Anyone care to defend the threat to tase the students who asked for badge numbers?

[mondo joe]

I'm reeling from the absurd defenses of the university police tasing.

Is anyone prepared to defend them with regard to telling students who asked for their badge numbers to leave or they'd be tased too?

Would that be just another "lesson in respect for authority"?

[Buzz Clik]

1. When asked, the cops are obligated to give their numbers.

Threatening violence for this request is part of the entire package of the incident at UCLA.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. that is why the case is under review

period, as it should

[Caution]

3. Are people actually defending these guys?

They should be IMMEDIATELY dismissed. period. end of story. Anyone defending these two clearly didn't watch the video, clearly doesn't understand what tasing does to the nervous system and clearly doesn't understand that some people simply abuse their authority.

[mondo joe]

6. Yes - I'm told the tasering was just a "lesson in respect for authority".

And that the student is LUCKY he didn't get worse.

[Richard Steele]

8. Of course they are. *sigh*

Check out this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2741292&mesg_id=2741292

[mondo joe]

19. There are people saying the guy DESERVED what happened. n/t

[porphyrian]

4. The students were brandishing pointed questions. - n/t

[Richard Steele]

5. I'm sure SOMEONE will be along to defend that.

Seems like someone ALWAYS does, no matter what the circumstance. *sigh*
:popcorn:

[athena]

29. There is one difference.

The onlookers were not obviously of Middle-Eastern descent.

[smoogatz]

7. Questioning authority in the form of campus police, rent-a-cops

and 7/11 security guards is now a form of terrorism under the Patriot Act. Everybody knows that, fer chrissakes.

[Nikki Stone1]

9. To threaten someone who asks for a badge number is indefensible

I agree.

I can understand the school police panic over a Middle Eastern looking guy who refuses to show them ID, although chances are, a terrorist on an F-1 (student) visa would probably not be spending late nights in the library studying. What I do NOT understand is the testosterone rush that got them tasering the guy repeatedly (not just once) and threatening to taser witnesses who asked for badge numbers. I guess the cops felt insulted that they had been asked for ID when a student wouldn't give them his.

UCLA really needs to look into the way they train their school police, especially in this age of terror alerts. Universities take students from all over the world, especially well-known universities like UCLA. The cops have to learn better how to judge the truly dangerous from the merely irritating.

[mondo joe]

10. My guess is the campus police were just idiots with no skill or training in

handling a situation like this.

Don't comply? Get tased. And then the situation spirals.

[Nikki Stone1]

16. Yeah. That's why they panicked.

//

[Jed Dilligan]

21. Oh, they "panicked" did they?

Way to spin it so they look human.

[mondo joe]

23. You may have missed it, but I have made no defense whatsoever

of the officers. In fact I have been extremely critical of them.

Just the same, they ARE human. Being human is not a barrier to being a thug, nor is it an excuse.

[Jed Dilligan]

24. I wasn't replying to you

I was replying to Nikki Stone1. She says they "panicked," which sounded like a defense. They look pretty cool throughout the video.

I think these cops are a subhuman subspecies called homo porcus swinus, but I can understand your POV as well.

[mondo joe]

25. Understood. My apologies for misunderstanding.

[Nikki Stone1]

38. Last I checked, they were, in fact, human.

And what they did was a very human thing: freaking out and striking out.

[Jed Dilligan]

39. What they did was INhuman

I think they should be put down like the rabid animals they are.

[bluestateguy]

11. I refuse to take seriously campus police as real police

I don't care what their training is, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Who aspires to be a campus cop? Some clown who couldn't get a job on a real police force, that's who.

[mondo joe]

12. I haave zero problem with police - campus or otherwise. It's a job. But I have

a HUGE problem with what they did in this instance.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. FYI all campus police in my city

go to the same academy every other force does in this county

So you do not take them seriously at your peril

[entanglement]

22. self delete

[Irreverend IX]

20. Campus police are sworn officers like regular cops.

It's a cushy job compared to standard city policing, with higher pay and a much smaller chance of meeting deadly resistance from suspects.

[TriMetFan]

13. As an ex-cop, I can tell you...

that this is Bullshit! If this is how it went down, then the University police officer should be put on leave and a investigation should follow. Also where was this cops name tag and if there was no name tag how come there was no badge number? Could it be this "police officer" was just a rent-a-cop?

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. The rent a cops

went and got the badged officers, who proceeded to do this

They should be put on leave, an investigation follow, and then severely reprimaneded or plain out fired...

[JacksonWest]

28. I agree.

This is poor police action. Campus Police are indeed real police- and refusing to give your badge number is poor policy in action. Most police are taught, over and over, how to interact with the public, and what they are required by law to do or not do. Threatening force over a badge number is ridiculous-for more than the ostensible reasons. Policy at any police station is geared around working and living with the public-indeed serving it. Failure to do so fosters more crime and danger for police. It also leads to lawsuits.

So, yeah. Rent a cop or not-this behavior is unacceptable.

[Selatius]

14. You're a terrorist if you question authority!

This is the new note America sings.

[achtung_circus]

15. If you want my badge number,

(#1452), you've got it. If possible, you get my badge, ID card and my business card with a file number on it.

In Canada, tasers are only carried by supervisory personnel, Sergeants, for example. Many forces also have badge numbers embroidered onto the epaulettes for ease of ID.

Rent-a-cops need not apply.

[conscious evolution]

26. students who asked ?????

I'm confused.Were the cops threatening bystanders who were asking or the guy they were busting>

[mondo joe]

30. They threatened other students who went to them after the guy

was taken away to ask for badge numbers.

[conscious evolution]

32. OK thanks.

I saw the tape but didn't catch on that it was other students they were threatening.

Man I if was there there would have been a riot.I know this because I would have started it.
Fuck them pigs!!!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

27. It should be a lesson in respect, but not for the citizens

It should be a lesson in respect for the COPS- they need to understand that THEY are working for US. WE sign their paychecks. WE finance their weaponry. WE hire them to protect and serve US. It is NOT the other way around.

[uncle ray]

31. hopefully it will be by the time this is done.

[madmusic]

33. That's easy. The officers...

Declared martial law, suspended habeas corpus, struck the First Amendment.

It was an emergency, ya know. Our country's future depends on a quite library.

[BoneDaddy]

34. Come on

WE all know rent-a-cops pretty much exclusively want to be real police but aren't qualified, smart enough or may have a psychological issue that is preventing them from being cops. These folks usually have something to prove and often overreact.

I hope they lock up these "cops" and the kid gets a huge sum from the college.

[Garbo 2004]

36. Under CA penal code they're "real police," sworn officers, go thru POST certified training

and have police powers:

830.2. The following persons are peace officers whose authority
extends to any place in the state:
<snip>
(b) A member of the University of California Police Department
appointed pursuant to Section 92600 of the Education Code, provided
that the primary duty of the peace officer shall be the enforcement
of the law within the area specified in Section 92600 of the
Education Code.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=79159921801+4+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve

They're not "rent a cops" or security guards. Which makes their behavior all the more egregious and unprofessional IMO.

[BoneDaddy]

35. Come on

WE all know rent-a-cops pretty much exclusively want to be real police but aren't qualified, smart enough or may have a psychological issue that is preventing them from being cops. These folks usually have something to prove and often overreact.

I hope they lock up these "cops" and the kid gets a huge sum from the college.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. So the cops didn't provide their ID, eh?

Taser the fuckers.