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Police show excessive aggression(force)when arresting people, making relationships strained between police and communities. This excessive aggression is seen in various situations, including these cases in the article below.

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My first Uber lift was in South Carolina. My driver was from Sudan originally, but had emigrated to the US 20 years ago. Being the curious sort, I asked him about his life in Sudan and why he moved. He said that he left when his country had crumbled too far, past the point where a reasonable person could have a reasonable expectation of personal safety, when all institutions had become corrupted making business increasingly difficult. So he left.

Detecting a hitch in his delivery when he spoke of coming to the US, I asked him how he felt about the US now, 20 years later. "To be honest," he said, "the same things I saw in Sudan that led me to leave are happening here now. That saddens me greatly, because where else is there to go?"

It's time to face some uncomfortable ideas about the state of civilization in the United States. This country is no longer the beacon of freedom illuminating a better way for the world. Why not? Because it has ceased to be civilized.

The recent spate of police brutality videos and the complete lack of a useful or even sane response by the police unions is shaping my writing here. But it goes well beyond those incidents and extends into all corners of the lives of US citizens now, as police abuse is only one symptom of a much deeper problem.

What do we mean by "civilized?" Well, take a look at its official definition and see if you note any descriptors that are lacking in present day US culture:

A civilized society, then, is one that is humane at its core, that knows right from wrong, and which does not need to conduct lengthy 'internal reviews' to discover if videotaped brutality is indeed showing illegal abuse.

Let's begin by examining a few recent cases of brutality, so many of which now exist that I have to narrow the field substantially in the interest of brevity. I'm going to skip over the one where an unarmed black man was shot five times in the back and coldly murdered by the officer in South Carolina, because that has already (and rightly) received a lot of media attention.

So, the first case I'd like to discuss comes to us from San Bernardino CA where a man being served with a warrant for suspicion of identity theft started to flee. Much to the dismay of the police, the last leg of his otherwise humorous escape plan involved a horse, forcing the cops to huff across the hot, dry desert on foot.

The video eventually shows the fugitive falling off his horse, throwing himself flat on the ground in total submission, and then putting his own hands behind his back. Two officers then approach and, in full view of the news chopper camera circling overhead, proceed to violently kick him in the face and groin, pistol whip him with a taser, pile-drive him with their elbows, and then move aside to make room for the other nine officers that also join in the violent 2 minute long beating:

Aerial footage showed the man falling off the horse he was suspected of stealing during the pursuit in San Bernardino County Thursday afternoon.

He then appeared to be stunned with a Taser by a sheriff's deputy and fall to the ground with his arms outstretched. Two deputies immediately descended on him and appeared to punch him in the head and knee him in the groin, according to the footage, reviewed several times by NBC4.

The group surrounding the man grew to 11 sheriff's deputies.

In the two minutes after the man was stunned with a Taser, it appeared deputies kicked him 17 times, punched him 37 times and struck him with batons four times. Thirteen blows appeared to be to the head. The horse stood idly nearby.
The man did not appear to move from his position lying on the ground for more than 45 minutes. He did not appear to receive medical attention while deputies stood around him during that time.
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told NBC4 he was launching an internal investigation into the actions of the deputies.
"I'm not sure if there was a struggle with the suspect," McMahon said. "It appears there was in the early parts of the video. What happens afterwards, I'm not sure of, but we will investigate it thoroughly."

Note the lack of civilized responses there from beginning to the end. A yielding, non-resisting suspect was repeatedly pounded by 11 officers using means that would land you or me in hot water (justifiably) on "assault with a dangerous weapon" charges if we did the same.

Then the beaten man was left on the ground afterwards without any medical attention for 45 minutes. The physical abuse nor the later disdain for the suspect's condition aren't behaviors you find in a civilized society. Successfully apprehending a 'suspected criminal' does not give you free license to mete out a brutal beat-down, at least not if your humanity is intact. But with these officers, that appears to be precisely what happened. The fact that it did is indicative of a culture in distress.

In the next part of this sad drama, the county sheriff had the audacity to say (in an obvious attempt at damage control) that he was 'not sure' if a struggle had happened with the suspect, but that it appeared that there had been one. Apparently, the sheriff needs some training in evidence review (or a new pair of glasses) because there's no struggle there at all, which is plainly obvious in the video:

Then the sheriff concludes with "what happens afterward, I'm not sure of,..." Again, anybody who viewed the video is very certain of what happened afterwards because it's completely obvious: the deputies kicked the crap out of a non-resisting suspect.

So obvious that less than 2 weeks after the beating, San Bernadino county hastily agreed to a $650,000 settlement in attempt to very rapidly put the whole thing behind them.

The only legitimate response from the sheriff, to show that the rule of law applies and that he and his deputies have morals and are part of a civilized society, would have been to say something along the lines of, "Assaulting a compliant and non-resisting suspect is never OK, and it is against our internal policies and training as well as the law. In the interest of complete transparency and fairness, both real and perceived, we've asked for an external review which will include citizen participation. Whether laws are broken by citizens of the police, our department believes 100% in equal application of the law because anything else erodes the basic perception of fairness upon which a civilized society rests."

Of course, nothing of the sort was said here. Nor is it ever said in other brutality cases, where instead we see the ranks close around the accused cop(s), which unfortunately communicates the impression that one of the perks of being a law enforcement officer is being able to dodge the consequences of the same laws they administer daily.

Here are a few more cases, all demonstrating the same unequal application of the laws:

In this next case, an unarmed, fleeing black male suspect was tackled and pinned on the ground by at least two officers. He then was shot in the back by a 73 year-old reserve deputy who apparently couldn't tell the difference between a revolver and a taser. A 73 year-old whose main qualification for being on the scene seems to have been his prior generous donations to the police department.

