According to a recent Pew survey of police officers in the United States, 86 percent say that the high profile shootings of African Americans over the last few years has made their jobs harder. Sixty-eight percent say that protests have been fueled by an anti-police sentiment among the public, as opposed to a legitimate issue with the cases involved.

For months police officers have been providing anecdotal evidence that the increased coverage of fatal police shootings in the United States has impacted their ability to perform their duties. One officer in Chicago said he didn’t draw his gun to defend his own life when he was being savagely beaten because he feared the public outrage that would follow. How many other officers have suffered unnecessarily due to this same concern is unknown.

Reporting by The Washington Post indicates that fatal police shootings have increased in recent years. The Huffington Post notes that the number of African Americans killed by police is more than were lynched in the South — probably saying more about the slant of the author than actually adding to the level of discourse on the subject.

Police officers as a group seem to be vilified for the actions of a handful of bad actors and incidents that were intentionally mischaracterized as misconduct or outright murder. The combination of the two is having a significant impact on peace officers’ ability to do their jobs. Will this trend continue or begin the reverse itself? Will a change of attitude in the White House and Department of Justice have any effect on the situation? Watch this space.

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55 COMMENTS

  1. Note:less than 0.5% of the cops responding to this survey are illiterate and couldn’t read the answers, I mean, less than 0.5% said these incidents have made their job easier.

  2. “Police officers as a group seem to be vilified for the actions of a handful of bad actors and incidents that were intentionally mischaracterized as misconduct or outright murder”

    Ludicrously incorrect. Police procedure is totally contemptuous of civilian safety (under the guise of so-called “police safety”). Police leaders constantly lobby the judiciary for more leeway to legally dispense violence and they are completely united in their opposition to civilian oversight. The rank-and-file observe omerta and pathologically lie to cover themselves and each other, ergo, they are all bad actors.

    Here’s a long-awaited report on the CPD that document all the behavior described above: http://reason.com/blog/2017/01/13/read-how-chicago-police-routinely-violat

    • More Dead with more sweeping generalization logical fallacies. All cops are bad, in his own feeble mind.

      • You should not use terms like “logical fallacies” when you do not even understand what they mean. It’s not the kind of thing they teach in police academy, far too advanced. 🙂

        • Well you certainly have an anecdotal fallacy or four in there, in fact that’s what you’re basing your entire syllogism on which effectively makes your entire argument one from fallacy.

        • Did you not see a link to a comprehensive report on the CPD documenting the described behavior? So much for anecdotes.

          I know I know, you’ll say the CPD is somehow totally unique with respect to every single other department in the nation. Because it’s not like other departments have been documented doing the exact same things… for example, NYPD brutality is so pervasive they are defying a congressional law demanding annual reviews of excessive force incidents (as per the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act).

        • Its not a comprehensive report when a lot of the finding are based on the commentary of the civil activist. You know the people who would have to get real jobs when people realize cops don’t target people cause they are black, they target people because they are criminals.

        • “based on the commentary of the civil activist”

          Which civil activist may that be? Did you actually read the report or do you just summarily dismiss the entire thing because the Democrats run the DoJ for the next week?

          By parity of logic, do you put absolute faith in the NYPD’s own internal affairs reports detailing this behavior?

          “cops don’t target people cause they are black, they target people because they are criminals.”

          Cops target people because they can. There, FTFY.

        • “I know I know, you’ll say the CPD is somehow totally unique with respect to every single other department in the nation.”

          You know what I’m going to say before I say it? That’s one hell of a skill you have there. Can you predict lotto numbers too?

          Actually I doubt CPD is fundamentally unique for a large city PD. However, my doubts and your assumptions are not evidence. You have evidence that this has happened in Chicago but you have expanded your statements far beyond what the data support. That’s where you’ve run into logical fallacies.

          Words like “patterns” and “widespread” do not constitute “everyone”, even within the CPD it doesn’t encompass everyone, and it sure hell doesn’t encompass everyone in every other department nationwide which is what you’ve gone out of your way to suggest.

