Ferguson cop says life is ‘ruined’ after pointing AR-15 at journalists and saying, ‘I’m going to f*c

[DirkGently]

49. It may be time to take the Tasers away for a while.

And maybe the pepper spray as well.

The whole idea behind "less than lethal" equipment for police officers was that they could subdue people who would otherwise be a threat without killing them.

Instead, when someone is the least bit threatening (unless it is an older white man with an assault rifle of course) they are shot 15 or 20 times.

Tasers and pepper spray are being used as torture devices, or to obtain utter "compliance" without the slightest bit of effort by the officer. These stories of people being Tasered dozens of times (the device manufacturer warns not to do that) are common now. Old women. People in wheelchairs. The mentally confused. Electrocuted until they lose consciousness or die, while some angry LEO screams at them to "stop resisting."

That is not what this equipment is for.

I do not like the dumbed-down way we as a country are discussing the issue of brutality in law enforcement. It is not a question of hating law enforcement in general or not respecting the people who do that very difficult and dangerous job well.

But we DO have an enormous problem with excessive force, which does have a clear racial component in many cases. We have militarized and radicalized law enforcement as though we were preparing them to expect ultra-violence at all times. They throw bombs through windows on the basis of anonymous tips. They drive armored vehicles and dress in tactical gear to address peaceful protests.

They are armored up and amped up and encouraged to be remorseless killing machines, when what we need are PEACE OFFICERS.