General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I think the Baltimore cops were cowboying around resulting in the fatal injury to Freddie. [View all]HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)I think your time-line is right, but it's not playful horsing around and release of pent-up energy...it's criminal non-judicial application of street level justice. It's because many police see themselves as 'enforcers' entitled to dole out punishment. They've slid into acceptance of such illegal brutality as part of their jobs although it is not.
American police methods have come to accept imposition of pain as reasonable act to get compliance. Under such institutionalized rules any act of non-compliance can be confronted with pain at the discretion of street officers. Any self-protection/resistance against such brutality is called an assault on police, who quickly invoke -their- right to self-protection as justification for more violent acts.
It's not just a few bad hires, so called bad apples, the institution, the bushel basket the apples are put into, is inoculating the contagion into every class of police cadets that graduates and secures employment.