          Because there is a pattern of young black men buying grape flavored blunt wraps to smoke marijuana does that mean that all young black men do this?

          Does such a pattern also mean that every person who buys a grape blunt wrap uses it for drugs? That not a single person out there just likes a grape flavored cigar?

          Perhaps the answer to these questions is affirmative but we can’t know that and therefore we can’t say that without going beyond the evidence and thereby engaging in an anecdotal fallacy.

        • Actually the report described the malfeasance as systemic, as in, abuse in and of itself was standard practice. Therefore it is not anecdotal, by definition.

          Your argument seems to be, prove all cops commit abuse. Frankly, if discussion of police-civilian interaction has gone to that point, the problem would be far worse than even what I have described.

        • “Actually the report described the malfeasance as systemic, as in, abuse in and of itself was standard practice. Therefore it is not anecdotal, by definition.”

          Apparently you don’t know what anecdotal evidence actually is. Further, this has absolutely nothing to do with the statements you’ve made which included the words “…ergo, they are all bad actors.” (emphasis mine). That is an assertion which is based on your syllogism. That syllogism is made up of things you simply cannot prove apply to everyone in CPD or elsewhere yet you have made both claims. Whether you want to admit it or not you have engaged in an anecdotal fallacy here.

          As I pointed out before, based on numerous things, blunt wraps in my example, we could say there is a “systemic” problem with these things in the black community but are you willing to say “…ergo, they are all drug users” in reference to blacks? What about those people who purchase flavored blunt wraps?

          Let’s look at another example that somewhat mirrors your claims here in regards to attitudes and non-codified behavior. Blacks commit a staggeringly large proportion of murders and violent robberies. They are disproportionately represented in the sale of narcotics and in gang activity too. Now, there is, according to conventional wisdom a “Code of the Streets” (code of silence) that’s so pervasive it’s been mentioned in rap songs (it’s even the title of a Gang Starr song) and there have been shirts printed up that say “Snitches get stitches”.

          So, are all Blacks bad actors? Are all the Blacks in certain areas bad actors? Are you prepared to say that, for instance, all the Black people in a certain area of Chicago are “bad actors”? What about all the people in those areas regardless of skin color? If indeed this unspoken code exists isn’t everyone who obeys it a “bad actor”?

          Unlike you I won’t profess to know your answer on that subject. I’m merely point out my examples are basically the same what you’re doing here, painting with an overly broad brush which yes, is falling into the trap of an anecdotal fallacy because you’re expanding your statements far beyond what the data support.

        • Nothing I said is a personal account, how is any of this anecdotal?

          I find it amusing that you keep focusing in on “all”, because apparently “most” is already a given. Given the description of systemic and widespread deceit and silence in the face of criminality, how can anyone possibly say that bad actors are in the few?

          I am sticking with “all”, dispensing violence for the government as a career choice makes one a bad actor, period. That is my purely my opinion, which is unrelated to the contents of the report.

          By the way your analogy might make sense if black civilians are universally employed to dispense violence on behalf of politicians (which is what the police do), then studies and survey show that those black civilians engage in widespread deceit and brutality.

    • Illinois state Rep. Brandon Phelps put Duty to Inform w/ criminal penalties in his “NRA backed” concealed carry bill in 2013 because NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde already cut a deal with the anti-gun IL Chiefs of Police in 2010/ 2011, before Phelps first bill failed to pass in May 2011, and before the Dec. 2012 Moore v. Madigan ruling from the Federal Appellate Court in Chicago cleared the way for citizen carry in Illinois.

      The IL Chiefs opposed any form of citizen carry for FORTY YEARS, but Vandermyde bent over backwards to hand them Duty to Inform on a platter, so any police criminal not in uniform or police impersonator can disarm, abduct, rape and kill licensed citizens at will. Thanks Todd! What kind of traitor sells out NRA members when they have the best chance in FIFTY YEARS for a decent carry bill? Donald T. Vandermyde to the rescue!

