I saw it briefly on the news. Gangs teamed up to fight the police?
I saw it briefly on the news. Gangs teamed up to fight the police?
You don't stay informed?
why are there riots in Baltimore?
Same shit, different day!
This was a no win situation for the authorities.
They wanted a minimum presence on the day of the funeral and didn't want a police show of force that might trigger something. If they had had a large presence it probably would have resulted in trouble and they would have been second guessed by the media for provocation.
They did not respond to the rioting and looting in a timely manor because they had not mobilized (see above). Had they moved on these scenes earlier, with inadequate numbers, they feared, correctly, that they would have been "flanked" and many lives could have been lost. There are reports from reporters that police had been surrounded by rioters and had to leave or be injured or killed. It's also the case that when police did move the rioters tended to melt away from that area BUT pounced on another area. Whack-a-mole anyone?
But, if they had insufficient numbers why didn't they call up the national guard? If they had done this before the rioting began it would have caused the rioting and they would have been blamed for provocation.
But, why didn't they have the guard on call and ready to go if something happened? Because if they had done this the story would have leaked out and that would have been blamed for causing the trouble.
In summary, there was NOTHING they could have done that wouldn't have either resulted in many more incurred or dead or been blamed for causing this.
Brian
Cops and their frequent abuses against minorities. You should check out the videos on youtube. Google "unarmed black man shot by police" & notice how many different incidents there are, with video evidence.
I definitely agree that there was some police brutality.
I saw it briefly on the news. Gangs teamed up to fight the police?
The difference is... ok, ONE really important difference is the presence of respected leadership. Today we don't have anyone like MLK who can unify and rein in so many fractious groups and put them to a useful purpose, and all that undirected frustration ensures that any action will quickly decay into mob violence.
What does police brutality have to do with looting 7-11's and burning down the city?
I'm sure the people rioting are real stand up members of society.
Can we make law enforcement body cameras mandatory already?
A lot of people that don't know what happened seem to agree on that. I wish some of the folks like you would go into police work, it would save a lot of time on investigations.
That being said I find it odd that police officers killing black people generate such reactions given that the vast majority of black people murdered are killed by other black people not in law enforcement. But I guess the community is cool with that. <shrugs>
-KeithP