ù Quoting Tom Rightmer from a message to Steve Kemp  ù 
TR> Ok, where would you get your information from? What is ALOT? Would it 
TR> be 1 cop in a hundred thousand, one in ten thousand, one in a 
TR> thousand, what? Would your opinions be flavored by the media frenzy 
TR> when a single cop screws up? Was it just a gut feeling, or how did 
Unfortunately, there has never been a very comprehensive national study done 
like that on police brutality. Why? I don't know - guess it isn't a top 
priority. 
Also, your claim about the media is a little off ... while it is big news 
when 
a cop *really* screws up, as in accidentally being videotaped while beating 
somone, or sodomizing someone so horribly that no one could ever defend you, 
and its a relatively benign cop that does it (i.e., the cops involved in the 
framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal), it is a big media event. There's no denying 
at.
But you are forgetting the very important role that these cops that are 
publicly sacrificed play - that of the scapegoat. Think about it, when 
administrators in a big city have to deal with the issue of a particularly 
brutal brutality case, you never really here about what kind of conditions 
exist that would *allow* such a thing to take place. It is always portrayed 
as 
the evil, vicious, individual cop who must have been psychotic or something. 
Of
course, one wonders how a cop like that could be on the force for so long 
without *someone* noticing, but that's irrelevant.
The definite overwhelming message of the media is that, as you all say, 
"while 
there are a few bad apples, we have the best police force in the world, blah 
blah." Shows like Real Stories glorify cops and demonize criminals, even down 
to those "re-enactments" with some of the worst acting ever, where the cop is 
a
beefy John Wayne and the criminal is some low-life white trash drunk. 
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