      Off-duty cops and retired cops carrying under LEOSA have no Duty to Inform, so I guess DTI is not really that important for “officer safety” after all. According to Vanderymyde, DTI “hasn’t been a problem” in Illinois, so he’s busy trying to legalize suppressors. Forget about Philando Castile in Minnesota executed by police, that was just a fluke. Besides, DTI was designed to control blacks in Chicago, not good old boys who vote for cowards like Brandon Phelps in southern Illinois. Yee-haw!

    • Very well said. If you watch “the boys” as they’re called around these parts it’s clear that they shouldn’t be trusted. Civil servants they are not.

      • lesson learned at the CA DMV; Civil Servants are neither Civil nor inclined to perform a service

      • Like ferguson, that ridiculous report is designed entirely to calm the rioters in the event of Jason Van Dyke’s inevitable acquittal. Read between the lines, they have already thrown McCarthy under the bus, and Rahm has a line in to the DOJ.

    • Always intrigues me that the most brutal and abusive police departments are in Democrat-controlled cities with a significant number of black people in leadership. Baltimore is the best example. That city has been run by black Democrats for what, 60 years? Somehow their police department is an example of systemic white supremacy though!

  3. Gotta love our propagandizing MSM, I wonder how many tragedies could have been avoided without the spreading of all the lies. Then again the end justifies the means.

  4. Cry me a river. Then don’t be so quick to shoot ANYONE. BTW it was a female cop in Chiraq wrestling with a perp. She shouldn’t be dealing with big burly black bruisers…

  5. I think this has more to do with a lack of faith and trust the rank and file have for their leadership, being thrown under the bus for political brownie points, regardless of the legality of the shoot, will indeed chill an officers actions to the point of inaction.

  7. I would say that shooting unarmed healthcare workers, lying on their backs with their hands in the air probably contributes… as does telling a series of infantile, mutually exclusive lies about it after the fact.

    • Chris- what really goes unseen is the pervasive influence of the anti-gun police unions in state legislatures.

      Look at Illinois’ concealed carry bill sponsor, state Rep. Brandon Phelps. He lives in Harrisburg, a nothing burg thirty miles north of Kentucky. Harrisburg has a large juvenile prison, so you have the prison hack union, the police unions, the Sheriff’s association, the IL state police, and every single one of them has a lobbyist in Springfield. These are the unions that wanted Duty to Inform in Phelps’ 2013 carry bill, and Phelps sidekick Todd Vandermyde gave it to them.

      When NRA state lobbyist Todd Vandermyde cut the deal with the anti-gun IL Chiefs of Police to put Duty to Inform in Phelps carry bill, Tim McCarthy of Orland Park was president of the IL Chiefs.

      That’s the same Tim McCarthy who was a Secret Service agent when President Reagan was shot, and the same Tim McCarthy who does press events with Jim & Sarah Brady to promote gun control! You can’t make this stuff up, people like Vandermyde are too sick to describe.

      NRA, Inc., the anti-gun police unions, and small town good old boys like Brandon Phelps are all on the same side: against you, and systematically advancing police state murder.

  8. “Police officers as a group seem to be vilified for the actions of a handful of bad actors and incidents”

    As a firearms owner, and especially an owner of several “assaulty” and “high-capacity” firearms – or at least I was until that boating accident – I have some sympathy with this viewpoint.

    “Reporting by The Washington Post indicates that fatal police shootings have increased in recent years.”

    And I have to wonder what that would correlate to. It would be very interesting, for instance, to plot that against inner-city high school graduation rates, or how far below grade level students are on average reading. This whole thing feels more like a state-of-society problem than anything else, as well as part of the whole urban/rural split.

  9. I’m of a mixed opinon about this whole situation

    Cops make mistakes and even do incredibly dumb shit, sometimes with tragic consequences. That doesn’t mean they’re all bad.

    All I can really say is that a lot of people paint with an overly broad brush whenever something that fits their preconceived narrative happens while ignoring any evidence contrary to that narrative.