Tulsa Police Chase And Shoot Eric Courtney Harris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEhhcgFf5RQ

The above video is disturbing for many reasons, but especially because while Eric Harris is dying he says "Oh man, I can't breathe" to which one of the officer who happens to have his knee firmly on Eris's head says "Fuck your breath!"

Recall that one of the words used to describe civilized is "humane". Think about how far out of touch with your own humanity you have to be to say that to a dying person. Even if the officer didn't know Harris was dying at the time, he at least knew that he had been shot.

In another case, a man approaches a car blocking the street and asks for it to be moved. The violent manner of the officer's response would be a case of road rage if it involved another civilian and be prosecuted as a serious crime with multiple charges.

Man Asks Cop Nicely to Stop Blocking Traffic, So the Cop Beat Him and Stomped his Head
Sept 11, 2014

Sacramento, CA - A Sacramento County Sheriff's deputy is on paid vacation after a video surfaced showing him stomping on a man's face and hitting him with his flashlight after tasering him.

Undersheriff Jaime Lewis says that they are investigating themselves after viewing the video.

"There are portions of that video that clearly have caused me concern," Lewis said. "And that is exactly what has caused the department to initiate an investigation, so we can get to the bottom of it."

The man being beaten in the video is 51-year-old John Madison Reyes, who said the incident started when he asked the deputy, whose car was blocking the road, to move.
"I asked him kindly to move the car," Reyes said. "He glared at me and stared at me. And then, I said an expletive, 'You need to move the car because I can't get through.'"
"Let's face it, had the subject complied with the officer's directives from the initial contact and beyond, we wouldn't be sitting here talking about this today," Lewis said.

What seems to have happened in the above story is simply that the cop didn't like his authority being challenged, even in a very minor way, and he over-reacted.

The recipient of the beating, Mr. Reyes, was charged with resisting arrest. How is that even possible? It seems like there needs to be something you are being arrested for to resist in the first place. Something for which the officer has probable cause in the first place which you then resist? How can the only charge be 'resisting arrest'?

Sadly, many times after a confrontation has become physically violent the one and only charge applied is 'resisting arrest.'

Of course, that's a mighty convenient charge for some police who escalate a situation first, and then resort to using the charge of resisting arrest because, in the end, that's the only charge they have. And while it's not wise to resist arrest, there are hundreds of cases where people claim they weren't resisting at all, merely trying to protect their heads and faces from heavy blows, while the police were beating them yelling "Stop resisting arrest!" like it was a magic incantation.

As in this case:

Brutal LAPD arrest caught on video; Department investigating cops seen bodyslamming nurse twice during cell phone traffic stop
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating two officers who were allegedly caught on surveillance camera slamming a nurse on the ground twice - and then fist bumping afterward - during a recent traffic stop.

The two officers pulled over Michelle Jordan, 34, of Sunland, Aug. 21, for allegedly talking on her cell phone while driving in Tujunga, in northeast Los Angeles, the department said.

Jordan pulled into the parking lot of a Del Taco restaurant and got out of her car to confront the officers, cops said.

The taco joint's surveillance video appears to show the officers, both men, yanking the 5-foot-4 inch registered nurse from the open driver's seat and then slamming her on the ground to cuff her.

The duo then yank Jordan to her feet and bring her to the patrol car, where they pat her down.
Moments later, one of the cops slams the married mom to the ground a second time. After placing her in the cruiser's backseat, the two appear to share a celebratory fist-pound. Jordan was booked for resisting arrest and later released.

The pictures of the damage to this woman's face are disturbing. Think about what it would be like to be pulled over for a minor infraction, be yanked from your car, thrown to the ground, handcuffed, stood up, and then violently body slammed a second time. While she may have been using words that these officers found to be less than respectful of their authority, in a civilized society grown men do not violently assault the unarmed - especially handcuffed women. That's just sadistic and has no place in a decent society.

In another case from Baltimore police broke the leg of a man they were arresting, Freddie Gray, cuffed him, and instead of getting him medical help dragged him to a van obviously alive and screaming in pain from the broken leg. By the time that van ride was over, the man was delivered to a local hospital with a broken neck, his spine 80% severed, and he died a short while later. His "crime?" He allegedly "fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence," which, by the way, is not actually a crime, something the Baltimore police were forced to acknowledge in the aftermath of the incident. The police spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez initially stated that there was "no evidence" of any use of excessive force. I would counter that any time you shatter a person's neck after they are cuffed during a van ride, that's "excessive", by definition.

Again, the initial response by the police, which began as silence followed by the filing of an initial report that said Mr. Gray was "arrested without incident or force" reveals just how broken our enforcement system and culture really are.

In another recent case a mentally ill woman in Idaho was shot dead by police within 15 seconds of their arrival. She had a knife, the police got out of their vehicle, walked straight towards her and when she did not immediately comply with their commands, they opened fire.

Something Is Very Wrong
[note: an incomplete statistic was used here and has been removed and replaced with the following]
In the past ten years police in the UK have been involved in 23 total police shooting fatalities. In the US in 2013 alone there were a minimum of 458 'justifiable homicides' by firearm committed by US police. I say 'a minimum' because the FBI statistics are woefully incomplete because there is no mandate that police forces report their killings to the FBI so the database is certainly inaccurate on the low side. But taking that at face value, there is a vast gap between the number of people shot in the UK as compared to the US. Adjusting for population, US police officers are killing citizens at roughly 40 times the rate of UK police. 40 times!

How can this be? In the UK they've got hooligans and yobs, immigrants and poor people. They've got drunks and mentally unbalanced people too. And yet they somehow don't kill people in the fulfillment of their duties as public safety officers.

