>-----Original Message----- >From: Mark Wilde [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 11:49 AM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: mpls issues list > > >you want the police to wait to shoot until the >criminal has actually hurt someone, not just walking >around the streets with a machete? > I want the police to wait to act until a crime has been committed; that's the law in our country. I also want them to stop, think and use their heads to address situations in the manner that most respects human life. >I think that is a little naive. wait until that same >person with the knife does hurt somebody and the >police could have done something and didn't. the >cries of outrage will be even louder from the public. > That same person isn't going to hurt anyone. I haven't heard any complaints from Ward 6 about a lack of police intervention in violent crime. I have heard community outrage over "numerous" police killings. >please don't second guess the police. they have a >difficult job to do, including killing people, and the >label "trigger happy" is extremely out of line. are >you implying that the polic enjoyed shooting that man? > >mark wilde >windom park Now it's a police officer's job to kill people? I guess I am naive. I think there is a difference between what you are hired to do and what you may have to do in the performance of your duties. The public is not allowed to "second guess" it's employees? Just when is police oversight appropriate? Corruption? Racism? Sexism? What is so special about police (public servants) that grants them sovereign immunity in a so-called democratic country? Again, being a police officer is a volunteer position. And a well paid position at that. A starting officer in Minneapolis makes $31,000 plus benefits and an excellent retirement plan, rising to $47,000. The median income for Minneapolis is $25,000. http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/police/about/jobs/polap.pdf http://www.ersys.com/usa/27/2743000/income.htm If police work weren't dangerous and exciting it wouldn't attract the people that it does. They want that job and would look elsewhere for employment if all they had to do was hand out jay-walking tickets. On the MMPI, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - a tool used nationwide to screen police applicants as well as to study the personality type of the successful police officer, police officers generally are indicated to be "defensive, agressive, prone to subsatnce abuse, asocial, and highly energetic", as well as having elevated scores, similar to criminals, on scale 4, the psychopathic deviant scale. Scale 4 was developed using inmates and measures level of anger, interactins with others (relationships) and respect for authority. "These scores can also suggest that you have a tendency to act now, and think later." The MMPI also suggests that police officers, male and female, are more resistant to the adverse effects of stress, i.e. PTSD, than the average person. www.skidmore.edu/~chanley/applied/fall_2001/Forensic_Psych.ppt http://www1.umn.edu/mmpi/PASTISSUES%20/Disney98.html Yes, police "happily" prefer to use guns over safer methods for control of suspects. If there was real remorse on the police force they would not be so opposed to reform, and oversight. Matthew Devany Powderhorn _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