    I tire of the constant race baiting that’s en vogue in this country. I tire of cops, overall, getting blamed for the actions of a few shitbirds or people who made mistakes. I tire of the small number of police that fuck up badly and seem to have few, if any, repercussions when a civilian or group of civilians doing the same thing would get crucified. Most of all I tire of the constant droning about how we need to have a “national conversation about X” when the same people saying that are the ones stirring the pot to create more problems so that they can profit off of it in one way or another.

    • “I tire of cops, overall, getting blamed for the actions of a few shitbirds or people who made mistakes. I tire of the small number of police that fuck up badly and seem to have few, if any, repercussions when a civilian or group of civilians doing the same thing would get crucified.”

      I see those two as being inextricably linked. The latter is a symptom of a systematic problem within police departments and the criminal justice system. While I certainly believe that most police aren’t bad, consistent behavior of departments and organisations like FOP to blindly support LEOs, even in ludicrously damning circumstances, seems to indicate a problem with police in general. When a cop shoots an unarmed dude in a stairwell for no good reason and the first thing he does is call the police union, and then the police union supports him and says no wrong was done, that looks bad for all cops. Are all cops going to do the same thing? Of course not. But the fact that edifices of police power and authority do the morally wrong thing in closing ranks reflects poorly on all police.

      • I’m in no way supportive of misbehavior or screw-ups being swept under the rug and I agree that the union is a major part of the problem.

        That said, while I think it’s currently off, there does need to be a balance in terms of how these incidents are dealt with. Yes, it sucks when when a police officer misbehaves or makes a mistake and harms a citizen. However, it’s also true that a huge percentage of criminals make unsubstantiated claims against police as either a basis for a defense or for a frivolous lawsuit.

        As I said my opinion on the topic is mixed. A perfect world would be nice but such a place doesn’t exist. There are pros and cons to each option we could pursue in terms of dealing with police issues. Many of the options have a lot of cons.

        • “However, it’s also true that a huge percentage of criminals make unsubstantiated claims against police as either a basis for a defense or for a frivolous lawsuit.”

          That should be reason #1 for all LE to use body-cams. I hope the new admin. can make that happen…

    • Maybe not all cops do bad things, but the others keep silent about them or cover up for them, so what’s the difference? Are you saying the code of silence is a lie?

      • “Are you saying the code of silence is a lie?”

        I’m not saying anything about the veracity of such a claim because I have seen no actual data on it. I’ve heard of the phenomenon but I haven’t seen a study on the topic that proves the existence of such a phenomenon, shows it to be widespread or, if it does indeed exist, how widespread it is.

        • The already mentioned report on the CPD documents numerous cases of police lying on issues major and minor.

          The code of silence/deceit is real for the CPD… and as you said, CPD is not very different from any other big-city PD, so you can draw your own conclusions in regard to the culture of lying nation-wide.

        • What I said was “Actually I doubt CPD is fundamentally unique for a large city PD.” which is not the same as saying that “CPD is not very different from any other big-city PD…”.

          You’re free to draw whatever conclusions you’d like. What conclusions you might or might not draw don’t change the fact that your original statement fell into an anecdotal fallacy trap. The fact that people can and do draw conclusions doesn’t mean the evidence supports those conclusions. You have provided evidence that CPD has a series of serious problems but you went way, way farther than that when you asserted that everyone in CPD and in other departments is part of the problem/have the same problem and can therefore be said to be a “bad actor”.

          I’m really not seeing what’s so hard about understanding this. You’ve overstepped the evidence with your conclusion. It’s that simple. I’m not telling you that you’re wrong. I’m merely saying that the statements you’ve made go too far for the evidence you’ve presented to support them.

  10. Well… duh.

    I was once taking a report of a theft from two young black males at about 2AM. A bunch of people- including old white lefty idiots (or, I’m sorry, “Allies”)- started interfering and yelling BLM nonsense. “Leave those boys alone you racist” blah blah blah. Well it took about thirty seconds of this before the two victims who had come up to me decided they wanted none of it and left. At least in THAT case the consequences weren’t that serious.