In this video you'll see a mentally deranged man outside of Buckingham palace threatening people while wielding knives. He was successfully apprehended alive by a patient and methodical UK police force that did not aggravate, but instead waited for an opening to make their move, which they did quite successfully using a taser instead of guns.

The problem, it seems, is that the US police have been trained to be highly confrontational and to escalate, rather than defuse, any situation.

Police in the US have shot an individual's highly trained service dog after showing up at the wrong address, and even a family's pet pot-bellied pig simply because they 'felt threatened.'

So the one-two punch here is that cops are trained to be highly confrontational and then to react with force - oftentimes deadly force - when they 'feel threatened.' See the problem here? It's pretty easy to end up feeling threatened when you are creating threatening situations.

That's a recipe for exactly the sort of over-reactive uses of force that are giving us the problems we see today.

An Occupying Force

If you saw the images coming out of Ferguson recently, you may have noticed that the law-enforcement presence did not so much look like police, but an occupying military. Snipers perched on roofs viewing the crowds through their scopes, tear gas and rubber bullets constantly in use, Humvees, the latest acoustic anti-personnel devices, and officers outfitted with 'battle rattle' that even made one Afghanistan vet jealous for its magnificent excess compared to what soldiers were issued in one of the most dangerous regions of the world.

How is it that a small mid-western city arrayed more hardware against its own citizens than you might find in an active Middle East war zone? Who really thought that necessary and why?

Exactly how and when did policing and crowd control in the US slip into a set of methods that match those used by occupying forces - like those of Isreal - who subjugate whole populations?

It turns out, by going to Israel and learning Israeli methods of crowd 'control.'

Israel-trained police "occupy" Missouri after killing of black youth
Feb 8, 2015

Since the killing of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown by Ferguson police in Missouri last weekend, the people of Ferguson have been subjected to a military-style crackdown by a squadron of local police departments dressed like combat soldiers. This has prompted residents to liken the conditions on the ground in Ferguson to the Israeli military occupation of Palestine.

And who can blame them?
The dystopian scenes of paramilitary units in camouflage rampaging through the streets of Ferguson, pointing assault rifles at unarmed residents and launching tear gas into people's front yards from behind armored personnel carriers (APCs), could easily be mistaken for a Tuesday afternoon in the occupied West Bank.
And it's no coincidence.

At least two of the four law enforcement agencies that were deployed in Ferguson up until Thursday evening - the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department - received training from Israeli security forces in recent years.

If the tactics and gear of the police in Ferguson looked military that's because they were. The purpose of APC's and m4 assault rifles is to go into dangerous battles and kill the other side first so you can survive.

I believe that one's training and mindset are critical determinants of what happens next. It should really not surprise anyone that a militarized mindset accompanied by specialized training and hardware has led to scenes like the one we saw in Ferguson, among many other places over the past several years.

I wanted to find out if the assertion of the above article was true. Had US police agencies really trained with the Israelis?

The answer is yes, beginning over a decade ago. Note that US police have been training for a domestic terrorist threat that has been almost completely non-existent, well below the statistical threshold that would seem to justify such advanced training and tactics:

U.S.-Israel Strategic Cooperation: Joint Police & Law Enforcement Training
Sept 2013

In 2002, Los Angeles Police Department detective Ralph Morten visited Israel to receive training and advice on preparing security arrangements for large public gatherings. From lessons learned on his trip, Det. Morten prepared a new Homicide Bomber Prevention Protocol and was better able to secure the Academy Awards presentation.

In January 2003, thirty-three senior U.S. law enforcement officials - from Washington, Chicago, Kansas City, Boston and Philadelphia - traveled to Israel to attend a meeting on "Law Enforcement in the Era of Global Terror." The workshops helped build skills in identifying terrorist cells, enlisting public support for the fight against terrorism and coping with the aftermath of a terrorist attack.

"We went to the country that's been dealing with the issue for 30 years," Boston Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans said. "The police are the front line in the battle against terrorism. We were there to learn from them - their response, their efforts to deter it. They touched all the bases."
"I think it's invaluable," said Washington, DC Police Chief Charles Ramsey about the instruction he received in Israel. "They have so much more experience in dealing with this than we do in the United States."
Also, in 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security established a special Office of International Affairs to institutionalize the relationship between Israeli and American security officials. "I think we can learn a lot from other countries, particularly Israel, which unfortunately has a long history of preparing for and responding to terrorist attacks," said Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) about the special office.

Here's the thing: your chances of dying of 'terrorism' on US soil are dwarfed by the chances of dying from practically every other cause of death in the US. Terrorism simply is not a gigantic and imminent existential threat that requires special hardware and training relationships with nations that practice the tactics and strategies of occupation.

Terrorism is not such a common thing that we need to define our entire crowd control methods around it, but a rare thing, and is really what's left over after a few individuals feel like every other option of redress has been stripped away. Which is why it's practically unheard of in the US, and most other civilized countries.

But domestic US law enforcement agencies have been training and outfitting themselves as if it's a top threat. Why is that?

There are not very many reassuring answers to that question. One is that our law enforcement agencies lack the ability to discern actual threats from imaginary ones. Another is that they envision a time when some portion of the civilian population feels as if it has lost all hope and options for a better future, and starts resorting to terrorist acts.

Either way, very poor answers.

A Dangerous Job?

One mitigating factor is to note that police have a stressful, dangerous and low paying job. Erring on the side of personal safety makes sense when looked at this way.

In terms of dangerousness, however, law enforcement doesn't even crack the top-ten list of most dangerous professions:

The death rate for sworn officers is 11.1 per 100,000 (2013 data) for job-related injuries. Fishing is ten times more dangerous. And even the 11.1 rate includes some deaths which were not the result of violent actions committed during an arrest, but things that tend to happen among a force more than a million strong (green circles).

