GB V USA

[eboswan]

UK Headline:

Black man nearly drowns in local river.

US Headline:

Black man caught stealing water. Shot 4 times.

[FPoole]

The police are so afraid here, that they shoot first and invent charges later. The fact is the police are afraid because of the total lack respect they are given. They can hardly make a traffic stop, involving a black, without a riot. Around a decade ago a local sheriffs department had an officer killed by a Jamaican drug dealer. It was a routine traffic stop, I can't remember the details, but it was something simple like running a stop sign. The driver just gunned the officer down and I seem to remember a police K-9 being shot as well. The suspect got out and ran into a wooded area, and when he was found, he came out with his gun in hand. The local news media asked the Sheriff why they had shot the man 67 times. The reply was, we ran out of bullets.

[Sake-san]

Much as I deplore the levels of (reported / over reported ?) gun crime in the U.S. I do feel for the UK police given what they are asked to deal with. As a kid we all respected the police (come to that school teachers, the elderly etc etc also). Those that did not not were simply administered on the spot humiliation.
Happily France seems better (Calais and a few ghettos excepted) when the CRS climb out of their vans 99.9% of the vermin seem to have the sense to simply disperse. Japan was even nicer, nobody of sound mind would even think about being aggressive towards the police....

[FPoole]

I work all over town in the roofing trade and I've seen some things first hand. Our local police don't even bother with a traffic stop in some areas of town. The potential for a bad outcome is just too great.

[Sake-san]

Terrible, the legacy that we leave for our children and future generations is not what one would wish for.
Happily in the depths of rural France we are (for the time being at least) rather isolated from these issues.