We Reviewed Police Tactics Seen in Nearly 400 Protest Videos. Here's What We Found.

[Nevilledog]

https://projects.propublica.org/protest-police-tactics/



AS PROTESTS DENOUNCING POLICE BRUTALITY against unarmed Black people spread to thousands of cities, it was videos of police violence — this time, directed at protesters — that went viral. Clips showed officers launching tear gas canisters at protesters’ heads, shooting pepper spray from moving vehicles and firing foam bullets into crowds.

ProPublica looked at nearly 400 social media posts showing police responses to protesters and found troubling conduct by officers in at least 184 of them. In 59 videos, pepper spray and tear gas were used improperly; in a dozen others, officers used batons to strike noncombative demonstrators; and in 87 videos, officers punched, pushed and kicked retreating protesters, including a few instances in which they used an arm or knee to exert pressure on a protester’s neck.

While the weapons, tactics and circumstances varied from city to city, what we saw in one instance after another was a willingness by police to escalate confrontations.

Experts said weapons that aren’t designed to be lethal, from beanbag rounds to grenades filled with pepper spray, can make officers more willing to respond to protesters with force and less disposed to de-escalate tense situations. Not only can some of these weapons cause considerable injury to protesters, particularly if misused, but experts say the mere presence of the weapons often incites panic, intensifies confrontations and puts people on all sides at risk.


*snip*

[alwaysinasnit]

1. K&R Thanks for posting.

[Faux pas]

2. Kickin'

[Stuart G]

3. K and R..Thank You for posting..

[niyad]

4. KNR

[aikoaiko]

5. The problem of police escalation is at the core of problem.

Escalating and provoking a response from a person and then reacting with extreme force seems like an MO.

[Nevilledog]

6. Wolves vs. Sheep. It's what they're taught and how they operate.

[jaxexpat]

7. Makes sense.

Folds right into the whole, "dominate the battlefield", narrative that prevails when testosterone happens. People need some of their glands removed. I mean, we got agribusiness and wind farms already.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. ACAB.

[mountain grammy]

9. All I can say is

Fuck the police

[Duppers]

10. Wow! K&R

Wingers will call this fake news. 😞

[uponit7771]

11. K&R, "in one instance after another was a willingness by police to escalate confrontations." THIS !!

Then they scream they're afraid for their lives after someone gets killed.