pawnman

Not at all. That's why I think it should be a circuit deal. Remove the people with a stake in the outcome from the proceedings, bring in truly neutral parties for these cases.

First they need enough for everyone who volunteered to get one. Still waiting for mine.

It's not even a conspiracy. It's that judges and prosecutors are often elected positions, and the police union reminds them that union support will be key to re-election. One thing that might improve this is if we moved to a circuit court model whenever a police officer is tried for a crime. Remove the local prosecutors and judges that work hand-in-hand with the police in that area on a daily basis from the equation.

Well, clearly this won't be productive anymore. Hope you never find yourself on the wrong side of a baton.

Couldn't tell you...but I can tell you there are a high number of cases where they are no longer pilots. Most cops just move to a new district.

Do you think people in any of these cases would have been acquitted if they were not police officers? Would a random 2A advocate have been found not guilty for shooting Tamir Rice under similar circumstances? Would a random passerby have been found not guilty after beating a homeless man to death? This is EXACTLY the lack of accountability I'm talking about. Judges and prosecutors don't put much effort into prosecuting cops so they don't offend the police unions for their next re-election. That guy that was fired from the Cleveland? He's a cop in a neighboring district. Real accountability there. The only ones held accountable were the taxpayers of the city, who had to shell out $6 million for a cop who couldn't be bothered to shout some instructions before pulling the trigger.

I'm implying it happens more often than it should, and there's no accountability. There's a standard set of maneuvers: 1. Suspect was dangerous even though they were armed 2. Suspect had a bunch of prior problems with the law (even though this is completely irrelevant to the event being discussed). 3. Cops are heroes who risk their lives, cop safety should come first (if that's the case...don't take a job where your safety is in danger, maybe?) 4. Police union protests any politician that tries to hold said cop accountable. There's a plethora of cases to choose from. Go ahead, defend the shooting of Tamir Rice. Or the beating of Kelley Thomas. Or Freddie Gray - killing a suspect IN CUSTODY? Come on.

You really think there's the same level of accountability? That the whole "thin blue line" thing is just a liberal conspiracy theory to make police look bad? That the incredibly low conviction rate of officers caught ON CAMERA using force on unarmed people is because all cops are doing a really great job? And you think I'VE swallowed the propaganda.

And I'd think someone who grew up in the debrief and accountability culture of aviation would be more willing to apply that culture to our civil servants, but here we are.

In the words of comedian Steve Hoffstetter - 'I’ve never flown a helicopter. But if I saw one in a tree, I could still be like, ‘Dude fucked up. It’s not supposed to be up there. That’s pilot error.'

Should be automatic. Your recruiter should have the details. I do this for ROTC and the cadre enter these in the system.

Yes. Verbal and quantitative use your best score. Rated career fields use your most recent score for those fields - pilot, nav, ABM.

The issue is that there isn't a lot of infrastructure labor that isn't skilled in some sort of way. We don't need paths cleared through the mountains, we need major civil engineering work. I'd argue there's plenty of grunt work to be done after the civil engineers figure out what to do. The guys shoveling a new layer of blacktop onto a highway before the steamroller smooths it out don't need engineering degrees.

Maybe we can revisit the CCC and work on some of that crumbling infrastructure we hear so much about. We're already spending trillions on Covid bailouts. May as well get something for those tax dollars.

You think he'd have just collapsed and died on the street without Chauvin kneeling on his windpipe? Fucking hell, no wonder you think cops are perfect. Can't wait for the defense of the guy who shot Tamir Rice next.

So we should expect those cops standing around while Chauvin killed Floyd to testify at Chauvin's trial, then?

Didn't have a whole lot of fellow B-1 folks rushing to his defense. Maybe we just need an aviator union that forces every pilot to side with every other pilot, no matter what they've done wrong.

ITS ON FUCKING VIDEO! He told the cop he was armed and asked for instructions. The cop said he wanted his ID. Castile TOLD him the ID was in his pocket. Cop still wanted ID. Castile reached for the ID and the cop shot him. Being high is not a capital offense.

If they're cleared of wrongdoing, fine. But there are far too many examples of cops who are fired by one city and hired a month later at another city. Additionally, the entire culture of the "thin blue line" and refusing to "rat out" your fellow officers means that a lot of those acquittals only come because fellow officers are intimidated into not testifying, even when there's clear evidence of wrong-doing. Maybe you guys have faith in a system that acquits the cop who shot Philando Castile for complying with directions, or acquits two police officers for beating a man to death on camera, or finds no fault in police managing to kill and unarmed, handcuffed suspect already in custody. To me, that doesn't look like accountability, no matter how many statements the mayor makes about it. But I'm clearly outnumbered, so I'll tap out of this part of the conversation.

I'm also a fan of equality under the law.

I'd feel worse for them if there were a consequence beyond "go sit at home and collect a paycheck for a month, then come back to work"

I've not seen many cops thrown under the bus. Usually the opposite.

When was the last time an officer was convicted of killing someone?

Seen a lot of practical examples in a lot of states. Couldn't tell you what the law as written says in every state. I can tell you it is very rare for police to be put on trial, and even more rare for a conviction. And even if they are fired from one police department, they get hired at a neighboring police department a couple months later.