First I am totally a supporter of the Police.
But deeply concerned at the growing herd mentality.
And aware of the stick together culture of our police.
In both Vic and NSW the past two decades have seen deaths that appear to be needless, and an apparent failure to investigate them.
Did 6 Police armed with capsicum and Tasers truly need to confront one unarmed man?
Said at first to have stolen a packet of biscuits.
Even old England sent such criminals here not killed them.
Now, we must wait for the whole truth, or the still in construction version of it.
But the shop owner says the man did not steal the biscuits, it was some one else.
And witnesses say the man was mearly running away while calling for help.
I fear the emerging culture within police forces.
One of impressing other officers.
A thousand story's exist, just one of mine.
* at the scene of a fatal car smash all present upset, a policeman, one of twenty on site ran past me.
Screaming stop that scum bag!
He never did, un aware he had even been called such, a state member of Parliament, Nationals, had committed a crime, driving with phone to ear*

Belly I have to agree with you.Last night in a well known large up market pub on the Northern Beaches,10 police and a sniffer dog walked into the Pub in a very intimidating manner.Some people bolted for the toilets.No one was arrested.

We don't need this police state mentality they have in the USA.They won't arrest the criminals with guns who daily do drive by shootings in Sydney but will come after a few pot users who do no harm.

I've seen police back down from the intimidation of Lebanese Criminal gangs.It is well known that the bikies run Kings Cross and the drug rackets,prostitution there but nothing is done.The ordinary hard working citizen is the milking cow for both criminals and Govt.Can you see a difference?

Arjay I am not targeting police doing their job, entering that pub that way is ok by me.
I live in a community that knows its police,and on the whole gets on well with them.
A good cop is worth far more than his her weight in Gold, more to a community than we can pay.
This mornings SMH has a story on this subject, it says being tasered is like haveing your spinal cord cut.
And the they are taking the place of Negotiating skills.
I think its true, but too that ,as is the case in any group, a culture, not unlike the unpleasant ones of past football bad behavior exists.
Walk in to a group of police, at a smash scene,or just on the street.
You can become the target of a game that goes too far,ego driven to show of.
Murders,no other word for it,take place,and rumors an officer used the gun but thought it was the taser.
You can bank on a cover up.
arjay I understand your thoughts and no doubt bashings and such happen in those areas, but I can not buy the police state stuff.
I think the drug dealers and their bosses are vermin,and often police or politicians,even as in the 70,s very rich men.
And its world wide not just here
Another story in the SMH, think it was there, this morning tells of great sums of money being sent over seas, by our police.
Uncovering corruption and police high ranked politicians involvement.
That will never change, unless we legalize drugs.
Prostitution?
Legalize it totally, take the drugs and pimps out of it take it off the streets.
But stop police bashing,stop them killing unarmed people, train them to handle the mentally impaired.
And leave them with tasers, but make them honestly accountable for their every action.
No police who cover up a crime in their ranks is worth while and should be in prison.

death by police
at least one per week
lets add in death in custody
and that die...for what[cause police can]

recall the thursday islander
his liver ripped in two...cause he 'fell'
the list is endless...but when did the rum core refine its abuse to an art..

death by police..numbers hundreds of 1000's globally
heck ten of thousands since invasion day

eurika stockade..was an early version of it
but how many blacks alone..[you know what fill 3/4 of the preison population]..the rest poor...plus a few whiite collar crims..the rest bail defaulters..or violating an 'order'

soon shoot you
[ok haze/taze..you
for a bald tyre or jaywalking

its a proffesion
what do the proffes to serve
or rather who....[when not revenue raising..or arresting protestors]

bah
a few bad apples
and the core [corpse]..is rotten

to its rummy core

One problem is the number of police that have been killed in the last five to ten years.

In a gun fight of old, it was kill or be killed, now it more a case of what can we do to save this person, often at the cost of police lives.

Police are on edge now, even when they pull a driver over.

Locking cop killers up fo LIFE, never to be released, would be one place to start.

If you threaten violence, then you should expect violence in return.

As I have always said to my kids, the best way to avoid any situation, is to not be there, as prevention is always better than cure.

Unfortunately, most problems stem from poor parenting, but try telling the do-gooders that.

Belly & rehctub,
We've found some common ground on this one.