http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6281942,00.html
The police is at fault because 2 morons decided to hide in a power station to evade arrest.
…
WHAT?!?
And I thought lack of personal responsibility was only disappearing in America…
If I ever run from the cops, I’ll make sure not to hide in a power station or bomb factory or nuclear waste repository.
Did we ever do anything like this after the Rodney King riots? Seriously wondering. I know the officers never got a retrial, but did we re-open the case or anything?
It seems like the french are afraid of angering just about every minority these days, to the point they end up doing this kind of stuff.
They’re trying to prove the teens died as a result of a police chase. Kinda like what they did here when there were investigations into police car chases and indirect civilian deaths.
Yeah that is pretty fucked up. I find the line about the officers chasing the teens by a power station to be inexcusable to hilarious. The officers where chasing the teens there, because that is where the teens were. The police were just doing their job. Hell if you limit where police can actively pursue criminals, you reduce their effectiveness and capabilities and basically keep them from doing their job.
What, you expect the lawyers and families not to blame the police?
Actually, you don’t do police chases if you endanger the lives of OTHER people. You don’t stop a police chase in the States just because the guy is running. There are TV shows for that.
Also, I think going into the power station should also be illegal, since it’s probably an area for authorized staff only, which is even more reason for the chase to continue even in there.
That’s why there was an investigation, to define the situation where a high speed chase would be warranted. Looks like in France they’re trying to go along similar lines.
Well, it isn’t as if the reenactment was solely conducted, after a year, because of 3 boys hiding where they shouldn’t. The death of the boys led to riots and a state of emergency later on. I think the reenactment is a show of goodwill toward the people who live in the housing projects.
One should also take into account the attitude of the police toward the citizens of the projects. The boys weren’t criminals, the police decided to do an I.D. control and I doubt they’d have done the same if the children were good looking boys playing in a high profile neighbourhood.
By happy coincidence I was reading about this- http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1957546,00.html today in a footy mag. Apparently, in Paris following a match between the hugely racist and anti-semitic Paris SG and (off all teams!) Hapoel Tel Aviv- in which Paris SG got righteously stuffed, the PSG fans went out and started beating up the Jewish fans… of PSG. Yep, they turned on their own supporters for being Jews. According to eywwitnesses, plain clothes cop goes to the aid of a supporter being attacked, tear gasses the attackers then draws his gun. However, he steps back and stumbles (this is the important bit coming up)- with his gun still trained on the attackers. The attackers decide this would be a good time to attack the gun-toting cop, and- shock, horror!- get shot in the process.
And the cop is held in custody.
When will people in our continent begin treating criminals like the criminals they are and cops like the heroes they are? 
The cops didn’t and can’t get a re-trial because they were acquitted. The double jeopardy restriction prevents it. We did do something like the Rodney King trial afterward, it was called the O.J. Simpson trial.
When will people in our continent begin treating criminals like the criminals they are and cops like the heroes they are?
Hopefully before I live there.
Yet another example of the police force’s obsession with delivering electrical shocks to people. Because, you know, that was their plan all along. In fact, I’m willing to bet they were just waiting for someone to run just so they could chase them into a power plant.
At any rate, the UCLA cops should take notes from the French. The French cops were smart enough to indirectly cause electrocution - so indirectly, in fact, that to the untrained eye it would almost appear as though they didn’t intend for the runners to go into the station. They also didn’t get caught on camera phone and posted on youtube.
“Can’t tag me, I’m on base!”
You made a couple mistakes. I fixed them.
Nebagram: When will people learn not to generalize entire groups into vague concepts of black and white positive and negative? In your case, assuming that anyone who enforces laws and anyone who breaks them is evil.
There are bad cops. There are criminals who should not be criminals (political prisoners and cultural persecution victims being the most obvious examples). Cops are not heroes. They’re human beings. Same with criminals. Some are good, some are bad. The good ones fuck up, the bad ones have redeeming qualities.
Infonick: There are some places Cops shouldn’t be allowed to chase criminals, simply because they become more dangerous to themselves and other than the criminals. There also some places Cops shouldn’t chase criminals, whether they are allowed to or not, out of self-preservative instinct and simple common sense.
Did the teens get nominated for a Darwin Award for running into a power station?
There is a difference between cops not chasing a suspect because of personal danger rather than not chasing because someone could get hurt. When dealing with a conflict, there is always that danger. Also, it shouldn’t be dictated by some law, it should be dictated by the officers at the situation. Hell, high speed chases are dangerous to officers, but they still have to chase the person. Pulling someone over to give them a ticket is one of the most dangerous things a pocan do since they don’t know what the person has in the car. Yes, self-preservation should be considered, but being a cop is naturally dangerous. Fire fighting is the same way, however, it has to be done and cops are aware of the risks when they take the job. Besides, people that take that sort of job usually want some sort of excitement. Situation dictates.
EDIT: Hell, there could be a law saying that cops can’t chase suspects into houses because a house could have many dangerous things that could harm someone. A blanket law like that would make houses safehavens and probably put civilians in more danger as a result. Cops have to be free to chase. If cops back off of a chase because of the danger to themselves, they won’t get in trouble, so they can preserve themself, however risk is a big par tof the job and risks have to be taken at times. However, preventing cops from doing their job with a law greatly reduces their effectiveness and increases the likely hood of chases happening since people will try to run to an area that cops aren’t allowed into. If a person doesn’t really have a chance of getting away, they are less likely to run.
As a note, I don’t know if the cops actually chased the kids when inside the area. My understanding is that the kids went there of their own volition to play hide and seek with the cops without the cops knowing; that would invalidate Arac’s argument.
Either way though, they went in there first. That was their call and their responsibility. The cops didn’t throw them in there for shits and giggles.
The article criticized the cops for being tactical and giving the kids little place to run. Imagine that, a tactic to corner someone you’re chasing. What a concept.
Infonick: I said self-preservation should be based upon common sense, the danger to others under what cops are and are not allowed to do. No law should enforce self-preservation, only forbid the endangerment of others; the Superhero-Self-combatbarrier, or the point at which the thing saving you does more damage than what it would’ve saved you from, and therefore should save you from itself. As for the comment about common sense, what I am referring to is that a cop, though his job is dangerous, is fucking stupid if he picks up a hand-grenade with a pulled pin as (unnaturally fresh and horrifically unlikely) evidence and examines it.
Sin: I don’t know, I wasn’t responding to the article as much as RPT’s comment about entering a powerplant. If it is illegal for the kids to do it because it should only have trained professionals who know what they are doing, chances are, you should not follow unless you are a trained professional.
I think the more valid criticism would be what the cops are chasing the kids for, exactly. I haven’t yet read the article, but from what Rig says, it seems as though they were being chased for essentially no reason, which is what the problem might be; if a cop arrests a guy for possession of a gun with an unwarranted search from a baseless traffic stop, yeah, the guy has broken the law and should normally go to prison, but the immorally obtained evidence of such is a bad thing. I think that’s probably what the criticism is meant to say, and the Guardian’s occasionally confusing English didn’t communicate that as well as it should have. I could read it and see, I suppose, but I really don’t give a shit about enforcers of laws I don’t believe in and dumbfucks getting into a large dickwar over whose fault the idiotic shit they do is.