America, We Have A Problem

I'm sure you've seen this video of Walter Scott being shot in the back by a Charleston, SC policeman, so you don't need me to elaborate.  It speaks for itself.



Obviously, we have a problem in American policing.  Here's Buster's bold fix:

• We start with a temporary law enforcement stand-down, nationwide, right now.  Every single police officer, sheriff's deputy and Barney Fife out there is, for the moment, off duty.

• The police will relinquish all guns, tasers, clubs, sprays, and other weapons immediately.

• All existing training programs, manuals, videos, etc. are cancelled and eliminated.  The "book" is shit-canned!

• All current law enforcement personnel must undergo a battery of painstaking, thorough psychiatric tests.

• Anyone with the slightest self-esteem issues, delusions of grandeur, sadistic or anti-social tendencies, a history of violence or racism, or anything else indicating even the tiniest bit of mental hinkyness or unfitness will be dismissed immediately.

• Those who make the cut will be completely and utterly re-trained.  Their figurative hard discs will be wiped.  Their new training will contradict 90% of everything they were previously told, and will make crystal clear what constitutes a genuine life-threatening situation and when lethal force is truly the only option.

• Upon their eventual return to active duty, all re-trained officers will wear body cameras at all times, of the sort which cannot be turned off by the officer.

• Weapons will be reissued selectively, only as needed, and on the basis of intelligence and good judgment, not proficiency on the shooting range.

In the short run, if this means we experience a shortage of police officers, if it means that black people are free to do things like walk down the street, stand on the corner, attempt to enter their own homes, drive with a broken taillight, or shop at WalMart, well, I guess we'll just have to suck it up and muddle through somehow.  In the long run, we'll be better for it.

We are the ones who pay for police.  We need to make it clear to them that they are employed to protect and serve us, period.  We are not paying them for harassment, intimidation, profiling, ticket-writing revenue generation, or trigger-happy enforcement.