Comments by "Xyz Same" (@xyzsame4081) on "Cops Shoot Autistic Boy During Mental Health Call" video.

  1. "access to or reaching for" a knife - is that like "access" to healthcre. In theory it exists ...
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  2. @Abe Tsenoh Good comment !
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  3. Mother / family likely is not upper class (so being white is not that helpful . And disgust for the disabled can be very strong too. The All Lives Matter Folks are deflecting and they are to the right of the spectrum (normally). THIS victim is also not part of their tribe (a person like us). A lot of the disgust against physically and mentally disabled or ill persons comes from subconscious fear. That applies to police, citizens, ... And people leaning to the right are not good in abstractions. The statistics, the disabled child or the child at the border that they have no personal connection with, does not register. Not. Our. Tribe. They cannot muster any empathy until it hits them personally. Now if the family is squeaky clean (criminal record) lives respectably, and the boy looks nice on photos, and they are church goers .. (so an "orderly" family other than the "mistake" to have an autistic child) the right wingers might concede this went too far. If she is a single mum, and the boy has a record of misbehaving in school, I am not optimistic. Like I said, no abstraction - how to treat ALL disabled children, or persons. Fear: that could be their child, or the next child they are having. They are one diagnosis / accident away from being paralyzed or having troubles to speak after a stroke / seizure / heart attack. We all will die one day, and it might come much faster than we think. Humans are vulnerable, and have often no control. The ways to cope with that are often immature. The disgust and lack of empathy (towards diasbled persons) is the barrier to ward off those fears. People that tend to vote right, love norms, love and support authority, they love to have boundaries / borders / rules and to exclude people. There are always "others". That boy is not set up to garner sympathy points from deflecting right wingers (All Lives Matter). There is a good chance that they will not define him and his family as "like us" - so they will not do the case justice, nor will they feel empathy.
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  4.  @ajasen  private security do not have the legal power and protection of police. They do not have qualified immunity. They do not directly and inevitably ! work with the prosecutors. (They might bribe them, but that has to be done actively). The prosecutors depend on police.
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  5.  @ajasen  In other countries police (but also civil servants) are not allowed to have another job. conflict of interest ! Some overtime for police but they are supposed to show up well rested. Chauvin who killed George Floyd (and others from the PD) worked night shifts in a club ! for many years. Police work and working during night takes a toll. Now, Chauvin is a psychopath - but police in general have stressful interactions, and not getting enough sleep is not helpful when they are required to be level headed. They might cope better when they are young, but the strain adds up (working a 3 shift routine for instance in 24/7 manufacturing, like steel plants, lowers life expectancy). And over the course of their career they see haunting things. It is important that they have enough time to wind down after work.
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  6.  @ajasen  The U.S. can decriminalize drugs and start social programs to get low level criminals into regular jobs and apartments (would need investment into public housing, too). Then a LOT of violent and property crime would end.
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  7.  @ajasen  Interesting comment - in Portugal they only prosecute people that are caught with larger quantities. The petty dealers or users (people usually do it to fund the habit or to make a basic income) are funneled into restorative justice / rehab. There is plenty of useful work to be done. and even if it is not perfectly efficient (because the drug users or former addicts are not in good shape) - they are in a structure, they have company, and direction, and it is certainly cheaper than jail. Also: the indirectly avoided costs when they stay out of the court system, avided property damage (fewer burglaries, fewer violent crime if people stay sober or are on methadone or other substitutes). Portugal was overwhelmed they wanted to free up their police, court system and prison - and of course they never had such a corrupt police culture (incl. mayors !) that were eager to "get" people. So the processes do not evade the idea of decriminalizing drugs, they really try to get police, courts and prison as little involved as possible. The budgets were directed to social workers, and rehab. I did not know about the recidivism rates in N.Y. 68 % for petty crime / small parol violations is insane. and expensive. Housing is very expensive and ex felons are excluded from public housing ... if they have no family that can and will take them in .... they will have a strong incentive to make money with drugs or other illegal activities. I think safe use sites could be communicated to the neighbourhood, it would mean that security, medical help and social workers are present, no more needles, and the addicted usually avoid being obnoxious there. In Portugal the social workers bring methadone into the areas. they have their routes and the users know when to expect them. Might not work in the large U.S. cities for safety reasons (in Portugal the social workers can go into these neighbourhoods. In the U.S. it would have to be a certain spot where people can go. Ideally they can have food, a chat, medical help, laundry services ... as well.
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  8. Police that is trained in having fights without arms could do those welfare checks. (and hand over the restrained person to healthcare professionals, social workers or family). A social worker might be good in her or his work - but useless when it gets physical, and needs to get physical. I am sure there are welfare checks / interventions where police have the mindset of a father or mother at the back of their mind. They know techniques to subdue a person, and they have the strength (and the moves) and the willingness ! to do so w/o causing unnecessary pain or stress. I do not think it is so much a matter of of training. A fit, empathic officer could do it. A little training to know what to say and what not once they have secured the upset person (or an arrestee). But many people feel disgusted by disabled people, and also by signs of mental illness (among other things it is a barrier to the subconscious fear it could hit them or a family member). And if that disgust manifests in combination with arrogance, power, no accountability .... ego They will act on their bias, and cannot muster patience. They do not WANT to be patient. While trying to restrain a patient he or she might kick an officer (or nurse or doctor), if they are unlucky even bite them. Nothing severe - and the people serving have to endure it as part of the job. Trigger happy cops are even pissed if they have to run after a fleeing suspect OR person with a crisis. They are not willing to get in a direct physical interaction to humanely subdue an out of control person. They could get kicked or otherwise inconvenienced and a humble approach does not rhyme with the macho attitude.
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