying people

[davesaddiction]

@jminer Jeff City kid here. My brother still lives in Eldon, north of the lake, but my parents moved to Austin a while back.