Open letter to San Francisco protesters.

999nobody

A very honest viewpoint.


http://motorcopblog.com/2011/07/21/an-open-letter-to-san-francisco-protestors/?awesm=fbshare.me_AcpvE&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=fbshare.me-facebook-post&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=fbshare-js-large

Manic Moran

It's been getting quite a bit of air time around here. It didn't help that it came just a week or two after BART officers shot and killed a man on the Civic Center station platform, immediately coming up with Oscar Grant comparisons (A quiet contact turned lethal within a minute) (Video released by BART two days ago indicates a scuffle which involved a knife flying by an officer).

Another part of the problem was that no firearm was found at the scene. As of last check (yesterday evening) it was still not found. A pistol was found a day or two later, but it turns out, it was the wrong type.

To add further to the confusion, the coroner's report released yesterday indicates that the man was hit by two bullets. The lethal one, which entered his neck and ended up in his brain, was a .380 (Short-9), not a service-grade calibre, the theory being that the man shot himself. The obvious conclusion is that in the post-shooting chaos, someone grabbed the pistol and ran. Either to keep the pistol for himself, or for 'political' purposes, to make the police look like they shot an unarmed man. Conspiracy theorists are saying that with the only source of information on the death being San Francisco authorities, it may all be a smokescreen, and they're asking for a Federal investigation.

In fairness to the protestors, they're not all whacko. Most I've heard being interviewed on the radio aren't so much protesting the police, or the shooting. They generally acknowledge that they need the cops in the area, and they're have to defend themselves if they're getting shot at. They're more protesting that Bayview (not the best part of town, truth be told) needs to be given a little bit more attention from the city, both policing and by way of civic works, so that it can be pulled back from being the less stellar part of the city that it currently is. Of course, like almost any protest, some nutters will make things go out of hand.

The new SF CoP spent much of his career in Bayview, so he presumably has a handle on the area. However, the meeting he had with locals this week about the shooting turned into a shouting match, so he just said (and good for him) "If you can't discuss this rationally, I'm leaving", and he did.

We'll see how this progresses.

NTM

Eru

in fairness manic, how is protesting because the police shot a criminal and targeting them in riots supposed to encourage an increased presence to reduce crime?

Unless they believe that by causing a huge crime wave on the TV that it will get more cops but then it shouldnt be anti-police in nature.

Manic Moran

I didn't say that they were necessarily going about it the best way, just that the intent of most of them wasn't so much to protest the shooting itself, as the fact that their district is on the short end of the stick, and this kindof catalysed it.

NTM

WilcoOut

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18577094

gun recovered