I asked this same question in a previous comment thread on the missing texts, but did not get any meaningful responses: what is leading people to believe Durkan faces some personal liability for noncompliance with the PRA?

The Tacoma businessman bailed out the killer cops because they are all ex-military. Therein lies the problem: ex-military should be precluded from becoming cops.

@3 Who is going to do the job? You?

America: CHINA IS EVIL!!!!

Also America: KEEP THAT CHEAPLY MADE SHIT FLOWING BECAUSE WE THINK IT WILL FILL THE VOIDS IN OUR MEANINGLESS LIVES NOM NOM NOM

@5: Why are you so wedded to the idea of ex military being cops? Why can't people of other back grounds be cops? An argument certainly can be made that coming from a professional or educational background that doesn't train one to view points of contact with the public as inevitably ending in violence would be a good thing for community engagement.
Other fields that deal with unstable individuals that may act out seem to be able to do it. Taking a page from them certainly couldn't hurt.

In Charles laissez faire world we should indefinitely keep society closed until we wear down the people who are refusing to get vaxxed. Thankfully the rest of us don't live in that world. We now have more vaccine supply than demand so it's time to shift the burden of safety from the gov to the individual. If you don't want to get vaxxed and you get sick that is your personal choice.

@5 What "job?" Harassing people on the streets?

@11:

Please cite the article, section and clause in the U.S. Constitution that mandates only former members of the military shall be hired as law enforcement officers, or conversely that mandates ALL citizens must be considered for such employment regardless of their prior employment status.

@14 here you go: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/vets/programs/userra/aboutuserra. Vets are a protected class under law and it is illegal to discriminate against them for employment purposes.

People get jobs as cops who take the training and make it through, and who are hired by the departments to which they apply. Ex-military or not. Do you want someone with your sensibilities to be a cop? Take the training, pass it, apply, and get hired.

@17 I think the issue was "ex-military shouldn't be cops", which I find patently absurd. People who train for and apply for jobs as cops become cops. Many cops are ex-military. If you ban them, who then becomes a cop?

The "ex-military shouldn't be cops" premise is stupid.

@13: I know. And I find myself being a nag with someone in my life who is dragging his feet getting vaccinated. An otherwise intelligent and also ultra-lib dude. Go figure.

@3: Well, if ex-military are so awful, why stop at the police? Preclude them from the fire department, EMT, health care, massage therapists, and you can probably add to the list.

@21,

That's part of the problem, sure, but the ultra wealthy and monied corporate interests are also a major problem. There's a massive amount of anonymous dark money flowing through government to prevent meaningful regulation, allow businesses to engage in shady practices, buy legislators and judges, you name it. All done in the utmost secrecy so that consumers don't even know what's going on.

@18: Only 20% of cops are ex-military. Let the other 80% do the job.

In most cases being ex-military is considered a huge advantage in getting job as a cop. It should at least be treated as a red flag. Or maybe don't let them carry a gun.

@23: Those occupations aren't armed, dumbass.

"We are melting, we are melting. What a world, what a world."

Shocking how well that line works, like they wrote it for this specific usage. Very nice, Mudede.

@18 Comments like yours are the red flag. People should be treated as individuals. Your comments are asinine.

Charles should move to Japan for a year to examine the problems of capitalism in that country. Would make for some interesting reading. Hell I'd even buy the book he could write from that experience.

Charles I love your Slogs. Always so much to think about. I especially love the Nietzsche quote, and your effort to prod us towards the idea of, um...., a "social contract." Something the GOP seems to have forgotten is the long-standing and general purpose of a government. But I doubt they would understand it if they read it. Government can be good, it can be bad, but it is always a social contract of some kind. And I seriously doubt if they would prefer anarchy.

@23: Oh, you were actually serious in @3. I thought you were just being snarky.

(and I believe @29 refers to your @25)

and @34 refers to @27 (faceplant)

@15

This isn't a Constitutional mandate, as I'm sure you're no doubt aware - and which was the crux of your statement @11 - but rather a legislative one, as the link makes quite clear. So, nice try moving the goal posts, but sorry, no touchdown.

