burying the leads

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2009/01/ucsf_study_finds_possible_link.php

"Our interpretation for these finding is that police agencies are recognizing these events," Tseng told SF Weekly.

But... do they recognize them to the extent that official statements are issued?  No?  Huh, I wonder why?

 The largest 10 cities in the United States were unwilling to release their statistics, and the data from the 50 participating cities did not include any detailed information about the sudden or firearm-related deaths.

Another big "wonder why", yeah?

People are dying because police are too lazy, aggressive, and empowered to use traditional non-harmful methods on people and opt instead for electro-torture..

That kid that was shot by BART cops (motto: we've got your back) last month may have died because the BART cop thought he was drawing his taser instead of his pistol.  At the time I thought this was a stupid excuse, suggesting an even stupider policeman.  The study above suggests it may have been true, but also, it raises the same old question that comes into play whenever I see any of the dozens of "cop tasers dude for mouthing off" videos I see: why did this person need to be shocked?  How on earth did police keep order and civility in the time before portable electrotorture devices?  And why were those methods so quickly abandoned in favor of the stun gun?

Because the stun gun is just so much easier, and won't leave messy bruises or marks.

The other day on the radio I heard an interview with a designer for "smart" weaponry, and it made me ill.  There's an episode of the original Star Trek which I think is possibly the best episode of the series, where the crew lands on one of two planets which are at war.  They've been at war for hundreds or thousands of years.  They've evolved their warmaking capacities so fully that their continuous war is fully automated: computers make the decisions about which cities were "hit" by "bombs" and how many people were "killed".  The requisite number of people then walk into disintigration chambers.  Infrastructure is left entirely intact because all the bombs are entirely virtual.

That's where our own military is headed, and the military hardware guy seemed a little squeamish about it as he danced around the issue.  Terry Gross, bless her intellect, asked him directly whether he thought that all the "smart" technology removed the human impact of and emotional barriers to blowing the fuck out of a village full of children.  I don't know what the guy said, and it matters little what he said: if it bothered him, there are thousands more whom it doesn't bother that will continue his work.  To be able to inflict damage on fellow humans, without the risk of damage to self is one of the driving forces of all human history.

So when a lazy, aggressive, brutish police force gets hold of neat new toys like tasers, it comes as no surprise to me that they'd use them whenever possible, at the slightest justification, even when they're in no danger.  It's much easier than developing a commanding, authoritative presence.

Note: cleared of wrongdoing by a bunch of other policemen, but with the issue pending before a civil court, the same policemen paid cash to make the problem go away.  I wonder why.

another one.

3 cops versus a 78 year old unarmed man in a police station.  thank god they had tasers.  can you imagine what damage the 78 year old could have done without the quick intervention of these heroes?