I used to think US police were probably good guys making the right call most of the time. When something fishy hit the news I tended to think “they must have had a reason.”
That put a crack in it for me, but it was 2020 that really spun me the rest of the way around. And not just George Floyd himself. It was how police conducted themselves during the protests - every day I saw clips of cops escalating or being brutal to protesters. And several more high profile cases of police brutality happened during the same time. I admit I can’t remember a lot of the names now but I remember them - the kid with the sandwich shot in the back as he tried to enter his home, the guy with the phone in his hand shot in his friend’s garage, the old woman who had her arm dislocated and was then mocked while the cops replayed the video and bragged about it. And others… And always it was that the cops were shown to be liars by video evidence.
I ended 2020 with the view that I believe nothing cops say about any situation without video evidence to back them up. I will never again assume they “must have had a reason” or assume they are making a good faith effort to be truthful. It’s been far too consistent that every time there is a controversy, a video makes liars out of them.
I used to think US police were probably good guys making the right call most of the time. When something fishy hit the news I tended to think “they must have had a reason.”
Then there was the killing of Walter Scott.
That put a crack in it for me, but it was 2020 that really spun me the rest of the way around. And not just George Floyd himself. It was how police conducted themselves during the protests - every day I saw clips of cops escalating or being brutal to protesters. And several more high profile cases of police brutality happened during the same time. I admit I can’t remember a lot of the names now but I remember them - the kid with the sandwich shot in the back as he tried to enter his home, the guy with the phone in his hand shot in his friend’s garage, the old woman who had her arm dislocated and was then mocked while the cops replayed the video and bragged about it. And others… And always it was that the cops were shown to be liars by video evidence.
I ended 2020 with the view that I believe nothing cops say about any situation without video evidence to back them up. I will never again assume they “must have had a reason” or assume they are making a good faith effort to be truthful. It’s been far too consistent that every time there is a controversy, a video makes liars out of them.