And while it is true that veterans are protected from discrimination under federal labor law, there are all sorts of reasons why a person may be disqualified from working in a particular position that have nothing to do with their past military service; although it's worth noting that a dishonorable military discharge is one of the top disqualifiers.

https://ww2.psibackgroundcheck.com/news/top-police-background-check-disqualifiers/

Washington state law mandates that military veterans be given a bonus on their civil service exams. That would have to be changed first. It also impacts fire department hiring.

https://crosscut.com/2020/07/guardians-or-warriors-how-hiring-veterans-impacts-seattle-police

Not first…also

Monthly $2,000 checks. Why do I even pay taxes? The government can just create it out of thin air.

@38 Interesting. And the points are DOUBLED if they've seen combat. That's basically an admission that cops are domestic soldiers.

"Ex-military shouldn't be cops" is the ONLY sensible solution to the toxic police culture in the US. It's the only common denominator in the US's police problems.

But let me be clear: People who have been deployed in combat or active ground duty are damaged by that experience to the point where their training and conditioning are incompatible with providing domestic civilian security.

You can't un-learn the reflexes demanded during combat and survival: Identify threat / neutralize threat. The US Military makes sure you can't unlearn these lessons when they break and rebuild their recruits.

Sure, vets are welcome to take desk jobs and even bring their strategic experience to bear on processes, but they need to be swept from all training functions and certainly all civilian contact postings.

Hey, in other countries, they manage to find other ways to make a carrier in law enforcemet attractive to people who want to contribute to their community. But of course, the US is "special".

@36 I never said it was constitutional but none the less you can't discriminate against Vets anymore than you can by using race, sexual orientation, disability etc as factors. It kind of makes the whole discussion a moot point.

@42: "People who have been deployed in combat or active ground duty are damaged by that experience to the point where their training and conditioning are incompatible with providing domestic civilian security."

I wonder if there are any scientific studies to back that up.

If only there were some way to find out if anyone had ever done any scientific studies of veterans with PTSD. If only you could narrow down your search by adding more keywords! Well, if there are any papers out there in the first place, who can even say.

Oh well, I guess we'll never know.

Shorter @46: there aren't any

@47,

JFC... There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles on the topic.

https://lmgtfy.app/?q=combat+veteran+reintegration+research&iie=1

We wouldn't have to discriminate against veterans to get fewer of your less-suitable type of former soldier in our civilian police departments.

We'd only have to get rid of laws and executive orders mandating preferential treatment of vets in police recruiting. We shouldn't discriminate against veterans, but we shouldn't be forcing towns and counties and cities to let vets cut to the front of the line, either.

I think the argument is in the wrong direction. We want a cop who is a BAMF. One who has seen "the shit" and doesn't see a woman with a pink umbrella as a threat. Who doesn't feel the need to empty their clip into the back of an assailant running away from them or shoot a Native American standing 10 feet away from them holding a whittling knife. One who doesn't feel like a suspect face-down in handcuffs on the sidewalk is a threat. It's the cops who use their badge and gun to gain the power they never had in life that are the problem.

@48 Here, let's limit that to peer-reviewed published papers before we have to listen to him mewling that you're not being scientific enough.

I mean, if there are any papers at all of course. There might not be any! Such an esoteric subject, so far removed from the interests of academic or government research, wouldn't surprise me at all really.

@52: I want to see a link that explicitly has the premise and conclusion that "People who have been deployed in combat or active ground duty are damaged by that experience to the point where their training and conditioning are incompatible with providing domestic civilian security."

Until proven otherwise, I'll continue with my assumption that it doesn't exist. It's not my obligation to substantiate ignorance, bigotry, and stupidity.

@55 Oh lord, of course that's the hill you're going to die on. Thousands of research papers and statistics that taken together give us overwhelming evidence of the long-recognized problem you don't want to believe in, why, that's nothing of any significance at all.

No sir, it's only a scientifically established phenomenon if the exact language you've blundered into being so willfully, comically stupid about appears, in full, in one paper somewhere.

Goddamn but these here are some top-shelf raindroppings.

@57,
I wasn't arguing that ex-military should or should not be allowed to be cops. I was only pointing out to raindrop that there are countless studies on the effects of PTSD on combat veterans and their reintegration into society.