Even if we assumed that half of the reported job-related deaths were homicides, that would make policing about as dangerous as living in an average city (5.5 per 100,000) but seven-fold less dangerous than simply living in Baltimore (35 per 100,000).

So a stressful job yes. An important job, definitely. But not as dangerous as many other occupations, which is relevant context to this story.

Good Policing

I would be remiss to not also point out other examples of great police work. We need to illuminate both what's wrong and what's right.

One of my favorite examples shows Norwegian police handling a belligerent drunk:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=66d_1394803929
Be sure to watch at least the first full minute, and note that this drunk is yelling, cursing, kicking, and generally 'resisting' and yet the police involved never rise to the bait, handle him with good manners and like he's a human being the entire time. Well done!

This next clip shows a policeman in Ohio refusing to shoot a man wanted on a double murder charge even though he really probably should have and would have been completely justified in doing so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJKyK6VqDI
The man wanted to be shot and killed by the officer who, despite being rushed, and having the man put his hands in his pockets after being warned not to, and even being knocked to the ground at one point, refused to shoot.

That restraint was quite remarkable and showed someone willing to place his own life in danger before committing to take another's. He said afterwards thathe "wanted to be absolutely sure" before pulling the trigger that it was absolutely necessary.

I do wonder if the two tours the former marine took before becoming an officer had anything to do with his unwillingness to take another life?

How To Fix This

Well I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it.

~ Charlie Munger

I think the solution to reducing episodes of police assaults on citizens is contained within the Charlie Munger quote above. The incentives have to be aligned.

My solution is simply this: every time a police department loses an excessive force or wrongful death case and has to pay out money, that money should come from their local police union's pension fund. And by law, these losses cannot be refilled with taxpayer funds.

Every single time a judgment is made against that department and the union pension is reduced, the retired and currently-serving officers will have to decide for themselves if they should keep the indicted officer or officers on the force who lost the pension all that money. Or decide if training and policies need to be adjusted.

I guarantee you that with the incentive to train and behave properly and lawfully now resting with the police itself, rapid behavior and training modification would result.

Moreover, I see no reason why the citizens of any given municipality should be on the hook for repeated violations by any public servant or office.

For some of the most abusive departments, the amounts are far from trivial.

U.S. cities pay out millions to settle police lawsuits
Oct 1, 2014

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this year that the city has paid out nearly half a billion dollars in settlements over the past decade, and spent $84.6 million in fees, settlements, and awards last year.

Bloomberg News reported that in 2011, Los Angeles paid out $54 million, while New York paid out a whopping $735 million, although those figures include negligence and other claims unrelated to police abuse.

Oakland Police Beat reported in April that the city had paid out $74 million to settle 417 lawsuits since 1990.

And last month, Minneapolis Public Radio put that city's payout at $21 million since 2003.

Just align the incentives and watch what happens next. The problem is, the incentives are just completely wrong right now, and taxpayers are footing the bill for repeated and expensive police behaviors.

That needs to stop if we want to see real change.

Conclusion

The police serve a very important role in society and I want them to be as effective as possible. They are there to uphold the law and protect the peace, which are extremely important functions. Unfortunately there are far too many cases where the police have acted as judge, jury and executioner to suggest that there are just a few bad apples.

Instead there's a pervasive atmosphere of hostility and force escalation better suited to war zones than maintaining civilian order. The lines have been drawn in many police departments: it's us vs. them.

Trust in many departments has been utterly shattered within some communities because the police hold themselves to a different standard than they do the populace. Police commit brazen acts of brutality and get away with it, largely because they self-investigate and/or because the local District Attorney office is unwilling to press charges.
But the recent cases of police brutality are simply a symptom of a much larger problem. Society in the US is breaking down, civility has been lost, and the country is rapidly becoming uncivilized.
This extends within and across all of the most important institutions. Congress is known to work for corporations first and foremost. Democracy itself is bought and sold by the highest bidders. The Federal Reserve protects big banks from the costs of their misdeeds and enriches the already stupidly rich as a side benefit.

DEA agents are caught in Columbia having sex parties with underage girls and drugs, and the worst punishment handed out is a 10 day suspension without pay. Nobody is even fired, let alone jailed.

"Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity".

~ Tacitus, Annals, Book XI Ch. 26

The FBI has just admitted that they had been consistently (and certainly knowingly) overstating forensic lab analysis in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95% of cases over a period of several decades. The cases included 32 that resulted in death sentences. Many people were wrongly convicted, but nobody from the FBI will face any charges and many of the states involved have (so far) decided they won't be looking into any of the cases to right the wrongs. The wrongful convictions will stand, an injustice that is incompatible with the concept of being civilized.

The Department of Justice has utterly failed to hold any banks or bankers criminally responsible for any acts despite levying a few billions in fines for crimes that probably netted the banks tens of billions in profits. For some, crime does pay.

I could go on, but why bother? The pattern is easy enough to see.

The US has lost its way. Fairness, justice, and knowing right from wrong seem to all be lost concepts and the trend has only gotten worse over the past several years. Without moral bearings, what's left?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke

Either the people of the US stand up and resist these accumulating injustices or they will get exactly the sort of government, and law enforcement, they deserve.

In the meantime, the challenge for each afflicted institution is to begin to recognize right from wrong, and in the case of law enforcement agencies, stop pretending like every single one of your million+ officers is a good egg. We all know hiring is imperfect and mistakes get made. Own up to them and let those who make serious mistakes experience the consequences. Rebuild our trust in your necessary and important institution by clearly demonstrating that you know right from wrong wherever it occurs and whoever commits the deed.

