Thugs in Blue

"Power is what men seek and any group that gets it will abuse it."- Joseph Lincoln Steffens (1866 –1936), American journalist, lecturer, and political philosopher.

While I believe that most police try to do the right thing, there is a sizable minority that uses the system for their own advantages to satisfy their own psychological need for power. The recent brutal beating of a college student by the Prince George police at Maryland State University after a game, is another example of how out of control some police in this country have become. Why do so many arrests have to involve rough treatment? They don´t seem to have the ability to use restraint.

Of course people frequently say, "you don´t know what happened before", as if this somehow justifies beating someone unconscious. Violence should never be used on a non-violent person.

An unwarranted attack on a defenseless person is a flagrant disregard for the human rights and dignity of a person.

It really seems that some police find it difficult to arrest someone without some form of violence, either by rough handling or handcuffing and in some cases brutality. This kid was beaten for absolutely nothing, so some brutes could have a little fun. This was an act of rage, cruelty and sadism. Frustrated men, who should be taking their frustrations in a gym, couldn´t resist beating a helpless kid who probably weights a lot less than any one of these thugs.

This relates in some way to my previous article titled "No Mercy for Young Men."

As I understand it, this was not an isolated event, it happened before in Prince George. Unfortunately, this happens all the time somewhere in this country, except there usually isn´t a video camera to catch it. Police abuse is quite common in America and frequently it is not justified, police constantly deal in anachronisms. This is unacceptable behavior in a civilized society, these guys are criminals hiding behind a badge. To see one cop beating the kid and then the others joining in to get their kicks was a disgusting display of barbarism.

They acted like a bunch of animals or sharks going in for the kill. It must have been a fun day, one after another taking turns getting in their blows on a defenseless kid, and it looked like a scene out of a police state.

Those cops knew that the kid did not do anything to warrant that, but continued the assault for their own satisfaction. It appears to me to have been an intentional attempt to hurt this kid.

This was a cold blooded attack on a vulnerable youth, who did not harm anyone and even if he had, nothing, absolutely nothing justifies a severe beating like that.

It was pathetic to see this young boy being brutalized by these thug´s for no reason at all.

As I understand it, another kid was also beaten with no video cameras taking picture. In that case it probably is his word against the police and we know who will probably win. It almost seems they were looking for some kids to beat on and they were the unfortunate ones. I read where the second kid in this orgy of violence has had some memory loss.

That type of brutal beating can break bones and cause brain damage, which can happen with severe head trauma cause by heavy wooden clubs. As I understand it, the kid in the video was beaten unconscious, requiring stitches to close the wound.

A billy club is capable of dealing a fatal blow to the head. This kid received a concussion and could have gotten a blood clot on his brain; someone can die from a subdural hematoma caused by these clubs. The head is the area that should never be hit, only under the most extreme circumstances. Concussions can damage the brain and could cause problems later in life. Instead of heavy wooden clubs some other material should be used, that would cause less serious injury to the person.

The chief in Prince George said that "he was embarrassed by the incident," he should have been outraged, not embarrassed. But that of course would have insinuated blame and police never acknowledge blame.

Then he went on to say, something to the effect that a riot is a confusing scene to be in, which of course anyone can understand.

However, that scene was not confusing, from what I could see. This kid was skipping down the street towards the police, not away from them, and then too late, he probably realized it was not the place to be, as he was forced into a precarious situation by a cop on a horse.

I have read about cover ups in this case, from video tapes being lost or misplaced at the University by a campus officer, who was a wife of one of the officers involved, lying by the police to cover up the circumstances, to intimidating the victim.

Police cover-ups are an integral part of law enforcement. Police frequently lie under oath, the term used for this is "testilying" and yet very few are ever charged with perjury.

Stories are made up all the time, such as he slipped near the cruiser that´s why he has a black eye or bruises on his face or he slipped on the stairs, that´s why he has leg bruises, as if we are naïve enough to believe that.

The day after in another state was another account, a kneeling motorist being beaten. The Chief there said something to the effect that "the audio wasn´t on and that the victim had been swearing at the cop." Evidently, that justifies a brutal beating on a handcuffed person, the excuse is always ready.

If a man cannot be trained to control his temper without resorting to violence, then he shouldn´t have a badge, gun or billy club.

What we have here are type A personalities with dominant natures who love control of others and the power of authority to enforce it. The power to control another man in any way you want, is the ultimate high for these types of people.

There should be strict psychological testing to weed out those who enjoy and have a proclivity to this type of behavior.

I was in Italy last fall, while I was walking around a major city and a young man who appeared to be drunk or mentally ill was waving his hand and yelling. A little bit later a policeman appeared and tried to calm him down, the man would walk away and then come back, yelling in his face, this went on for quite some time. The officer remained calm by talking to him and trying to pacify him, finally the man left and stop yelling. I was thinking to myself, if this was the US, the man would probably be thrown to the ground and roughly handcuffed and if any resistance either by word or action would be clubbed. Minorities have traditionally been the victims of police brutality, however, the next are young males in general, such as high school and college students. Young people in this society do not get the same respect as adults; they are frequently treated by many police as second class citizens. Sometimes they frighten and intimidate these kids by threats.

