According to Gingrich feelings trump facts.

[shunyadragon]

What a typically bird-brained thing to say. I mean -- downright dumb. The cases that stand out make national news. If it bleeds it leads. The thousands of cases where officers are punished for abusive force don't get reported, because they're not news.

Provide references please.

[rogue06]

Provide references please.

How do you provide references for things that the press doesn't report?

[Cow Poke]

Provide references please.

You want me to provide references on "matters that don't get reported because they're not news"?

As a former police officer, current police chaplain, and board member of a police organization on Texas Best Practices for law enforcement, I'm aware of a number of these. The reason they're not "in the news" is because they get handled in house.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems in disciplining bad officers is the same problem in disciplining bad teachers. It's UNIONS!!!

Currently, I'm part of a review of a police officer who seems to have an exceptional number of "use of force" incidents. Each of his "use of force" incidents is being analyzed and critiqued. I can already tell, from experience with similar cases, that this will probably end up in him "being allowed to resign".

[The Thinker]

FWIW, perception is reality. The media didn't challenge the "hands up don't shoot" mantra relative to Michael Brown because it was all about feelings, not facts. Most of the time, they don't give a flyin' flip about facts.

Did you see CNN rushing to fact check Obama's "everything is beautiful" speech? It's all about feelings.

That's merely a tu quoque fallacy. Newt clearly doesn't care about facts here, along with a large percentage of the Republican party. They want to believe that Obama has utterly ruined the country and facts really don't care much. Cop deaths have been down overall under Obama, yet he's still blamed for setting off a police/civilian war.

police officer death.jpg

[shunyadragon]

While all of this may be true it doesn't address the fact that the news coverage of crime stories has changed radically over time. "If it bleeds, it leads" has gone from a slogan to a way of life.

I believe your creating a strawman out of the press.

[shunyadragon]

How do you provide references for things that the press doesn't report?

It remains an empty claim nonetheless. There are judicial and department records of all actions by police departments. Again I believe your creating a strawman out of the press.

I would not rely on the press for the statistics or records for anything today nor 40 years ago.

Claims still need to be backed up.

There are problems with trying to document these claims, not due to the press , but . . .

Source: https://project.wnyc.org/disciplinary-records/

If a police officer in your community has a history of misconduct, can you find out about it? It depends where you live.

WNYC spoke to attorneys and experts in all 50 states and reviewed relevant statutes and court cases to get a national picture of a local issue. We found that a police officer's disciplinary history is effectively confidential in almost half of US states.

In some of these states, the law explicitly exempts these records from public view. In others, records are secret in practice because police departments routinely withhold them under vague legal standards or in spite of court precedents.

© Copyright Original Source

This site details the problems of geting records in different states. It is very enlightening.

[Sparko]

You want me to provide references on "matters that don't get reported because they're not news"?

As a former police officer, current police chaplain, and board member of a police organization on Texas Best Practices for law enforcement, I'm aware of a number of these. The reason they're not "in the news" is because they get handled in house.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems in disciplining bad officers is the same problem in disciplining bad teachers. It's UNIONS!!!

Currently, I'm part of a review of a police officer who seems to have an exceptional number of "use of force" incidents. Each of his "use of force" incidents is being analyzed and critiqued. I can already tell, from experience with similar cases, that this will probably end up in him "being allowed to resign".

"Provide References" is shunya's goto response. He thinks it invalidates the claims he is responding to, without having to do any thinking.

This should be our standard response to anything he claims from now on.

[Cow Poke]

I believe your creating a strawman out of the press.

YOU'RE!!!!! (Sorry, Rogue, I had to! )

[shunyadragon]

"Provide References" is shunya's goto response. He thinks it invalidates the claims he is responding to, without having to do any thinking.

This should be our standard response to anything he claims from now on.