If we don't do this, if we allow the current trajectory to build more momentum, the loss of civilized behavior will reach a tipping point from which it will be very hard to return without much hardship, and likely, bloodshed.

In Part 2: Preparing For The Coming Breakdown, we analyze how the boom in prosperity seen over the much of the 20th century is evaporating, and as the pie begins to shrink, the means by which the players compete for their slices becomes increasingly brutish and violent.

Ask yourself this: If tensions are this bad now, while relatively abundant resources exist, how bad do you think they'll get during the next economic downturn or financial crisis?

Click here to read Part 2 of this report (free executive summary, enrollment required for full access)

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Rising Police Aggression A Telling Indicator Of Our Societal Decline | Peak Prosperity

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It's time to face some uncomfortable ideas about the state of civilization in the United States. It is no longer the beacon of freedom illuminating a better way for the world, because it is becoming more and more uncivilized by the day.

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Police being "provoked", resulting in hostile aggression.

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Police being "provoked", resulting in hostile aggression.

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Police show hostile aggression in this atricle when claiming they were provoked by provocation.

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A Toronto police officer and his brother told investigators they feared for their lives during a late-night encounter with a young black man in Whitby nearly three years ago, court documents show.

Michael Theriault and his brother Christian Theriault gave statements to police officers roughly an hour after the Dec. 28, 2016, incident, alleging Dafonte Miller attacked them with a metal pole after they chased him from their parents' truck.

Those statements, along with another one Christian Theriault made roughly two weeks later, were filed as exhibits in the brothers' trial, which began earlier this week in an Oshawa court.

The two men are jointly charged with aggravated assault in the beating of Miller, and charged separately with obstruction of justice for how they portrayed the incident to investigators. They have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors allege the pair ran after Miller, who was 19 at the time, then brutally beat him, continuing the attack after the young man briefly escaped them. Court heard Miller's left eye burst during the incident, leaving him blind on that side.

The Crown alleges the brothers punched him and at times hit him with a long aluminum pipe.

In the accounts they gave separately to police, the brothers alleged Miller was the one wielding the pipe.

The pair described smoking in the garage in the early hours of the morning and hearing voices directly outside. The brothers said they opened the garage door and saw Miller leaving the driver's seat of their dad's truck, while another person left the passenger seat.

They said Michael Theriault, who was off duty at the time, started running after Miller, with Christian Theriault following suit.

"Once he realized we caught up to him, he started swinging a steel pipe at both my brother and myself, so we tried to defend ourselves and stop him," Christian Theriault told police around 3:35 a.m. that day.

"He continued to swing the pipe at us and hit me repeatedly with the pipe all over and was hitting my brother, eventually we were able to stop him from hitting us."

Michael Theriault told investigators he feared for both his and his brother's lives. "All three of us were fighting and I did not know if the male had another weapon on him, possibly a knife," he said.

When asked where Miller would have gotten the pipe, Michael Theriault said it might have come from the gas line outside a home, while his brother said, "I'm assuming out of his pants." The pipe, which was shown in court earlier this week, is at least a metre long.

Both brothers told police they weren't injured during the encounter, though Christian Theriault said his head and limbs were sore.

In a second interview with police on Jan. 9, 2017, however, Christian Theriault said he had since been diagnosed with a concussion and continued to be sore.

An officer asked him whether anything had been stolen from his parents' truck, to which Christian Theriault replied: "All the change in the front seat was gone." He said the locks had not been picked or the doors pried open.

The brothers told investigators Michael Theriault was restraining Miller in order to arrest him.

On one of several calls to 911 entered as exhibits in the trial, Christian Theriault can be heard telling Miller, "You picked the wrong cars."

Crown attorney Peter Scrutton said the brothers could also be found guilty of aggravated assault for carrying out an unlawful arrest or using excessive force during an arrest.

Court heard earlier this week from a man who said he saw part of the incident through his window after being awoken by screams.

James Silverthorn, a district chief with Toronto Fire Services, testified that he saw two people repeatedly punching someone pressed against a wall. He said the blows were continuous and "very hard," the kind that could seriously and potentially fatally injure someone.

Silverthorn told the court a black male began pounding on his front door shortly afterwards, shouting for someone to call 911. He said the banging stopped, and some moments later, he saw someone on the ground in his driveway.

One of the two people from earlier was using what looked like a silver broomstick or pipe to "stab down" at the person on the ground so they couldn't get up, he said on the stand.

The trial, which is taking place before a judge alone, continues Monday.

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Brothers accused of brutally beating black teen told cops they feared for their lives - CityNews Toronto

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A Toronto police officer and his brother told investigators they feared for their lives during a late-night encounter with a young black man in Whitby nearly three years ago, court documents show. Michael Theriault and his brother Christian Theriault gave statements to police officers roughly an hour after the Dec.

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Police show excessive aggression in this atricle when arresting a teen after perceived provocation.

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A mother is speaking out after she says her 14-year-old boy was assaulted by Toronto police Monday evening. Video of the incident has been gaining attention on social media. Global News has blurred the video as the child is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Jamie Mauracher reports.

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Mother of teen says 'violent' Toronto police arrest has 'traumatized' her son | Watch News Videos Online

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A mother is speaking out after she says her 14-year-old boy was assaulted by Toronto police Monday evening. Video of the incident has been gaining attention on social media. Global News has blurred the video as the child is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Jamie Mauracher reports.

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As this article shows, police are known to "act without hesitation when responding to an active shooter". This can be a sign of aggression. An active shooter is someone that's attempting to kill people in crowded areas.

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Each year, law enforcement faces new challenges that redefine the profession. The term "business as usual" is never applicable in policing, as the landscape can change in an instant.

In order to stay abreast of trends, police leaders must constantly read and process information from many sources, because one thing is certain - if you don't read the tea leaves, you can get broadsided.

