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bioemerl  ·  3533 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Link to news conference announcing name of Michael Brown's Murderer.

Honestly, the name isn't important.

This one officer, this one case, isn't important.

What is important is what the course of action this officer took, and more importantly, how the police office allowed that to occur.

a) apparently shooting someone running away is justified

b) long standing issue of confirmation bias, sterotypes, etc, in pulling people over

c) long standing issue of cops being power-hungry assholes.

d) long standing issue of cops not having punishment for breaking laws, killing, etc. I say any officer who shoots and kills anyone without a weapon who is not actively attacking the officer or another person should be, at the very least, demoted and unpaid for a month, and at most fired. Also to be able to be charged by that person's family.

One cop changes nothing. Outrage over one incident changes nothing, but it can be used to promote change. That change will not come from attacking and seeking punishment of a single officer, but seeing that the punishment and standards are changed, and then applied in this very case.