I agree that there's a need to identify and do something about cops that shoot innocent people. I think there are a series of barriers to accomplishing that.
First barrier, hardly ever discussed, is the overwhelming surrender to the politics of the Drug War. The whole city is regarded as a "war zone" in which collateral damage is tut tutted. I think so long as we make the war zone exemption, we will get collateral damage. Second barrier is the contracts the city continues to negotiate with the police. I have a feeling city negotiators give away the safety of the noninvoled civilian to get other concessions. For example, Mike Sauro kept turning to the arbitration clause to get management decisions overturned. I think the city needs to be a lot tougher in negotiating on this issue. But the politicians can't do it without knowing the voters will back them up. We have to stop our mass shrug of the shoulders, stop implying that there must have been something wrong with the person who died or they wouldnt have been shot (case in point: the kid with the bb gun whose death seems to elicity a mass yawn from supposedly "good people" in Minneapolis who vote). See, you can't fault "good cops" too much, especially the suburban residents, when Minneapolis voters seem to have written off a substantial fraction of fellow residents whenever they die by police bullets. You have to really CARE for your neighbors before you ask the police to regret shooting them dead. If you give the impression that it will be politically risky for officials to take on the police union over official homicides, few of them will stick their necks out. So, in one sense, the BIGGEST barrier is simply the Minneapolis voter. I guess the main reason our police can kill over and over is because the voter thinks that the way it has to be. We'll either have rampant crime or we'll have repeated instances of "death by official action". -------------- Jim Mork--Cooper "Save yourself from this corrupt generation....All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need". Acts 2:4-45 "The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers". Acts 11:29 "From each according to his ability...to each according to his need." Karl Marx Get your free Web-based E-mail at http://www.startribune.com/stribmail TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