Police are suppose to serve and protect not intimidate and abuse. I feel bad for the many good cops out there and there are many, but unfortunately, they are not able to speak out against the police thugs that they work with. If they do they will be shunned by their fellow officers, who can make their life miserable as the "brotherhood" protects the thugs. Americans should not be living in fear of the police.

It seems everything with authority is about embarrassment, never mind the rights or dignities of others. The church is embarrassed by child abuse, police are embarrassed by brutality, school officials are embarrassed by bullying, the military is embarrassed by Abu Ghraib, prison officials are embarrassed by rape, yet few of these institutions take the responsibility of admitted wrong. They never say their sorry about anything, these egocentric personalities see it as a weakness, when in reality it very much a sign of moral strength.

All of these institutions are aware of what´s happening and do nothing; it´s all about cover-ups and saving face, at the expense of the individual.

If this happens in open society what happens in the prison system? These are not isolated incidences; it is systemic in some police jurisdictions.

It has become fairly common these days to see police brutality in action, fortunately we now have video cameras to record it. God knows how many innocent people been brutalized over the years for minor offenses.

Frequently the police know who they are beating, as it really takes a lot of courage for several cops to beat some vulnerable 150 pound kid with no defense to protect him.

Every time this happens it gives more reason to think that some are not out there to protect, but to give in to their base instincts.

Even if you try to block the blows, usually the police will say they resisted arrest, when in reality they were trying to protect themselves, it seems the more you try to protect yourself the worse it gets.

A few years ago in Boston many people out on a nice day at an event and some were drinking.

A young man and a friend had stopped and noticed a heavy police presence. The young man made an innocent comment about how many police there were and a couple officers heard it, they pounced on him roughly hand cuffing him.

Evidently a great deal of pressure was used on him as he lay prone on the ground, resulting in him having cardiac arrest, then he became unconscious. An ambulance was called and the police involved with the arrest took off, leaving police who were not there prior to the incident to get involved. Later, the young man died in the hospital and after an inquest the officers were found not liable, because the kid had previous health problems, even though at the time he was fine. This is an example where police with massive egos couldn´t let a passing remark from a kid go, because of that, a young man needlessly died.

Police in Boston several years ago had some visiting police officers from the British Isles. They were there to offer training, it seems to given the impression that the foreign police were better trained and prepared for mob control than their American counter parts.

Are we reaching a stage in this country where the average citizen is afraid of the police for fear of violence for some minor offense?

It´s frightening to think that a simple traffic stop could end up with someone´s head being bashed in.

It seems that some police do what they want, knowing that they can get away with almost anything and frequently are not held accountable. Hardly a week goes by when we don´t see some video of a thug in blue beating on someone. I have had experience in the past seeing irresponsible police actions dealing with young people. Many police do not have the ability to deal with youth due to their lack of training.

There are also many cases where the use of tasers is abused; recently a teen was tased at a ball game for jumping a fence and running across a field. These tasers can cause heart failure or death and should only be used in extreme circumstances.

Unfortunately, the American public seems to support just about anything that police do, even if severe force is used for the most minor of offences.

There is a lack of respect for life and dignity of the human person by some authorities in this country today. There seems to be no mercy, no understanding, no compassion, just naked brute force, regardless of the offense, even if it´s minor. It´s here in the states, as well as our presence in other countries. I cannot understand the attitudes of the American public; it´s like the roman arena mentality.

There is something in American thinking that believes that if a person is being beaten or abused by police, that he must have done something wrong, and it´s alright to do it, it is a pretty insensate view.

People need to stop condoning police brutality, this is not a police state, at least not at this point, and they need to be held accountable.

A judge in Maine sometime ago said that many times the police themselves can aggravate what should be a non-violent situation.

These cops in Maryland should be charged with premeditated aggravated assault to cause serious injury with a dangerous weapon. Thugs like this need to be in jail and the police department needs to act like real men and apologize for causing this innocent kid such pain.

It will be interesting to see what happens, but knowing a juries partiality to law enforcement, I would be surprised if that happens. The more they are not held accountable the more it will continue. Authority needs to be questioned or it will do what it wants, at the expense of civil and human rights.

These types of actions reinforce the supposition by some that all police are short fused and violent, which of course is not the case.

While the majority of police are good cops who want to do the right thing, there is a sizable minority who is not, and is only in it for money, power, controlling others and satisfying their base needs. However, every time a brutality like this happens, it lessens respect for police. If they would weed out the bad ones and admit wrong doing, there would be much more respect for police.

Police departments have so called mission statements about respecting the rights and dignity of people, which are frequently just words, nothing more. They betrayed the very people that they have sworn to protect - the public. Shame on all those involved in this

charade.

There are so many things in life that don´t have to be, but they are, because people want them to be.

Brutality is a return to our animalistic primal past, the strong, the intelligent, the good and the humane will overcome it, only the weak give into their base instincts.