My first blog post, this topic just cannot wait while I get the rest of this site together.
I do want to state that “Answers in Numbers” is not intended to be what one might expect from the name.
—
Sandra Bland, the arresting cop, cops in general:
What follows is my fairly lengthy, time coded analysis of how it appears to me that Ms. Bland was totally set up by the cop. I hope you have the time to read through it, and if you do get through it, I hope you feel your time was well spent.
Some comments on cop methods and culture along the way.
Found a 52:12 dash cam video of the stop that led to the death of Ms. Sandra Bland.
At 01:14 cop has completed his previous stop, Ms. Bland’s car first appears on the left coming to the intersection, about to make a right, she’ll be passing the cop who has just started moving.
Cop must see her car, he accelerates to make his u-turn for pursuit.
He’s already in pursuit, once stopped he will tell her it’s for failing to signal a lane change, um, has anyone noticed she hasn’t yet made the lane change and couldn’t yet have failed to signal yet he’s already hot after her. WTF??
For sure there is no way to know for certain, but given that cops train specifically to notice details it seems reasonable to assume he noticed out of state plates and a black female driver. Further, he knows the area, he can and probably does assume she is unfamiliar with the area, he’s got a cop brain advantage knowing the roadway expands from one lane to two at the next intersection, he’s likely expecting a no-brainer stop if she fails to signal no matter which lane she chooses.
Ms. Bland sees the cop coming up behind her in a hurry, probably wondering if the cop is on a call or if she is his target, she soon has that answer.
At 01:47, notice the pickup truck approaching the intersection on the right just as Ms. Bland crosses the intersection. It appears through courtesy or cautious safe driving habit or both that she leaves room for that pickup to complete it’s right turn without interference before moving to the curb lane, um, she had already been in the curb lane before the intersection, was a signal necessary or was the cop just begging an excuse?
Cop crosses the intersection at 01:53, Ms. Bland’s brake lights come on at 02:06. Did she delay in responding or was the cop just messing with her before lighting up, making her wonder?
Full stop at 02:18, 02:38 cop is at Ms. Bland’s right front door, sounds pleasant and respectful enough, usual cop at a stop talk, there is a “what’s wrong” in there, can’t tell what that is about.
At 03:12 cop asks Ms. Bland how long she’s been in Texas, how is that any of his business? Might be friendly chatter but with fore knowledge of what is to come it seems a step of the set up of his whole passive aggressive method of escalating the encounter in a manner that will allow him to irrationally shift blame to his victim.
At 03:47 he asks “Where you headed to now?”, again, not his business.
At 03:57 he’s got her papers, heads back to his car to do cop stuff, at 08:40 he’s back to Ms. Bland’s driver’s door window.
The execution of his passive aggressive manipulation is about to begin.
At 08:53 cop states “You seem very irritated” as though he has no clue how irritating his actions have been to this point, another passive aggressive cue point.
At 09:18 comes the first passive aggressive hammer blow, “Do you mind putting out your cigarette please?”. Note that he does ask in polite terms but in an escalating passive aggressive tone, he asks, does not tell or issue an order.
At 09:23 she explains “I’m in my car, why do I have to put out my cigarette?” and all hell breaks loose from here; 09:26 “well you can step on out now”.
I expect everyone who has seen this video or the pertinent portions is all too familiar with the rest by now.
He’s followed his passive aggressive method well, politely asks her to extinguish her smoke fully expecting protest, as soon as Ms. Bland does protest he can now accuse and charge her with being uncooperative.
If you’re a smoker and you’re cop stopped, yeah you want a smoke as things play out.
A couple of times I’ve had cops pull the same smoke trick with me, as I didn’t get jailed I guess I complied, or maybe I didn’t get jailed because I was a middle aged white male first time, a senior white male the second.
The outcome for Ms. Bland, a young, out of state black woman came out far differently.
