Body-Cam Footage Raises Familiar Concerns About BPD’s Plainclothes Unit - In May, a Baltimore detective pointed his service revolver to the temple of a prone and restrained man.
Body-Cam Footage Raises Familiar Concerns About BPD’s Plainclothes Unit - In May, a Baltimore detective pointed his service revolver to the temple of a prone and restrained man.
In May, a Baltimore Police Department detective pointed his service revolver to the temple of a prone and restrained Baltimore man.
“Plain clothed police” is a euphemism, and in other countries they are called “secret police”
Funny how powerful language can be. When I first read 1984 in my late teens/early 20s, I always thought that big chunk of the novel where Orwell discusses the use of language as a means of control was dry, boring and unrealistic.
It has become clear to me since, that it very well may have been his most prescient point.
the use of language as a means of control [...] well may have been his most prescient point.
While I think Orwell's "newspeak" was contrived, it did illustrate the point in strong relief as something unfamiliar... at least at first. But I don't think he was predicting the future. Instead, I think he was warning the reader of what dangers are already with us.
Honestly, I think this has always been a thing. The spoken word is often inexact as a form of communication efficiency; if the other party has the same ideas in their head as you, pronouns, idioms, recalling past events, are all powerful ways to compress dialogue. However, that same inexactness leaves the door open for doublespeak, dogwhistles, and suggestion in place of fact. Language as a means of control is just in how you use it; the underlying mechanisms were always there.
My theory continues to stand:
If you want to legally threaten,kill and harm people because that's your fetish, be a police officer.
If you're really good at it you can even join the FBI or CIA. Hell you can become a judge if you REALLY want to ruin someone's life with zero to no consequences
DEA is also a decent option for a violent antisocial menace.
I feel this goes beyond theory at this point, sadly.
Was that the original title? Because that's not a revolver.
Edit: Ah the latter part is the subtitle, and it does say "revolver." Good job, "journalist."
In this case it is an important distinction. A revolver, if not cocked, requires a strong pull of the trigger to engage that double action system. A cocked revolver's hammer is just itching to go off, which in this situation is very bad.
The photo shows what I believe is a Glock 17 pistol. The Glock does not have manual safety mechanism, which means that if there is a round in the chamber, that gun is ready to shoot. Although the Glock has a single action system that requires a full pull of the trigger before it shoots, it is a relatively soft pull (I own two), especially when compared to a double action revolver.
The photo shows the officer exercising trigger discipline by keeping his finger off the trigger, but that is where the discipline ends. You NEVER point a gun at something you are not willing to kill. Killing a prone, restrained, unarmed man is murder, plus the ricochet off the ground would likely hit another cop on that dog pile. That stupid son of a removed would have killed at least one person and spent the rest of his life in prison. Absolute gross negligence.
If I was his commander, I would restrict him to desk duty for at least a year (effectively blocking him from overtime pay) and force him to take and pass a third-party weapons safety program before he's allowed to carry a weapon again.
and spent the rest of his life in prison
Hahaha I wish I had your faith
The article beneath the headline actually says
Johnson then put one hand around Joyner’s neck and took out his service weapon, putting the barrel of the Glock-22 to Joyner’s temple.
FWIW, headlines and subtitles usually aren't written by the journalist bylining the piece, they're typically handled by an editor who supervises a bunch of journalists reporting out a bunch of different stories and decides which to publish when (or, more likely, which to forward on to a committee of more senior editors who will decide which of those to publish and when).
So I'd bet an editor read through this story in about 90 seconds and then just said something like, "'Glock 22' obviously isn't going to tell the average reader anything because I don't know what that is, so let's just say 'revolver' because it's all the same to me. Now, on to the three dozen other stories I need to review because my bosses keep cutting our staffing and I'm doing three people's jobs."
The Glock has three safeties designed to prevent the weapon from firing if the trigger hasn't been pulled correctly. One of these prevents the trigger from moving backwards unless it is depressed inside the trigger guard. You clearly know all this.
The term you're looking for is "affirmative safety", one type of which would be the common switch on the side of the frame that prevents the trigger from being pulled until it is disengaged in an action distinct from pulling the trigger. The Glock does not have an affirmative safety.
Source: certified Glock armorer
The point of the article is clearly the unacceptable behavior of the officer but damn does it make my teeth itch when Journalists fail basic fact checks like Pistol / Revolver. I always wonder what else they got wrong.
The Glock does not have manual safety mechanism, which means that if there is a round in the chamber, that gun is ready to shoot.
How the fuck is this legal? Seems like requiring a manual safety mechanism on all firearms is a no-brainer.
Any of the folks who place more value in their ability to end another person's life on a split second than the safety of their own children want to chime in and explain this one to me?
I don't think it is an important distinction at all. The point of the news article is that an officer pointed a very lethal weapon at a person's head while that person was restrained and (apparently the correct term is) supine. Does it really matter if the pull force for the gun to discharge or fire or whatever the preferred term is happens to be 5lbs vs 8lbs (made up numbers because I'm not a gun nerd who knows those things)? The point is exactly what you talk about in your third paragraph, not what you talk about in the first two.
While the cop is doing horrible and dangerous intimidation.
It also my makes no tactical sense. Unlike a revolver if he shoots his automatic pressing unto someone, he'll have to at least manipulate the slide manually if he needs to make follow-up shots. He'll probably need to clear a failure to eject and/or a failure to feed.
So in short another angry cop doing multiple stupid and dangerous things.
His commander should kick his ass, report him for endangerment, and then throw him out of the police station like in the movies when somebody gets thrown out of a saloon.
I’d reprimand him but for other reasons. Pressing the slide up against a person can cause the weapon to go out of battery. If the officer did need to pull the trigger there is a chance it would it not fire.
Edit: Nevermind, after a closer look the officer has the flashlight pressed against the suspects face. Giving some distance between the slide and his head, it should fire just fine.
It also says the man is prone and restrained where the image clearly shows he is lying in a supine and restrained position.
He's also laying supine, not prone.
I don't know what this person did, but that's harrowing.
Even if he was accused of committing the most heinous crime, I don’t think this is an acceptable use of force on an already subdued suspect.
The police are to take you to jail and then court, not terrorise people.
No, neither do I.