<story><title>NYC major crime complaints fell when cops took a break from ‘proactive policing’</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-proactive-policing-crime-20170925-story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>exogeny</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve lived in a few different major cities and NYC for the last decade, and I can definitely say I have never seen more broken, ineffective policing than here. It&amp;#x27;s truly ridiculous. Your experience, obviously, may vary.&lt;p&gt;Multiple instances of police openly threatening citizens. Phones ripped out of hands and smashed onto the ground, for the mere crime of filming an interaction. During the BLM protests, every single act of instigation and provocation that I witnessed was started by the police.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know what the answer is. But it is very clear the police here are a paramilitary jackboot squad, and that the city and the strength of their union protects them. They have almost complete impunity, and they see normal, everyday citizens as the enemy. I fear that we&amp;#x27;re in for more trouble now that we&amp;#x27;ve elected an ex-cop Mayor of the city.&lt;p&gt;(For background, I&amp;#x27;m a tall, white man. I can&amp;#x27;t imagine how bad it would be if I wasn&amp;#x27;t.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sjm</author><text>Yeah it really feels like the NYPD has a lot of contempt for the city they operate in, politically, socially, culturally. I saw the same thing at every protest I attended — when there were no cops around, it was extremely peaceful. I only ever saw it get ugly when cops were harassing people, pushing people around, or trying to basically shut down protests by blocking off surrounding streets and trying to close in on protesters.</text></comment>
<story><title>NYC major crime complaints fell when cops took a break from ‘proactive policing’</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-proactive-policing-crime-20170925-story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>exogeny</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve lived in a few different major cities and NYC for the last decade, and I can definitely say I have never seen more broken, ineffective policing than here. It&amp;#x27;s truly ridiculous. Your experience, obviously, may vary.&lt;p&gt;Multiple instances of police openly threatening citizens. Phones ripped out of hands and smashed onto the ground, for the mere crime of filming an interaction. During the BLM protests, every single act of instigation and provocation that I witnessed was started by the police.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know what the answer is. But it is very clear the police here are a paramilitary jackboot squad, and that the city and the strength of their union protects them. They have almost complete impunity, and they see normal, everyday citizens as the enemy. I fear that we&amp;#x27;re in for more trouble now that we&amp;#x27;ve elected an ex-cop Mayor of the city.&lt;p&gt;(For background, I&amp;#x27;m a tall, white man. I can&amp;#x27;t imagine how bad it would be if I wasn&amp;#x27;t.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>akudha</author><text>I saw 5 or 6 cops tackle a drunk guy. He was so drunk, barely able to stand, a 10 year old kid could&amp;#x27;ve taken him down. The amount of force used in the most trivial of cases blew my mind.&lt;p&gt;During the occupy wall street protests, I saw the cops a few times (I was working in a nearby building). The amount of serious gear they had, it was insane. I bet they are better armed than most militaries.&lt;p&gt;All I can say is they are super scary.</text></comment>