Policemen should not be immune from our justice system.

[kentuck]

And they must not be.

If those in authority wish to resolve this dilemma in Ferguson, then they need to apprehend the cop in question and give him a fair trial by a jury of his peers. But that is not all.

They need to surrender back to the Federal government all of the military equipment that they received thru Homeland Security grants. They cannot continue to have these weapons and APC's to use in the future. The citizens need to make a stand.

Also, they need to re-evaluate the budget of the Homeland Security when our legislators are looking for programs to cut. The military budget or Homeland Security cannot be exempt from more scrutiny.

[Little Star]

1. Hear, hear!!!!

[Solomon]

2. Well Said.

Well said.

[FarPoint]

3. That's why an independent investigation is necessary.

They cannot effectives prosecute themselves. Delusional to believe otherwise. The blue wall and GOP politics protect their own relentlessly and at all cost. Murder coverup...its on their table of options.

[gordianot]

4. That is the central issue of this horrible tragic mess.

Police are not hired as executioners for the Public which they serve and protect. They do have a right to protect themselves but the secrecy lack of transparency makes this look worse. Justice is notably lacking in this case and every mistake seems to be compounded daily.

[Rex]

5. I agree and they don't deserve any special treatment when one allegedly murders someone.

As a matter of fact, helping the cop get out of town just makes him appear guiltier then hell!

[2naSalit]

6. K&R!!!

[rhett o rick]

7. k&r. Thanks for posting. nm

[SamKnause]

8. Police should be held to a higher standard.

They should know the laws they are entrusted to enforce.

They have complete control over the population.

What we have, are police who are held to no standard at all.

What we have are police that hate and disrespect the very people they are policing.

What we have are blatant in your face racists.

I feared for my life is their stay out of jail card.

I feared for my life is the excuse they use for their unlawful behavior.

It appears that the few bad apples have ruined the entire barrel.

[world wide wally]

9. And don't forget about the bullshit "Stand Your Ground" laws too

[therehegoes]

10. Exactly

Quo Warrantos should be filed to remove them and their leadership from their positions.

They should also be held liable since it is obvious they had malice. Malice is the one thing that will take away their immunity (I call it the blue curtain).

[whereisjustice]

11. with torture, war crimes and wall street crimes defended by current administration it will be hard

to put the moral hazard genie back into the bottle.

In economic theory, a moral hazard is a situation in which a party is more likely to take risks because the costs that could result will not be borne by the party taking the risk. In other words, it is a tendency to be more willing to take a risk, knowing that the potential costs or burdens of taking such risk will be borne, in whole or in part, by others. A moral hazard may occur where the actions of one party may change to the detriment of another after a financial transaction has taken place.

Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions.

Economists explain moral hazard as a special case of information asymmetry, a situation in which one party in a transaction has more information than another. In particular, moral hazard may occur if a party that is insulated from risk has more information about its actions and intentions than the party paying for the negative consequences of the risk. More broadly, moral hazard occurs when the party with more information about its actions or intentions has a tendency or incentive to behave inappropriately from the perspective of the party with less information.

Moral hazard also arises in a principal–agent problem, where one party, called an agent, acts on behalf of another party, called the principal. The agent usually has more information about his or her actions or intentions than the principal does, because the principal usually cannot completely monitor the agent. The agent may have an incentive to act inappropriately (from the viewpoint of the principal) if the interests of the agent and the principal are not aligned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard

[MohRokTah]

12. There are those, even here on DU, who would have them remain little gods. eom

[Jack Rabbit]

13. My, we are in big trouble

Nobody, not even the President, not even the Koch brothers, should be immune from the justice system. Equal justice for all is one of the principle ideals of American democracy.

If somebody as respectable a DUer as kentuck starts a thread for discussion as if there's some question about it, we are in big, big trouble.

[Enthusiast]

14. I'm with you, kentuck. K&R!

[Heidi]

15. Kick!

[malaise]

16. If Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell,

Rice, et al had been held accountable for war crimes, everyone would know that the rule of law is sacrosanct.
If the bankers had been locked up after 2008, if people hiding money overseas had been locked up etc., etc., people would know that the law is the law regardless of your position in society.

Cops have been covering up for one another for decades; prosecutors make up shit for career advancement - the entire system is a mess.

[tblue37]

17. True, but of course they *are*. KnR. nt