Ms. Bland should never been jailed, sure should never been held for three days (probably more had she lived) under a $5,000 bond.
It’s not JUST this cop in Waller County TX, it’s the system he was trained to feed that’s as much to blame.
Now Waller County officials have gone into full spin control mode offering continual excuses about the edited video originally released, how the bag got in the cell, even going as far as trying to shift blame for her irrational incarceration and death to Ms. Bland herself.
So what if she had previous thoughts or attempts at suicide, she didn’t succeed, did she? She was quite alive as she arrived in Waller County.
Speculatively, what about the crackers in the jail, staff and residents both, staff at least apparently having knowledge of previous suicidal incidents?
Three days of disrupted life accompanied by continual taunts to the effect of “hey bitch, your life is fucked over for good now, why don’t you kill yourself?”. Did she succumb when the means was provided? Or was this an outright lynching?
—
I am personally experiencing grief about the demise of Ms Bland approaching levels I’ve only experienced previously at the loss of immediate family members.
And I am totally outraged at the behavior of this cop and the governmental bureaucracy that support each other.
—
Law enforcement actions MUST be above reproach at all times.
Certainly there are good honest cops, many of them. But even all of the best are still compromised to some complicit extent.
There is in cop culture a mentality of covering for Brothers in Blue, of going along to get along.
If you are one of the ‘Good Cops’, you already know who the bad eggs are by things said and/or done during routine cop activities and/or during social activities.
If you go along to get along and allow these bad ones to remain on the job, you are complicit.
Honest Cops, get after it NOW, clean your own houses.
Clear your otherwise honest and true consciences of the taint of cover ups.
If you’re an Honest Cop with nothing to hide you should be welcoming universal adoption of 360° body, vehicle and weapons cameras, they will confirm your correct behavior at all times.
If you are a cop squirming and whining about cameras, quit and work retail. Be aware there are camera system there too plenty capable of separating out human trash from honorable staff.
—
Corrective suggestions:
1) Redundant 360° cop cams, bodies and cars. Full functional test by specialist staff of all systems at the beginning and end of each shift. NO excuses allowed or acceptable for missing or damaged footage aside from damage caused by and during an encounter, such damage will be readily apparent by captured footage up to the point of damage.
2) No cop EVER works alone, cops ALWAYS to work in pairs. Individuals in these pairs rotate daily, no more getting comfortable with a partner. In this way, unacceptable quirks in behavior will be observed by many, rotten eggs can get sniffed out and eliminated. Departments with very small staffs will have to partner out with local County and State departments for exchange staff. Individual cops as well as departments will benefit from exposure to varied operational environments, no getting stuck in ruts, reduced cop boredom.
You honest cops, if you find the majority of your co-workers corrupt, get away, save your conscience and your mortal soul. You should not have to compromise your integrity, your moral compass nor your innate altruism for the sake of The Job.
3) This cop pursued and swooped on Ms. Bland obviously seeking the first petty excuse for a stop.
This mentality of stalking predators pursuing prey MUST STOP.
Means of assessing cop productivity other than quotas must be developed.
The Job should be to prevent and solve crime, not cause it.
Local governments that use cop generated fines and penalties as means of finance MUST find other means.
It’s ok for Cop departments to be an operational expense of local governments, Departments should not be expected nor required to pay their own ways.
Departments must be answerable to elected officials and ultimately to the public.
—
Incidents such as Ms. Bland’s, Floyd Dent’s and so many others have become so commonplace that the public trust in Law Enforcement has been betrayed to the point that every citizen must now fear for their very lives at each and every encounter.
We can have no clue whether the cop facing us is a Good Cop or not.
Will we be victims of passive aggressive manipulation and escalation during an encounter or not?
Cops, clean your own houses. NOW.
Communities, oversee your cops independently. NOW.
At this point, cops cannot be trusted to oversee themselves.
#BadCops
#sandrabland
#BlackLivesMatter