Had that been the US the girl would've been tazed or maced and the guy would be in a body bag.

Had that been the US the girl would've been tazed or maced and the guy would be in a body bag.

I don't buy that. I think the number of people who are killed by police in the US a year is something like 400-500 or like one in half million people.

If every guy who went crazy on a traffic cop got shot they'd be diggin mass graves along the highways.

More likely one of them would come from behind and grab the guys swingin arm then the rest would dog pile him. Maybe a little mace involved.

Sadly, most of the barbarian sheeple who live here think that's a good thing.

I like to think of it as population control Darwin style.

Well it is an environmental stress that causes adaptive behavior and natural selection.

Unfortunately it selects for the most ruthlessly violent (who can compete with the uniformed mafia) and the most gutless (who will do whatever authority says) which doesn't really bode well for the future of the species.

The future of the species stopped boding well a long time ago when Darwinism was replaced with lawsuits, Medicaid, watch groups, and warning labels. You really think the couple with a combined weight of 950 lbs sporting his and hers freedom-on-wheels buying a carton of camels at wal-mart is survival of the fittest? That's our future right there.

I have a lot of respect for our police force, and usually not much for those who don't.

They do the work that no one wants to see and they put their lives at risk so yours can be safe. I can understand their use of force when force when necessary, given the danger we put ourselves in by allowing certain liberties.

That's not to imply that there aren't bad apples in the bunch; we have plenty of evidence to support that, but they are not above the law as many like you claim and they are routinely shaken off their horse like anyone else.

Tell me, who do you refer to when your car gets broken into? It certainly wouldn't be the thugs now would it? Or do they suddenly become the good guys when you need them? What is your solution to our broken system?

Had that been the US the girl would've been tazed or maced and the guy would be in a body bag.

I've never had that problem, personally, and if something was stolen from me I would contact my insurance agent. My understanding of reporting something missing is that it won't be found and if it is found, you will not likely find it in one piece. Not to mention any cash or material of significant value will probably be claimed as a lawful seizure.

The solution, as I indicated earlier, is private security and self-defense. The firms in Detroit are just confirming what our long American history or armed private citizens has taught us. Criminals think twice when they know that the proprietor of the establishment they marked is going to do something other than "call the cops," which is exactly what they want.

Having a class of uniforms that operates above the law in order to safe-guard that law, doesn't seem to be working. That's more or less how I view the situation anyway. Hope that clears things up and kudos to your police friends if they are some of the few that do good from within a bad system.

Well, not when you hire doe eyed cartoon characters as cops.


(I took those photos myself, I find it amusingly bizarre how they plaster manga characters all around Beijing giving polite behavioural messages and such. It sure beats "Doing so and so is forbidden and violators shall be prosecuted to the full extent of the law!". Different mindset and approach on how to maintain civic order compared to the US.)

Those little soldier gnome things are AMAZING!!!

If i ever buy a house with a garden i so want those.

Those little soldier gnome things are AMAZING!!!

If i ever buy a house with a garden i so want those.

I also want a statue like this one at the entrance of my house

(I found it at the rotating door of some random office building: don't ask me what it was, Chinese people can be pretty whimsical and weird)

I also want a statue like this one at the entrance of my house

(I found it at the rotating door of some random office building: don't ask me what it was, Chinese people can be pretty whimsical and weird)

Capitalize security leaving the rich secure and the poor to fend for themselves, allowing for individual rule sets to be created and companies like Blackwater to uphold them while completely ignoring to look into the issues that lead to crime such as low social or economic standing and poor education. Sounds great, where do I sign up.

Except that isn't what happened in Detroit at all. The poor are covered pro bono because it's good for business. Companies like blackwater are nothing like the domestic security firms that I mentioned. Blackwater is a mercenary corporation created to support the state military. That is the diametric opposite of a local security firm who has no special privileged and works in the interest of customers and their community.

I think you should avail yourself of a little more information.

Blackwater is a training facility as well as a security provider for state law enforcement, military, and private domestic firms. They also provide R&D technologies and intelligence/counterintelligence. They had 200 people contracted for security during Katrina. They work with the DEA and the DOD, and provided similar training to Afghans police and military forces.

And that quip about working in the special interest of customers and community is silly. What company wouldn't have their customers in their best interest? Blackwater didn't become global just because, it because global because of its service to its customers.

Right, they're a state mercenary corporation that provides for the state. They are to private security what the Federal Reserve Bank is to private finance, that is, not actually private and completely reliant on state money and authority.

Wrong.

I find it ironic that in a country that martial arts is such a big part of the history and culture, this guy could not keep his grip on his short sword

That's not an argument. I have to conclude that you cede the point.

That doesn't really have any bearing on the argument except to explain your bias, which is entirely fair. Most people do readily associate a badge with respectability and I am sure there are some uniformed men and women who don't act like thugs, despite the system giving them the leeway and incentive to do so.



I don't find a lot of merit in this argument. The job that "nobody wants," is vacant, because nobody takes the job. If one is economically desperate then they take whatever comes their way, sure, but to imply that getting into a reasonably well-paying government job with a whole lot of benefits is an act of desperation I think stretched reality.

I certainly wouldn't suggest the job isn't dangerous, but if you consider the on-the-job fatality/injury rate for police is lower than that of fishermen, farmers, loggers, power linemen, and a host of other physically dangerous professions, you begin to understand that the axiomatic assumption that it should pay more because -danger- doesn't really fly. I don't suggest anyone is over payed because the market makes that decision, but since a state employee is not subject to the market there is no way to tell.

In terms of keeping people safe, the track-record is pretty grim. Check out the track record of the private security companies who have set up shop in the now-defunct and un-policed districts of Detroit. Their streets are far safer and the number of times they discharge their weapons is much much lower. Since they are subject to the demands of their customers, they are able to respond to that by providing the best protection, rather than whatever fits into the current state budget. They've done well enough that they even patrol the poor neighborhoods for free. By the numbers they appear to be doing the job better by any metric and they have no extrajudicial power to abuse. If they shoot someone down in the street, they'll be on the hook for murder, not some misdemeanor conduct charge.



I assume it's as much a regional problem as anything else, but it is well established that the criminal justice system does not regularly prosecute officers who violate the law, in letter or spirit, on the job. Whether it is excused by fiat or because of some extraordinary circumstance doesn't really matter. Just last week a case closed where a 9 year old girl was killed when a SWAT team broke into her home to apprehend one of her parents. The team corroborated the fact that there was no struggle and the shooter had simply popped the kid. He got off without a day in the pen. Fast forward a few days when another child accidentally kills his younger neighbor wile wrestling and he goes right away, charged as an adult.

I think we have a serious problem with young children are being punished more harshly than fully grown and trained adults.



I've never had that problem, personally, and if something was stolen from me I would contact my insurance agent. My understanding of reporting something missing is that it won't be found and if it is found, you will not likely find it in one piece. Not to mention any cash or material of significant value will probably be claimed as a lawful seizure.

The solution, as I indicated earlier, is private security and self-defense. The firms in Detroit are just confirming what our long American history or armed private citizens has taught us. Criminals think twice when they know that the proprietor of the establishment they marked is going to do something other than "call the cops," which is exactly what they want.

Having a class of uniforms that operates above the law in order to safe-guard that law, doesn't seem to be working. That's more or less how I view the situation anyway. Hope that clears things up and kudos to your police friends if they are some of the few that do good from within a bad system.