As the wife of an officer in a large metropolitan city, I feel compelled to make a suggestion, especially to those who may feel the police are too overly militarized or prone to rampant brutality. First, let me be clear about 2 things so that no one here feels as though I am trying to start an argument, because that is not my intention: #1this is coming from a former police-hating wild child who suddenly found herself married to a LEO when he up and decided 7 years in, he wanted to be a cop(i have seen both sides of the coin). #2 I am in no way negating the fact that there ARE officers who have abused their authority, they are in the extreme minority and should be wearing prison orange instead of blue. Darren Wilson is not in this minority. If you truly want to understand the hows and whys of a Police Departments' Standard Operational Procedures, many agencies allow civilians to go on what are called "ride alongs". If your local agency allows them, I highly suggest taking one. Although, one 8-12 hour shift won't reveal all of the possible scenarios that LEOs face on a day to day basis, it's quite eye opening. 8-10 hours is also plenty of time to ask lots of questions.
As far as commenting on how the police in America(or anywhere)SHOULD be handing their jobs, Please make sure to arm yourself with the proper information, and remember, you are not a LEO, you have no idea of the stresses of the job as a whole. There are plenty of resources for numbers, statistics, general clarification on what the truth about law enforcement really is, etc.(National Police Wives Association, PoliceOnedotcom, NLEOMF, National FBI Statistics,etc), and a whole lot more.
I do not mean to negate or disparage your schooling, Whisky, I mean no offense to your education, Politics and Criminology, as far as I understand them(please correct me if needed) doesn't so much focus on LE procedures, training and policies but on understanding criminal behavior and how to recognize, control and prevent it. You are correct that everyone is entitled to due process and a trial. The grand jury is the second step of that process, after a thorough investigation, to determine whether or not there was a reason to charge him with a crime. There wasn't. He acted lawfully within the scope of his job description. You can't just put someone on trial because the whole world demands it. Both parties are entitled to due process, not just the 'victim'. And please understand, I know being married to a cop in no way makes me an expert, but my new found exposure to the LE lifestyle and its idiosyncrasies over the last 8 years has been quite an "educational" experience. One that has oftentimes been a downright rude awakening. Not to mention, infuriating and heartbreaking. To touch just a little bit on that whole militarized approach to responding to potentially deadly riot situations? There has been a recent trend, since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, in which young gang members (who have not yet been in a whole lot of trouble with the law) enlist, go to basic training, deploy and when they come home, are now highly skilled soldiers who then train their gang brothers and sisters in the ways of military combat. Iraq is the perfect training ground as our soldiers are fighting in sometimes urban areas. There are also myriad ways for them to access high quality, high capacity weapons (that would otherwise be only available to LE or the military) illegally. This, in the grand scheme of things, means that with todays technology, cops are potentially outgunned and also having to fend off dangerous criminals who may even have better close combat training among other things(armor piercing ammunition, hello?). Sounds like a Hollywood movie plot, but it is real. Another trend? Oficers' homes and personal vehicles being targeted because criminals who know where they live, burglarize their homes and steal their equipment. This, I know from experience unfortunately. Also, about the Shield/Star thing, your information is incorrect, I believe. Sounds like possible propaganda maybe? The purpose of the badge was to give officers a unique symbol that is easily identified. The badge was originally designed as a shield, which is a symbol of protection.(they protect and serve the LAW, BTW. Protecting and serving the general public is not the sole intention behind that motto). The evolution to the star for some departments probably originated in Great Brittan over 200 year ago when the army wore stars on their helmets. Absolutely zero correlation to slavery. Bleeding hearts love to tout the slavery angle. I wish we could stop regurgitating the negative past and work to move forward and grow from it.
Please, do the homework everyone! There are a lot of misconceptions being touted as fact because the media tells us it is, and most of the time they are completely false or twisted just to sell a story. Unfortunately, at the expense of the character and reputations of men like my husband, BIL, Uncle and cousins. Who WILL be answering your 911 calls despite your having slandered him the day before when he gave you a speeding ticket. These men and women are human beings, same as us.
Bunnyman666, if you were standing here in front of me, I wouldn't know whether to high-five you, or hug you. Probably both provided your wife wouldn't mind the hug. And since you mentioned the numbers thing, I will close with a few here, just to illustrate how NOT rampant police brutality is. They make up such a small percentage of the US population. A tiny handful of "bad apples". Not a whole bushel.
FACTS
-there are less than a million officers in the US(made up of 22,000 agencies I think)
-313.9 million residents in the US.
-760,000 officers for 313.9 million residents. that equals only 245 officers per 100,000 residents
-12mil arrests per year; 34,000 arrests per day
-400 fatal police shootings per year
-less than 1% who encounter police die, 99.9% who encounter police...live
FACTS
every 58 hours an officer dies on duty
over 58000 officers assaulted every year (ex. Police Reserve Cpt. Kevin Quick in VA, google him)
police kill less than 1% of those they encounter and the vast majority are justified(Darren Wilson, whether people care to acknowledge the facts or not)
And to touch on Bunnyman666s opening statement: 91% of blacks are killed by members of their own race, almost 500 more whites die each year than blacks
Just some long winded food for thought folks!
peace, everyone! And stay safe!