This article focuses upon five critical issues (in no ranking order) likely to challenge policing in 2019.

Protesters carry signs during a rally in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, July 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Related articles

Related feature

2018 in Review

As we turn the page on 2018, take a look back at the biggest moments in policing.

1. Active shooter response

If anything, 2018 showed us that law enforcement officers are expected to act without hesitation when responding to an active shooter situation. In many cases, there has been praise for the immediate engagement of the threat without regard for one's safety, with criticism lobbed when officers did not respond quick enough to stave off injury or loss of life.

While firefighters are cautioned about when and how to run into burning buildings, policy changes are dictating that police officers run into the "burning building" despite the risks. Sadly, we are seeing incidents where officers are injured or killed in this rush to engage an active shooter. Public pressure appears to be dictating police policy while undermining the basic tenets of officer safety in some situations.

The answer to this dilemma lies somewhere between where the profession was pre-Columbine and where we are today. Each active shooter incident should be analyzed and de-briefed with the lessons learned shared widely to mitigate officer mortality. It's perhaps time to take a step back and reassess existing active shooter protocols to shift the focus back toward officer safety without fear of public scrutiny and castigation. While there is no clear answer, having a dialogue is a good start.

2. Police transparency and public records

The average police officer will probably tell you they are well aware that their department phones, emails, text messages and alike are a matter of public record. But if you ask about their private phones, they will likely say that such devices are not public record.

Unfortunately, there is no hard precedent that will protect any of the information a public servant shares in the course and scope of duty. To the contrary, the courts are migrating toward a position wherein ALL information is a public record regardless of source. The term "reasonable expectation of privacy" is becoming more obsolete. To this end, devices are potentially subject to subpoena if they contain evidence that may be deemed exculpatory in nature. As if this isn't enough to worry about, add body-worn cameras into the mix and the associated public disclosure requirements, which vary by jurisdiction.

The media and the public's thirst for additional details about field activities are likely to increase in 2019 and beyond. Smart police leaders are already having discussions within their ranks about the prospect of increased transparency and crafting policies and protocols to reflect same. The curtain has been pulled back, and there is little forgiveness in the court of public opinion.

3. Officer recruitment

As the struggle continues to find new recruits and retain seasoned officers, it may be time for police leaders to admit they are contributing to their own recruitment crisis through their hiring strategies.

Here are some uncomfortable questions for agency heads:

How many good candidates are being disqualified for requirements/parameters the agency feels strongly about?

If law enforcement agencies across the country are confident in their respective screening processes, why are there still officers who break the law and commit crimes after they were vetted?

How many candidates who are deemed unqualified might have actually made better police officers than the ones selected?

Are the police officers' selection standards criteria moving targets depending upon the needs of the community and their geo-political environment?

Are there "gatekeepers" within agencies that may be keeping the better candidates from succeeding as a result of personal bias or preference?

These are the tough questions that need to be answered, and 2019 is a good time to revisit internal screening processes. The first step might be for police leaders to spend time reviewing recently rejected candidates to determine if some applications can be salvaged.

4. Immigration and sanctuary laws

There is no other way to address the issues surrounding immigration and sanctuary laws other than to state the obvious: it's a big mess. Some states are passing laws to undermine federal law, local municipalities are passing laws to undermine state laws, the federal government is threatening those who violate the federal laws and the states and suing the feds.

The best suggestion at this point is to encourage detailed internal documentation of all situations (arrests, detentions, releases, etc.) wherever applicable. Educating the public about the limitations under applicable laws and court orders is also a good start.

5. Police use of force and de-escalation policies

The 1993 movie "Demolition Man" with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes is about a futuristic society where the police do not use force and all critical field decisions are made by command personnel via live video feed to police headquarters. Snipes played a hardened criminal who uses extreme lethal force against the police who are powerless to respond. At the time of this film's release, it seemed like far-fetched fiction. In present day, one could opine that policing is moving in a direction to where the use of physical force by law enforcement will be severely constricted and live video could soon supplant individual decision-making.

The 21st Century Policing Initiative (21CPI) has been in the implementation stages for over three years. Many of the police-community relations elements of 21CPI have been validated and appear to be effective in most respects. However, the elements addressing the use of force have not been as seamless in the transition. Is policing better off today than it was before 21CPI? Is the term " de-escalation " over-used and confusing? Is anyone safer? If so, who? The police? The community?

The elephant in the room with 21CPI is the inconsistency between the past, present and future of police use of force. This consternation begs the following questions:

Is it time to revisit the use of force aspect of 21CPI now that the political winds have shifted?

What are the consistently acceptable "rules of engagement?"

Are officers hesitating before taking action thus putting themselves and/or the public at risk?

The 21CPI contra-argument suggests that de-escalation was already factored into existing police training and any modifications put officers at greater risk. One thing is certain, if the profession as a whole does not clear up the confusion, state lawmakers will enact legislation to redefine the justification for use of force. It's already happening in states across the country. It may be time to regroup.

Conclusion

There will no doubt be new and unforeseen challenges in the coming year. For the time being, police leaders should stay focused upon these and other issues that will carry over from 2018. We cannot predict what future crises await this noble profession, but we must ensure we do not allow the mistakes of the past to carry on into the future without intervention.

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5 of the biggest issues facing law enforcement in 2019

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Each year, law enforcement faces new challenges that redefine the profession. The term "business as usual" is never applicable in policing, as the landscape can change in an instant. In order to stay abreast of trends, police leaders must constantly read and process information from many sources, because one thing is certain - if you don't read the tea leaves, you can get broadsided.

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Key Findings in Active Shooter Incidences 

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Key Findings in Active Shooter Incidences 

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This article provides key findings between 2000-2018 in America with regards to active shooter incidences. This includes key findings on the shooters; locations, weapon types, and outcomes.

