Seattle police officers' challenge to use-of-force policy dismissed

[damnedifIknow]

Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by Seattle police officers challenging new rules restricting the department's use of force, which they claimed could endanger both them and civilians.

More than 120 officers joined the lawsuit, which sought a complete dismantling of a new use of force policy hammered out between the Seattle Police Department and the U.S. Department of Justice to stem an alleged pattern of excessive force."

*In dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman, in Seattle, wrote in a opinion entered on Monday that the arguments cited by officers were not supported by the U.S. Constitution or existing case law."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/21/us-usa-washington-police-idUSKCN0IA00J20141021?feedType=RSS&virtualBrandChannel=11563

[Logical]

1. So I assume the cops argument was "We like beating people!"? Nt

[damnedifIknow]

2. "arguments cited by officers were not supported by the U.S. Constitution"

Give em hell Constitution.

[GGJohn]

3. Seems to be,

especially people of color.
I'm hoping that more and more police depts are put under federal review and forced to deal with their use of force policies and deal with their rogue cops.
The one good thing coming out of the Michael Brown killing is the intense scrutiny of the nations police forces and the militarization of said forces.

[notadmblnd]

4. If the policeman is worried about his life being endangered

maybe he shouldn't be a policeman? Seriously, where did these people get the idea that a LEO's job came without the possibility of danger? Did someone take it out of the job description?

[Capt.Rocky300]

5. Might be time to go to work..........

at the donut shop. Sheesh.

[mountain grammy]

6. You took the words right out of my head.

[notadmblnd]

7. If I went around killing people because I thought they might hurt me, do you know how many dead

there would be?

I don't care who ya are, ya can't just go around killing people cause yer skerred. Stock up on food, stay home, lock the doors and hide under the bed. And whatever you do, don't become a policeman!

[PumpkinAle]

8. If all they know is force and all they use is force

then that is what they will get back in return.

They should try being real police (peace) officers.

[Yo_Mama]

9. Here's the link to the Seattle police manual section

http://www.seattle.gov/police/publications/manual/08_100_Using_Force.html

It seems pretty reasonable to me.

[drmeow]

10. The police officers response

(i.e., a lawsuit to dismantle the use of force policy) is one of the defining problems with the current status of the police in this country. Instead of looking at the new policy and reflecting on their behavior and their role (you know, that old "protect and serve" thing) and thinking about how they can do other things to make themselves safer within the use of force policy, their response is to fight it tooth and nail. They are the problem - their unwillingness to look for ways to make the entire community, including themselves, safer is part of the reason why they and civilians are "endangered" by a use of force policy. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In the same way, if all you can envision for controlling situations is using force, everything is going to need force. They need new training and an attitude adjustment.

[ncjustice80]

11. Because cops, all of them, are weaklings, bullies, and cowards.

These shitstain rethugs are just mad that its harder to murder innocent black men.

Personally, I think we need to go a step further disarm the police a la Britain or Japan. If they need guns or body armor, they can go to the station and check them out, with each instance requiring a memo sent to the DOJ as to why deadly force was needed.