    Stuff like this is happening all the time now. There are also a lot of people who come up to me and express support (more so than used to). I think it comes down to where you work and who is in charge. You couldn’t pay me enough to do real policework in a place like Chicago or Baltimore right now (you could pay me to show up and write reports, though).

  12. If anything, police should be held to a higher standard than that of the public…As it stands now, police can commit crimes with impunity because, in most situations, they investigate themselves…Behavior that would get an ordinary citizen charged, convicted and incarcerated is routinely ignored by “the powers that be” because police are considered to be “above the law” as the “law” is whatever they say it is, the Constitution be damned…EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW MUST BE RESTORED..no special “rules” or privileges for all public officials…
    Ever notice that police unions are “fraternal”? This should tell you something. The “thin-blue-line” is a gang, little different than street gangs–at least when it comes to “covering-up” their questionable and quite often, illegal and criminal behavior.
    In today’s day and age, “officer safety” trumps de-escalation of force. This, in part, is due to the militarization of the police along with training in Israeli police tactics. This becomes a problem, with the “us vs. them” attitude that is fosters, along with the fact that Israel is a very different place, being on a constant “war footing”, and by necessity, its police tactics are very different. It turns that we are all Palestinians now, at least in the eyes of “law enforcement”…
    There are too many instances of police being “given a pass”, even when incontrovertible video and audio evidence is presented. Grand juries, guided by police-friendly prosecutors, quite often refuse to charge those police officers who abuse their authority.
    Police officers, who want to do the right thing, are quite often marginalized and put into harms way, by their own brethren…When a police officer is beating on someone that is already restrained while yelling, “stop resisting” THAT is but one reason police have a “bad name” in many instances…this makes the “good cops” who are standing around, witnessing their “brethren in blue” beating on a restrained suspect, culpable as well…
    Here are changes that can help reduce police-induced violence:
    1. Get rid of police unions. Police unions (fraternities) protect the guilty, and are responsible for the massive whitewashing of questionable police behavior that is presently being committed.
    2. Eliminate both “absolute” and “qualified” immunity for all public officials. This includes, prosecutors and judges, police and firefighters, code enforcement and child protective services officials, and others who deal with the citizenry. The threat of being sued personally would encourage them to behave themselves. Require police officers to be “bonded” by an insurance company, with their own funds. No bond= no job.
    3. Any public funds disbursed to citizens as a result of police misconduct should come out of police pension funds–NOT from the taxpayers.
    4. Regular drug-testing of police officers as well as incident-based drug testing should take place whenever an officer is involved in a violent situation with a citizen–no exceptions.
    5. Testing for steroid use should be a part of the drug testing program. You know damn well, many police officers “bulk up” with the “help” of steroids. Steroids also affect users mentally as well, making them more aggressive. The potential for abuse of citizens increases greatly with steroid use.
    6. Internal affairs should only be used for disagreements between individual officers–NOT for investigations involving citizen abuse. State-level investigations should be mandatory for all suspected abuses involving citizens.
    7. Prosecutors should be charged with malfeasance IF any evidence implicating police officer misconduct is not presented to the grand jury.
    8. A national or state-by-state database of abusive individuals who should NEVER be allowed to perform police work should be established–a “blacklist” of abusive (former) police officers.
    9. Most people are unaware that police have special “rules” that prohibit them from being questioned for 48 hours. This allows them to “get their stories straight” and makes it easier to “cover up” bad police behavior. Police must be subject to the same laws as civilians.
    10. All police should be required to wear bodycams and utilize dashcams that cannot be turned off. Any police officers who causes a dash or body cam to be turned off should be summarily fired–no excuses. Today’s body and dash cams are reliable enough to withstand harsh treatment. Body and dashcam footage should be uploaded to a public channel “on the cloud” for public perusal.
    11. All interrogations must be video and audio recorded. Police should be prohibited from lying or fabricating stories in order to get suspects to confess. False confessions ARE a problem in many departments. Unknown to most people, police can lie with impunity while civilians can be charged with lying to police…fair? I think not…
    12. Any legislation passed that restricts the rights of ordinary citizens, such as firearms magazine capacity limits, types of weapons allowed, or restrictive concealed-carry laws should apply equally to police. No special exemptions to be given to police. Laws must be equally applied.
    Police work is not inherently dangerous…there are many other professions that are much more dangerous.
    A little “Andy Taylor” could go a long way in allaying fears that citizens have of police.
    That being said, I have no problem with police officers who do their job in a fair, conscientious manner…however, it is time to call to task those police officers who only “protect and serve” themselves.