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This report encompasses statistical data regarding 277 active shooter incidents in the United States between 2000 and 2018. Each page focuses on a particular active shooter-related topic and has been designed specifically for law enforcement officers, other first responders, corporations, educators, and the general public.

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Active Shooter Incidents: Topical One-Pagers, 2000 - 2018 | Federal Bureau of Investigation

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This report encompasses statistical data regarding 277 active shooter incidents in the United States between 2000 and 2018. Each page focuses on a particular active shooter-related topic and has been designed specifically for law enforcement officers, other first responders, corporations, educators, and the general public.

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Implicit biases are when attitudes and stereotypes can influence beliefs, actions, and decisions made by an individual, even when they're not consciously aware of these attitudes or stereotypes.This is a problem with police due to these implicit biases contributing further to aggression shown by them when they're unconsciously making decisions about suspects, usually leading to violence and therefore a social issue.

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These group influences can further increase the authority stereotype for police officers, resulting in them taking on the social role of an authority figure. Subsequently, becoming overpowered by social role and using excessive aggression, as seen in the Zimbardo Prison Experiment.

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This is a website for tickets to a conference where the International Society for Research on Aggression is being held. This conference will include "a professional society of scholars and researchers engaged in the scientific study of aggression and violence" which is supposed to help spread the awareness to the causes, consequences and solutions with regards to aggression.

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the 2020 international society for research on aggression world meeting

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the 2020 international society for research on aggression world meeting tickets

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the 2020 international society for research on aggression world meeting  ottawa

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the 2020 international society for research on aggression world meeting  ottawa tickets

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The 2020 International Society for Research on Aggression World Meeting

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Eventbrite - The 2020 International Society for Research on Aggression World Meeting - at University of Ottawa, Learning Crossroads (CRX), Ottawa, ON. Find event and ticket information.

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Police can also take steps into resolving these social issues with regards to their aggression - with community policing; "community needs and public trust over traditional crime control methods".

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Photo above: Officer from the Somali Liason Unit speaks to a member of the Rexdale community in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo courtesy: Keeping Canada Safe)

Calgary Police constable Kirby Adolph wanted to eat lunch at Tim Hortons, but his companion wasn't so keen.

A few police officers were sitting near the entrance. Adolph's companion was an at-risk youth, with his own reasons for feeling apprehensive.

At that point, Adolph decided that he had to remind the teen who he was.

"You know you're with a police officer, right?" he asked the teen.

"Well, you're different," the teen replied.

As conflicting as it was, the teen's answer illustrated the success of Adolph's job and of youth gang prevention officers. A patrol cop for seven years, Adolph has spent the past three years as an officer in youth gang prevention. With Youth At Risk Development program (YARD), the constable ditches the uniform, plays hockey, and offers employment advice.

If YARD sounds unconventional, that's because it's based on the community policing model - a proactive form of law enforcement that more Canadian police forces are adopting in their attempts to improve community relationships and prevent crime before it happens.

What Is Community Policing?

As Public Safety describes, community policing comes from an entirely different attitude than traditional policing. At its core, community policing is a shifting of priority: community needs and public trust over traditional crime control methods. It relies on a more proactive form of finding solutions, from officers who have become familiar to locals over a period of time.

Measuring this approach's success is tricky. Evaluating through arrest rates doesn't fit with the spirit of the approach, which prioritizes ongoing commitment to reducing local problems. How well community policing works is dependent on how it's executed in a specific area, community feedback, and long-term crime reduction.

Officers from the Somali Liason Unit join prayers at a Rexdale, ON mosque. (Photo courtesy: Keeping Canada Safe)

Feedback improves when community members can identify with law enforcement. A report by the Council of Canadian Academies states that when a police force visibly represents a community, it's more likely to be accepted and seen as actually working. The effects of this may be even more pronounced in heavily racialized communities.

Most police departments across Canada have adopted the community police model, but in different ways. Community policing may take the form of a specialized unit for a minority group, such as the Vancouver Chinese Community Policing Centre. Others exist as small centres scattered across isolated or rural areas. Several First Nations and Inuit communities police themselves, under Public Safety's Indigenous Policing program. Some provinces are more active in community policing.

The Somali Liaison Unit

Canada is home to one of the largest Somali populations outside of Somalia. Many are newcomers; in five years, over 4,300 Somali immigrants arrived in Canada, a Statistics Canada survey reports.

Toronto's Rexdale neighbourhood is home to many Somali-Canadians, including Toronto Police Services' (TPS) Somali Liaison Unit.

"When you look at the officers, the first impression was these are the bad guys. You want to stay away from them and that is so wrong."

The unit was created following TPS' Project Traveller, which saw 44 people arrested in controversial drug raids in the Dixon Rd. area in 2013. As detailed in a Trent University graduate student's research, community backlash criticized how police treated Somali locals, with some viewing their actions as excessive and stigma-inducing. It describes how Somali youth in Rexdale may perceive police discrimination and unfair surveillance based on their race, class, age, or refugee status.

Omar Farouk, president of the International Muslims Organization of Toronto in Rexdale, says residents didn't think so kindly of the Somali Liaison Unit when it was first introduced.

"When you look at the officers, the first impression was these are the bad guys," he says. "You want to stay away from them and that is so wrong, you know? By being with them, by going out with them, their homes, to the mosques, to the churches it helps to remove that misconception, that misunderstanding."

"The community needs to know that we're here for good times, too, not just to come and arrest somebody."

Somali Liaison Unit officer Ammar Khan often attends mosque services in the community while in uniform. But the first time he did, people were afraid he was there to arrest someone. It's changed now, as Khan has been a weekly attendee.

