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by rando18423 3646 days ago
Hold on you really don't think the Baltimore police will back off or hesitate before they do what they did again? The only thing that influences their decisions are if it cost them money or not????
2 comments

Of course for a short time they will, because they do not want to be fired for bringing unwanted attention.

But yes, I believe that will be short lived. There are no real consequences to their actions, and the riot did not change that.

So if you think a riot and damaging private property for a short window of kid gloves if you are black from the police is a win, then ok.

And to be more clear, yes, if penalties came out of their pensions instead of taxpayers pockets, they would change their behavior long-term.
You don't think having to stand down rioters, have molotovs and stones thrown at you by an entire community of people proclaiming they are fucking done with dealing with you around, have shots fired at you, have officers shot in their squad cars has any effect on long term behavior? Sorry I'm just sitting here scratching my head.
I can't tell if you are being serious or not, but there is no mystery and this should not be confusing to you.

Baltimore was far from the first "ethnic" riot[1] in this country and none of them have ever caused a lasting change in police behavior. If anything, they just reinforced the notion among police that militarization of police is necessary. And I stick by this track record for my analysis of the situation.

Now, there is some very recent activity to support your analysis. Namely, Baltimore has released a new "use of force policy" in reaction to the Baltimore riots.[2]

I am not immediately conceding here, because it is common for local governments to make token "changes" to placate the agitated after flareups, mostly to save their next election. Furthermore, as the article points out, this change has no teeth, meaning there is no external oversight, so these are all more "recommendations" than anything else. The attorney for the ACLU expresses the same skepticism that I have regarding the recommendations.

So will Baltimore be the first to cause lasting change in local police behavior? It remains to be seen, but if it does, it will be the first. Showing that historically, riots do nothing for long-term change.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_riots#1978_to_t... [2] http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-pol...