Honestly not reading the thread so apologize if I’m repeating, but the cop was fired: http://www.ajc.com/news/local/cobb-officer-who-said-only-shoot-black-people-says-retire/8B3H64z17G9WrybtMj92tI/
Why wasn’t he fired a year ago? Because it wasn’t public a year ago. I wonder if cops actually get fired when there’s not public pressure.
If no one knew about it. Then how did the media get a hold of it? Someone had to know.
The two passengers in the car obviously knew but beyond that I have no idea how routinely police cam video is reviewed.
@sensation723 , clueless.
It’s apparent that many a poster right here is constraining themselves and not saying what they REALLY want to say.
The cop probably had a moment where he was frustrated, tired, felt under appreciated and overwhelmed. The cop said what he REALLY wanted to say.
We now exist in an environment where we need to measure, parse, evaluate and run thru a PR firm anything said in public. Because in the end…we are all somehow public figures. Whether at work, at church, at our local volunteer organization, at the grocery store, at dinner with friends, heck, even at home with family. So… the lesson here is to not have an authentic moment. To not joke, to not be sarcastic, to not engage in banter because YOU could be the one who will be on trial.
It saddens me, but also reassures me, that my now college graduate kids have learned this lesson. Out side of their ‘safe spaces’ they pretty much meter and throttle whatever they say. I guess it’s just a form of digital hygiene we need to teach. Could easily be added to the speech code curriculum.
Forcing a thought to go into hiding doesn’t change the thinker. It doesn’t change behavior and it doesn’t accomplish what the talk/though patrol wishes to accomplish. Quite the contrary.
Removing the ability to discharge a volatile situation with sarcasm, humor or a simple moment of human interaction will just increase the pressure in the cooker.
Sigh.
It doesn’t seem to be an isolated incident. I am reading around in all the links from the original article
It looks like the department is trying to address problems. Another officer resigned recently over racist comments and behavior.
Perhaps we will see more resignations there? Maybe the news station is doing an investigative article on the department?
Belle, CottonTales: You live there, right? What is going on? Thanks in advance.
There are some things you just don’t say. A doctor shouldn’t tell his patients “Man, you have a really ugly body” even if that’s what he thinks. A teacher shouldn’t tell her students they’re stupid and annoying even if they are. A pilot shouldn’t announce over the PA that he has a headache and just had a fight with his wife and wishes he could take a nap instead flying the plane.
And a cop should never, ever make jokes about killing black people.
^seems so obvious
^Yet sadly, here we are debating it. 
And this wasn’t some rookie officer either. One does expect more of someone in a senior position.
@Sue22 And the list of things you ‘don’t ever say’ is growing.
All of the examples are valid. Most PEOPLE have moments of failure. Where as those moments of failure either went unidentified, or put in context, they are now reason for public crucifixion.
Each of us WILL make a mistake. The chance of making that mistake within the context of ones’ professional life are not insignificant.
I guess each one of use should have a ‘Plan B’ for that eventuality.
I think that is sad.
Sounds like his plan B might be retiring.
“But even as Chief Mike Register was on live TV announcing the termination of Lt. Greg Abbott, Abbott was sending an email to the county announcing his retirement, Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said. Boyce said it wasn’t clear how that development would affect plans to dismiss the officer.”
Hopefully at full pension and medical benefits.
I think this is a different story if it is an isolated incident rather than a departmental problem. It looks like it is not an isolated incident to me. It’s always interesting how things are reported. Maybe we will see some more in-depth articles the next few days.
dietz199: How would you deal with a police department that has a culture of racism? How do you fix it?
I don’t know that is the case here. But it seems to be a possibility. What would you do if it is the case?
Before I’d jump to conclusions based on what ONE person said in ONE situation after an extended period of tensions and accusations of the group with which they identify- I would take a breath and look at things with open eyes. I would not throw it to the court of public hangings.
It is equally possible that this has nothing to do with racism. Unless of course our starting position on anything these days is ‘someone racist did something to prove they are racist and now we need to ‘out’ and punish them. Heads must roll, individuals must be drawn and quartered and someone must feel REALLY REALLY good about having taken down an obvious threat to human decency and equality.’
What I actually DO is simple. I no longer express an opinion, I don’t joke with people I do not know very deeply, I smile when conversations go toward hot button topics. I pour another glass of wine at gatherings where it’s clear there is only one acceptable world view (and I deviate from that view). And I have a Plan B.
The Police Chief is new as of this June. There’s a new sheriff in town…
New Police Chief:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/31/us/georgia-cobb-county-officer-racial-comment-trnd/index.html
Are you kidding me?!!
This isn’t a new phenomenon. What you consider new thing was once considered part and parcel of being a socially clued-in adult who knew there was a time and a place to say something and that saying certain things in an impolite/impolitic tone can cause one to be targeted for social sanctions whether justly or unjustly. One of those social sanctions includes the possibility of others refusing any further association with you on the basis of those impolite/impolitic remarks…including termination from employment.
Only difference is that what constitutes impolite/impolitic has changed…as it has throughout history.
One good example of this is how openly mentioning the word “underpants” is innocuous to most of us today whereas during the late 19th/early 20th century, that would have been marked the user out as being ill-bred/poorly brought up at best and judged accordingly because the use of the word was considered scandalous by Victorian standards.
Another was how not too long ago, jokes with racist/ethnic bigotry was considered widely socially acceptable and the targeted racial/ethnic minorities and their sympathizers often told to “lighten up” by the establishment if they complained.
Nowadays, the same behavior would get an entry-level/junior employee counseled and a session with diversity training whereas higher ranked supervisors or those in customer service/public faces of institution/positions of trust* are more likely to be considered for demotion or immediate termination.
** Thought experiment. How many second chances do you think even a new officer fresh out of the Service Academy/ROTC/OCS making a remark about launching a coup because the politicians in DC are complete morons or experienced military personnel making any contemptuous remarks about the POTUS while in uniform or doing so while publicly identifying oneself as an active duty armed forces member*** would get?
*** https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sgt-gary-stein-discharged-for-obama-criticism-scared-not-backing-down/
Nope Cobrat…not kidding you. You and your cousins have your experiences. My cousins and I have different experiences.
I take it you either didn’t bother to read the link about what happened to one Marine NCO was actually effectively fired* by the Marines for posting contemptuous remarks and publicly declaring he won’t follow orders of the presiding POTUS which is a violation of the UCMJ and also tends to be regarded by those in his chain of command at the very minimum a sign his level of displayed professionalism in making those remarks was such the service lost all confidence in him and had no other option than to boot him out.