"After the congregation is done, sometimes people even report crimes to me, you know, that I don't know if they would have done if I wasn't coming here regularly," he says.

Fellow unit officer Brian Beadman says it's especially important for kids to know they're around for community engagements. The constables run an afterschool recreation room every Monday and Friday, and take neighbourhood kids to watch sports. Their latest expedition was to a Blue Jays game.

"The community needs to know that we're here for good times, too, not just to come and arrest somebody," Beadman says.

Calgary's YARD

YARD's 2014 evaluation report paints a self-portrait of the youth who need the program.

Most are male, ages 13 to 16, who are still attending school, but have been suspended or expelled at some point. Many self-identify as Caucasian, Black or Indigenous, and almost a quarter are immigrants. Some live with single parents, others live in shelters.

When youth are first referred to the program, all, or almost all, their friends are in gangs. In a slide presentation of the report, further information was revealed: half of the youth admitted to or are suspected of being in a gang, and 52 per cent report knowing at least two friends who've had run-ins with the law. Almost one in five weren't afraid to flaunt their affiliations; 17 per cent had visible gang tattoos or attire upon intake.

"You can look at the big [successes] like graduating high school... but I think we more look at success in the small things."

With so many different backgrounds, it's important to Adolph that what he does is individualized for each youth. Each YARD participant is paired up with a cop and a social worker, who work with the youth in meeting whatever goals they decide to work on. Attending school, participating in sports, and holding down a job are regular concerns youth ask Adolph for help with.

The success is subtle

"You can look at the big ones like graduating high school... but I think we more look at success in the small things, like improved relationships at home or not breaching curfew," Adolph says, adding that some YARD participants have gone on to receive university scholarships.

At the end of the program, YARD's report revealed some concrete results: YARD graduates were less likely to join a gang.

Followed over time, YARD youth had a 68 per cent success rate in avoiding criminal behaviour. This was nine per cent higher than non-participating eligible local youth, and 36 per cent more those who dropped out of YARD before receiving support services.

For Adolph and his teens, just being there as a fellow human being can be enough to build a relationship. Adolph gets phone calls from youth whenever they're having family problems or probation issues.

"Once they realize we're not there, the things they tell us are confidential...we're not using it in an investigation. That's the way we build that trust," he says.

Officers from the Somali Liason Unit join prayers at a Rexdale, ON mosque. (Photo courtesy: Keeping Canada Safe)

Policing and public perception

Research compiled by the Ontario Ministry of Child and Youth Services states that around the 1960s the Canadian public started distrusting the police. Advances in technology like radio dispatching and car patrols caused cops to lose touch with neighbourhood residents they used to know personally through their foot patrols.

Most of Canada likes the idea of police. Statistics Canada reports that 76 per cent of Canadians have confidence in police as an institution. Visible minorities were only six per cent less likely to state this than the rest of Canadians.

But polls regularly report mixed approval ratings for local police. A 2016 Mainstreet Research poll states that almost one in two Calgary residents disapprove of the Calgary police; a 2015 poll reported that almost one in two Torontonians believed police treated certain races differently. This perception plays a role in whether or not Canadians will cooperate with local police, but also one that community policing might improve on with proper community consultation.

The challenge of funding for community policing

A study of Public Safety's Indigenous policing program reveals that from 2015 to 2016, many police forces racked up $7.4 million in necessary expenditures that the government wasn't able to reimburse. These costs include overtime pay for prisoner transportation and criminal investigations.

Officers in the program often criticized working conditions in the study. Broken down stations, inadequate lock-up areas, and understaffing were major shortcomings for them.

YARD's funding comes from the Calgary Police Foundation. Public Safety reports it takes $23,348 to fund a single YARD participant. It's the fourth most expensive youth gang prevention project to run in Canada. Funds have been spent on private tutoring, clothes for job interviews, and recreational opportunities.

Although it seems pricy, program costs are a drop in the overall police budget. In fact, increasing funding for community policing models may cut down on this cost, the Council of Canadian Academies' report suggests. Canadians spent $13.9 billion on police budgets in the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Since most cops are "generalists," the resources needed to train them can be a money drain.

Watch Keeping Canada Safe Thursdays at 9/9:30NT or online.

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Community policing in Canada: crime prevention through relationship building - Keeping Canada Safe - CBC-TV

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Photo above: Officer from the Somali Liason Unit speaks to a member of the Rexdale community in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo courtesy: Keeping Canada Safe) Calgary Police constable Kirby Adolph wanted to eat lunch at Tim Hortons, but his companion wasn't so keen. A few police officers were sitting near the entrance.

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What can contribute to police aggression?

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What can contribute to police aggression?

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Aggression cues can contribute to police aggression as these cues, such as a weapon, triggers people to act aggressively in response.
Group influences can also further contribute to police aggression as it is known to social psychologists that groups - in this case police departments - amplify aggressive responses partly by diffusing the responsibility to the group as a whole, instead of taking individual blame.

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Aggression from police results in society issues of strained relationships due to the distrust communities tend to have for police departments.

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Social Psychology Theories Applied to Police and their Aggression.

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Social Psychology Theories Applied to Police and their Aggression.

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Frustration Aggression Theory:
"frustration (the blocking of goal-directed behavior) triggers a readiness to aggress".
Therefore, frustration police experience from uncooperative suspects often leads to aggressive behavior - changing from verbally demanding to psychically demanding.
Social Learning Theory:
"aggression is a learned behavior by experiencing and observing others success, we sometimes learn that aggression pays”. Therefore, its fair to say police have been conditioned into experiencing and observing police behaviors throughout their training - yet sometimes some may come to the realization that the more you demonstrate your high status and power, the more you are valued in the police department.