![\"MoCo](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Badge_of_the_Montgomery_County_Maryland_Police_Department.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Who will guard the guards themselves?”
\nJuvenal from his Satires (Satire VI).<\/p>\n
Our own Veritas Omnia Vincit is back with some thoughts on Police issues, and where bias, if any, is to be found there. The discovery of Police bias and its origin is the first step in dealing with the issue. Case in point- Ferguson. The riots were not really caused by the shooting of Michael Brown- that was the spark needed to inflame long standing grievances between police and the population.<\/p>\n
Anyway, here’s VoV.<\/p>\n
The policing of America, does an ongoing Stanford project indicate bias or will the study itself reveal its own bias?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Three years ago, an unmarked police car tailed Richard Jackson into an alley behind his home on Chicago’s West Side and pulled him over. Jackson, a black Navy veteran, had become used to being stopped by police for what he believed was no reason since returning to Illinois from the military in 2012.<\/p>\n
But this time was different. After an officer ran his driver’s license, then said he was free to go, Jackson pointedly asked what he had done wrong. The officer, who is white, said Jackson had cut him off, which Jackson denied. The officer then issued Jackson citations for failing to yield at a left turn and stop sign, which Jackson also denied.<\/p>\n
Although the officer did not allude to Jackson’s race, the veteran believed that was why he was stopped. He successfully fought the two citations and filed a complaint with the Chicago police.
\nThe military works hard to strip away racial barriers, we veterans have friends of all colors and backgrounds. We promise to defend the constitution and the ideas behind equal treatment under the law. Studies like this, while perhaps uncomfortable, are a good step towards improving policing in the nation and discussing what we want from police as citizens.<\/p>\nLike our politicians who are supposed to represent us, but now believe they are our leaders, the police were supposed to be the enforcement arm of we the people. Something has happened though to our police, and anyone considering themselves a freedom loving American should recognize that we the people have the right to decide how we want to be policed. Do we want a militarized police force? Do we want the police to have the right to stop anyone for no reason, ask for id, and then arrest you for failing to comply even without evidence of crime? My fallback position is always the founders, dangerous freedom or peaceful slavery. It often appears to me that my fellow American not only prefer the latter, they have been so conditioned by corporate media propaganda that they actually believe the government has the right to decide how to apply police force in communities as opposed to the citizens having the right to decide how the police are to be used. The consent of the governed was always a requirement for the founders, these days it\u2019s no longer required or even considered. The government thinks of you as a tax slave that they own and can utilize for their benefit while stealing your money your entire life. Then after promising they would conserve a portion of that theft for your benefit in old age they are failing to deliver on that as well.<\/p>\n
Consequently for me, a study of this nature on the realities of policing using a large data set seems long overdue. A study not funded by the government and thus not subject to government interference, a study that is a cooperative effort between two departments of a well respected university and a study that is opening the data sets up to everyone free of charge to be reviewed and analyzed by everyone who has an interest in such things. This means it\u2019s an open source review of the data. In the end the datasets can be analyzed by conservative groups, liberal groups, fiscal groups, anyone with the ability to understand the data can take the time to come to their own conclusions. That makes this ongoing project far less susceptible to claims of bias because the data is open sourced to the world.<\/p>\n
There is nothing more infuriating than an organization that investigates itself and finds no evidence of wrongdoing or bias. This study\u2019s nature is different from day one. The idea that it\u2019s an ongoing data collection set means data can be tracked in real time each year and policy changes can be seen to have an effect or not almost immediately.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve not had the time to run through the datasets myself, nor have I come to any conclusion or any hard and fast opinion on the merits of this study. As someone with a large extended family that is multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-etc\u2026my interest is personal as well as theoretical. These kinds of discussions in our nation are often impossible to have without someone being uncomfortable somewhere. There are some realities about crime in America that are uncomfortable for blacks and whites that we are reluctant to discuss.
\nWe all know there are race baiters in the nation making a good living off perpetuating racial stereotypes and the racial \u201cdivide\u201d. We all also know that much of that is great for news ratings, but doesn\u2019t exist quite as portrayed.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s hoping a study of this nature means that all of who served will be treated equally under the law regardless of skin color. Here\u2019s hoping this study is used as a tool and not a bludgeon for actual progress towards as equitable a policing situation in the United States as is possible.
\nI\u2019m leaving you without an opinion on the merits of the study, largely because the data set is so big it will take quite some time to chew through it. It was an interesting enough concept that I thought it deserved our attention and it might merit a bit of our time as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nVoV
\nLink to the article: NBC News<\/a><\/p>\nLink to the project: Stanford Open Policing<\/a><\/p>\n
Thanks, V. Keep ’em coming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"