Another police-caused death in Bend, Oregon. Our law enforcement officers can make mistakes. We all know that and we understand that. But the current process seems to be that we either find them guilty of intentional wrongdoing or just forget about it. That’s not acceptable. I don’t want to see them go to jail if it was an unintentional killing, but how about, at a minimum, they are required to find another line of work? I don’t mean move to another town and be a police officer there, I mean permanently banned from police work. Find another career, on in which you don’t carry a gun! Unless there is some serious consequence to these police-caused killings, they will likely continue and increase in frequency. I haven’t been in Bend that long, and I can think of three. These kinds of shootings are in the news way too often. Something is wrong.
Name withheld, Bend.
This article appears in May 15-21, 2008.
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Yes. Sonething is wrong but it is not the police. Too many sleaze bags selling and using illegal drugs!!!
“Something is wrong.”
What is wrong, is the nature of police work, and the psychological profile of those who seek it as employment. Would you want to be a cop? For the overwhelming majority of us the answer would be a resounding, perhaps deafening, no. For those of you that answer yes, you will find that you will likely fit into a rather narrow psychological profile that is almost identical to that of the bad guys. One doesn’t seek out a job at the cop shop unless you have some fairly well developed antisocial tendencies. Just like the bad guys. Very few cops associate socially with non-cops. Why? Because no ordinary person can stomach them because we are not like them, and they know that.
So when you combine arrogance, aggression, control freak mentality and an anti-social world view with the power over others inherent in the position, what do you get? You get cops killing people, beating people, dealing drugs, theft, spousal abuse and all the other kinds of crap we get from the other bad guys. Because they are the very same people.
Along the path of life the very same folks make a choice…become a cop… or… become a crook. Is it any wonder they often act in ways indistinguishable from one another?
One group has a badge, the other doesn’t.
This pattern of police brutality will only diminish when the grand jury dealing with them stops giving them the benefit of the doubt. They should be treated like any other asshole up for a crime. Let the facts speak for the victim.
Belza, You have a lot of hate in you. You sound like a law breaker who is mad he got caught.
What I have Jed, is insight provided by a degree in Psychology and an informed interest in the subject. If that sounds like hate to you, then the hate is in you. Spend a little time getting up to speed on the issue before you jump in with an overly simplistic knee jerk attack that does absolutely nothing to raise the level of discourse other than to demonstrate your profound inability to engage in it.
I’am am sure in Oz, all police persons are Andy Griffth. No guns are even needed. But here in River City, well Beav, maybe you should just stay in Oz and leave tall talk to adults.
“Spend a little time getting up to speed on the issue before you jump in with an overly simplistic knee jerk attack that does absolutely nothing to raise the level of discourse other than to demonstrate your profound inability to engage in it.”
Which is exactly what you do when you ridiculously assume all police officers are serial killing sociapaths in disguise. C.T., most of your posts are right on, but you are so far off on the issue of police, its kinda scary.
As for this case, Mr. anonymous, the shooting was justified. Rufugio Cruz-Fuentes is dead today because he was trafficking illegal drugs, refused to comply lawful orders from an officer of the law, and behaved in a suspicious manner subsequent to those orders.
I dont know why anybody would want to be a cop. You’re damned if you do and dead if you don’t. You’re subject to split second decisions to react only to be libeled, slandered and villified by armchair psychologists, lawyers, grandstanding public officials, those still lost in the ’60s, surviving dysfunctional family members who suddenly care and on and on.
Someone with a degree in psychology would understand and acknowledge the enormous pressure a cop performs under in this day and age. It would “raise the level of discourse” and display an “informed interest.” Lumping all cops into one defective category is “overly simplistic” and is nothing more than a “knee jerk attack.”
To say that:
“But the current process seems to be that we either find them guilty of intentional wrongdoing or just forget about it. Thatâ ™s not acceptable. I donâ ™t want to see them go to jail if it was an unintentional killing, but how about, at a minimum, they are required to find another line of work?”
So, if a shooting is justified, a cop should still have to find a different kind of job?! Seriously?! I would like to think that if a cop made the correct split second decision, we would want to keep that person in law enforcement.
C.T.’s response is disgusting. To say that “They [police and crooks] are the very same people,” is not only ignorant, but insulting to the hundreds of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
It seems to me that every shooting results in at least a temporary suspension and an investigation. The law enforcement personnel I know aren’t ‘criminals in blue.’ They are people doing a stressful job with little or no public appreciation for the things they do right on a daily basis–and near constant and universal condemnation for the mistakes and problems of a few. I sure as hell don’t want to be judged by the actions and decisions of the worst among us–and because I blend in with the surroundings, I’m not. If I wasn’t white–if I wore a uniform–If I were young and had spiked hair and piercings, how easy and common guilt by association would be. Not valid, mind you–just lazy, dishonest and convenient.
Death penalty for all accused drug dealers!
We need more brave police and more street executions.
Killing unarmed scum is always justified.
Go drug warriors!