https://www.thedailybeast.com/maine-police-issued-statewide-alert-weeks-ago-about-robert-cards-threats-ap
Authorities reportedly issued the alert in mid-September, urging officers to keep an eye out for Card.
Authorities reportedly issued the alert in mid-September, urging officers to keep an eye out for Card.
"Keep an eye out" seems less helpful than "go to this guy's house and take all his guns until he clears a psych evaluation," but what would I know?
Unfortunately with cases like Warren V DC and Castle Rock V Gonzales, we're not even told that. It's basically up to us to keep ourselves safe it seems.
I stopped having any respect for cops or their "safety concerns" when I watched a whole shit ton of them standing around while a dude murdered children in the same school they loitered in.
People seem to want to blame the police for this. I'm far from a police apologist but this seems like a weird thing to criticize them for. We haven't set up laws, procedures, or funding to follow up on reports like this in anything resembling a reasonable fashion. Most states don't have a process in place to do anything more than initiate a conversation even if a report of imminent violence is credible, timely, and investigated by someone who both takes it seriously and has the authority to act on it. There are tons of problems with the way policing is done in America but this particular issue is a systemic problem that has its root in American culture, not police personnel.
I suppose you could characterize most issues in that way if you really wanted to. It just seems odd to blame police in this scenario when it seems clear to me that the reason this keeps happening is that we, collectively, do not want to solve the problem. We keep voting for people who won't do a damn thing about it and then we all point fingers at the other guys when it comes time to blame someone. This is not anyone's fault but ours.
Saying that I can already hear some of you responding "but I voted for the right people, I have empathy, surely it's not my fault". Yes it absolutely is. More than anything our biggest failure as citizens is not enforcing consequences on politicians for refusing to enact the will of the people. We have this idiotic mentality that keeps us voting for people who say they'll do what we want them to and then just don't. They don't give a fuck what we think because we haven't given them a reason to. And yet, instead of doing anything to change that we just try and virtue signal harder, hoping that will change something, and then when it doesn't we distract ourselves with pointless entertainment until the next newsworthy incident and the cycle starts all over again.
This is why we can't get anything accomplished politically. This is why our quality of life is diminishing. This is why our life expectancy is falling. This is why our fellow countrymen are getting shot while eating dinner with their families. All of us, myself included, are too cowardly to do anything beyond bitching about these problems on the internet and carrying around a semi-witty protest sign twice a decade. Until that changes we're all going to keep having these same fruitless conversations while we watch things get progressively worse.
I want to say this post is in good faith but my dude, the reason it's appropriate to be pissed with the police about this, it's because of the police are the ones that refuse to change their cat and mouse model to a crime prevention model.
They are not set up to stop crimes from happening. They are set up to identify and locate wanted suspects after a crime is completed.
I don't think they should be running crime prevention. They are already doing too much, don't add to it. We prevent crime with after school programs, with social support, with addiction recovery, etc.
We haven't set up laws, procedures, or funding to follow up on reports like this in anything resembling a reasonable fashion.
Because the gun lobby fights against this type of thing every step of the way. Furthermore, police are often right wingers part of the machine fighting against firearms legislation. Maybe part of the reason is that some sources suggest that up to 40% of police may be domestic abusers and certainly are going to be against laws that take their guns away.
I’m would not be surprised if who gets to own guns in the eyes of law enforcement ownership is tied to racial, political and economic lines.
Right so me personally I would rather not get shot at work even if it is by someone "on my side".
The mental gymnastics that the right go thru to make whatever work in their favor regarding guns knows no limit. Besides, the militarization of the police is in response to the number of guns in society along with police exceptionalism. Their lives are worth more than our lives, they get more body armor, more guns, more military-style gear, bigger budgets, etc.
Gun owners are perfectly fine letting the rest of society suffer death, tragedy, and suffering for their hobby.
Of course the gun lobby fights against gun control measures. Of course billionaires fight for lower corporate and high income bracket taxes. If course oil and gas companies fight to neuter the EPA. These things are in their best interest from a financial perspective and money is all our society really cares about.
That's my point. We all say we want to fix healthcare but we don't fight for it the way insurance companies fight to keep their profits. The best you'll get from the vast majority of us is a few articles posted on social media throughout the year and perhaps a small donation to a charity or political entity supporting the cause.
We have to fight for these changes, and in some cases I do mean physically fight, or else we'll never get them. That lesson has been lost history and as a consequence no one in power is afraid to disappoint us.
Police are the ones with the badge and the guns and for the most part they support republican candidates. That's why we're in this situation. That's why it's correct to blame the police.
For all that fancy prose I'll let you have the paragraph above for free and now you've got a coherent theory, otherwise you're just berating voters.
Thule fuck am I supposed to do BUT vote? Risk my job going to a protest? Risk being thrown in jail? Become an agitator? Around the 40hrs I HAVE to spend at my job or lose my health insurance?
Don't blame the fuckin average voter as if they have any choice in the matter. Every year we're offered the same giant douche or shit sandwich quandary and get to pick which seems less bad.
Sorry bud we here on reddit I mean lemmy hate the police with a blind hatred. No need for well thought out takes here. Get out of here with your logic and grab an ACAB picket sign.
Common misconception. Police enforce the law. They do not prevent crimes. A police officer is not required to prevent someone from shooting you, or breaking in to your house, but they are allowed to arrest someone for doing those things.
Every time some shit transpires that could have been caught in the background check and it never goes anywhere until people die.
We haven't set up laws, procedures, or funding to follow up on reports like this in anything resembling a reasonable fashion.
Because the gun lobby fights against this type of thing every step of the way. Furthermore, police are often right wingers part of the machine fighting against firearms legislation. Maybe part of the reason is that some sources suggest that up to 40% of police may be domestic abusers and certainly are going to be against laws that take their guns away.