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by rando18423
3641 days ago
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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. |
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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...