One of my neighbors has their flag upside down.

[conuly]

They weren't out, so I didn't ask if they were sending a message about police brutality, or something else, or if they were just remarkably careless.

I have a number of links from marshallprojectemail_feed, and rather than linking to each one individually I thought it was easier to link to their lists. If you're at all interested in the subject of prison reform in America, or the related subjects of policing, police brutality, immigration and ICE, or occasionally poverty then you should either subscribe to the feed or sign up to get the same things sent to your email.

https://mailchi.mp/themarshallproject/pp5byt7jqr

https://mailchi.mp/themarshallproject/vhoiqeia1q

Additionally, minoanmiss has a specific letter writing suggestion which I will copy in full:

To a professional who teaches police to be violent, specifically. One of the major proponents of training police to 'shoot first and ask questions later/never' is William J. Lewinski, whose Force Science Institute conducts trainings all over the US in justifying police violence. Perhaps people should point out to him and his organization their part in the deaths of countless people, including George Floyd and Brianna Taylor.

https://www.forcescience.org/contact/

NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us/training-officers-to-shoot-first-and-he-will-answer-questions-later.html

If you're already sending one such note, you may as well copy it and send it to your local police department. Police officers in the US have actually been fired for successfully de-escalating situations involving unarmed people rather than going in guns blazing.

Finally, from Teen Vogue, which continues to knock it out of the park, How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct. (Safety tips include social distancing!)

Comments

[lilysea]

One of my neighbors has their flag upside down.

Is that illegal? I know the US has surprising laws about the US flag...

[conuly]

Yeah, but they're all unenforceable, trumped by the first amendment. That's very very settled case law.

[lilysea]

Yeah, but they're all unenforceable, trumped by the first amendment. That's very very settled case law.

Oh, good.

I always thought people should have the right to eg burn the flag in protest, as long as they didn't start any building fires or bushfires by doing so...

[osewalrus]

The flag upside is the sign of a ship in distress. It is not illegal, but it has meaning. It seems to have taken on a colloquial meaning for "country in distress."

I confess on seeing it in time of Covid I might knock on the door to check that everything is alright.

[conuly]

I heard them inside their house playing loud music, so I assumed they were.

[conuly]

Despite what some of the more jingoistic brand of flag-humpers will tell you, the Constitution is still the law of the land over here. (Funnily, they all remember that when it comes to their guns....)

[lilysea]

Police officers in the US have actually been fired for successfully de-escalating situations involving unarmed people rather than going in guns blazing.

*horrified face*

Police who successfully de-escalate situations involving unarmed people rather than going in guns blazing deserve something along the lines of:

a) a commendation;
b) possibly a medal depending on how fraught the situation was;
c) possibly a cash bonus;
d) an interview in the official police newsletter for that city/state along the lines of "this is what Fred did. Be more like Fred!"

Not shooting unarmed civilians in a tense situation should be praised and rewarded and encouraged!

[osewalrus]

We had a positive case here some years back of a police officer who de-escalated a situation by challenging a teen to a dance off. "So you think you got moves? Well watch this!" And the officer danced the ney-ney. So the teen responded. And they danced. Well, you can't fight after you dance together. So everyone went home.

The officer in question did get a commendation and local acclaim. But that was under a police chief working to retrain our police force in community policing.

[conuly]

Yes, well, it's also legal in the USA not to hire somebody as a police officer because they score too well on an IQ test.

[marahmarie]

Things like this are why society can never advance. Also, IQ tests are some racist/sexist bs, but I think you said that somewhere, already.

[zesty_pinto]

Reports are insane. I still remember the takes from people who served overseas who noted that most officers there at least practice rules of engagement. Here, it's nothing like that.

The odd thing that helps is that journalists keep getting shot at. One lost their eye. Not sure how much they would have spun the events otherwise.

[nodrog]

There was a TV show in the '90s called COPS, which originally was intended and pitched as “cheer for the thin blue line of heroes” propaganda, showing the unsung heroes of law enforcement, and they did, and as such they were welcomed by police everywhere…  and everywhere they saw the same pattern, a paramilitary armed and trained army of occupation patrolling and controlling a sullen, hostile subject population through bullying, intimidation, and breaking every law they could get away with.  Lying to suspects to elicit confessions, shooting family pets -

In time the producers of COPS began to see a different mission for themselves - to document what they were seeing, to make this known to the public.  They began airing “special episodes” showing the horrifying behavior they’d omitted before.  They put out a DVD collection of same.  Their welcome dried up, and the show soon ended - but they’d done right and they knew it.

[conuly]

I didn't know COPS eventually turned sides, thanks.

[marahmarie]

I didn't know that either. Not the episodes I watched, and boy, did I watch some episodes.

(So, this would be a great area of new online research for me: look up the entire history of COPS.)

[nodrog]

I have the DVD - the title has the word “Attack” in it, as in “COPS on the Attack” or some such.  It’s unsettling.  There’s a reason why street cops will tell you it’s unlawful to videorecord them and threaten to arrest you for doing so, try to confiscate the camera, &c.  It’s the one weapon they fear.

There’s a video on YouTube of a woman who’d been pulled over calling 911 because of the cop’s verbally abusive and threatening behavior!  Of course he heard her and hauled out the handcuffs, and he and the responding unit then conferred on what charges she should face for this!

There was just one problem:  The parking lot security cameras caught the whole performance in clear daylight.  The woman’s defense attorney watched that footage and immediately agreed to work pro bono!

“This is not how it’s done,” he said.

(Me, I’d have called the State Police - they’d have no problem with taking County bullyboys down a peg!)

[zesty_pinto]

That live report police show is filling in those gaps. This American Life talked about it and I can definitely see it taking that same role as stroking the egos of people that don't deserve it.

As bad as the 90's was with all the "gangs are bad"/war on drugs directive that fed into our culture back then, it had the added benefit of not being fully militarized by then. One 9/11 and several secondhand military shipments later and it looks like a lot of kids grew up to live that 90's dream with a folding baton and an itchy trigger finger.

[conuly]

On the flipside, protesters mobbed a Fox News reporter, confirmed that he WAS from Fox News, and chased him away.

I shouldn't laugh.

[zesty_pinto]

It's okay, cats can have little a schadenfreud as a treat.

[marahmarie]

I don't support this. He might have been spouting an absolute shitstorm of falsehoods, inaccuracies and opinion in place of any factual news but he still had the right to be there as long as he wasn't directly harassing or bothering anybody else.

Relatedly (sort of) I don't understand the burning down of the CNN building. That needs looking into, as to who and how and why (hint: why would legit protestors do it? Arguments could be made that NO mainstream big media outfit supports them in any form or fashion save lip service and I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but still, I do wonder).

[conuly]

Didn't say I supported it, just said I laughed.

[marahmarie]

I meant I don't support the protestor's actions. But would you have laughed if it was a CNN reporter? If your answer's yes we don't have the same sense of humor, I have nothing to say. But if it's no, why would you laugh at a Fox reporter getting chased off? They're one and the same person, to my mind. They support each other, be they competing outfits reporting from either side of a sometimes vast political divide or not, so in turn we should support them. All of them. OAN. Fox. Whomever. Freedom of the press because we are *nothing* without it.

Sorry, I just have strong feelings on this.