    • “10. All police should be required to wear bodycams and utilize dashcams that cannot be turned off.”

      That right there would more for LE accountability than probably any other.

      BS accusations of police misconduct will plummet when the accuser is shown on video to be lying…

      • “BS accusations of police misconduct will plummet when the accuser is shown on video to be lying…”

        I think you overestimate the intelligence of your average street criminal/assume they care what the truth is.

        Lots of murder cases are solved when the accused person confesses without a lawyer despite having been told they may have one/stop answering questions at any time. In some cases these people literally talk themselves onto death row when the cops don’t have shit for evidence until the suspect cracks. I’m not going to ascribe a lot of intelligence to such individuals.

      • Good cops actually LIKE body cams. They’re the same cops who have been buying audio recorders with their own money for the past 10 years or so.

        If I were a cop, I’d put on a high capacity recorder with my uniform and gun belt every day, and keep the dated audio files for at least a year.

    • It is a bad thing for people who are emotionally satiated when cops kill people.

      So basically all the sheepdog wannabes.

      • The wannabe “sheepdogs” would describe most of the retards in Illinois who live south of Joliet, send money to NRA & ISRA (IL state rifle association, the state tumor of NRA) the moonshine swiggers in southern Illinois who vote for Brandon Phelps, and the clowns who think NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde is a hero, because he claims Duty to Inform “hasn’t been a problem” in Illinois’ carry bill.

        In other words, losers who don’t know how to do anything else but lose, with G.E.D. level educations at best. Those who are too stupid to figure out that NRA, Inc. is their worst enemy, and think that the police are their friends, because they are “the good guys” and “we’re all on the same side.”

        The less education the asswipes have, the more likely they are to believe the lies peddled to them by sick users like Donald T. Vandermyde. This is the type of stooge that desperately wants a piece of plastic in their wallet, not a way to carry a gun legally as a free man.

        Meanwhile some sources show that more citizens in America have been killed by police since the invasion of Iraq than the number of U.S. servicemen that have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The P.D.s alter the death reports to the feds when they can get away with it. What would we do without the Thin Blue Line “protecting” us?

  14. Policing is becoming more difficult because paperwork demands are increasing on the patrol officers and district attorneys can’t get criminals to plea bargain anymore because they can’t use the threat of a conviction in court. Defense attorneys demand jury trials now, and juries in big cities are made up of people that distrust the police.

    It’s like the OJ Simpson verdict on steroids.

    • The funny thing is that almost everyone is getting what they asked for. The ALCU will get less complaints about officers (because there are less interactions). The politicians will get less ‘police’ scandals for the same reason. The neighborhood ‘community activists’ will get locked up less. Some types of crime might even nominally go down (because a lot of crime can go unreported).

      Except homicide. That’s going right up. But who cares, right? The Brennen Center for Justice tells me it’s not a big deal as long as you ignore about a dozen cities and all the homicides there.

  17. Don’t worry, “More dead soldiers” has the solution. Oh yeah, and all cops are bad because “More dead soldiers” can post a dozen links about such stories, what a genius lol. There are more than 17k Law Enforcement agencies in the nation, but “More dead soldiers” knows for a fact that all cops are evil evil evil.

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