I wonder how you would respond if someone spoke of blacks using the same old tired stereotypical bullshit you use about police. My guess is that you would be speed-dialing the NAACP and hypersniveling to the Mercury staff to have the comments removed.

No wonder you got your ass kicked by PPB in your contact with them. I remember how you cried like a little bitch online after they taught you some manners. Sounds like you need refresher course in courtesy.

Fuck you, very, very much.

Didn't we come up with a solution for this already?
Get blacks to move out of N and NE Portland and out to Gresham then DWB in Portland will cease to be a problem.
Easy.
It's a win-win for everybody and so simple even Merc readers can get it.

Its sad how in 2011 this nonsense is stil happening. The ignorance and pettiness of some of our law inforcers in my opinion, continues to set back our economy financially and socially. Its immoral to serve and protect only individuals that look like yourself. What happened to Jason Sutherland was a waste of time,energy and tax payers money. Shame on all those supporting any form of racial injustices. Indiviuals supporting any form of racial injustices are a waste of our economy's resources and progress!

This shows one of the common problems with officers who overreact - a need to be seen as an authority figure not to be questioned. Unfortunately, for both the officers and the citizens, this is a completely un-constitutional way to behave as law enforcement. Civilians have an absolute right to ask questions and know why they are being stopped, awhy they are being asked for ID, and if in fact they are under arrest or free to leave. Mr. Sutherland was exercising his rights as an American citizen to know why he was being stopped and questioned.

When the police use the badge and uniform as something to hide behind in order to behave as unquestioned or unregulated bullies - we ALL lose.

Far more young black men have died at the hands of Portlands gangs than than ever killed by the Portland Police. Yet you are conspicuously silent on this point. But then, it doesn't fit into your "Fuck the police" world view, does it?

No, I don't listen to Lars, but I do watch the news every night. Recognising the propensity for violence by the (predominantly black) street gangs of Portland isn't engaging in racial profiling - It's simply being minamumally observant. As for statistics, I only know what the government agencies that compile such things say.

According to the U.S Department of Justice, the breakdown of Homicide Offenders (1976-2005) is as follows:

52.2% African American
46.9% European American
2% Other

The breakdown, by race, of Victims of Homicide (1976-2005) is:

50.9% African American
46.9% European American
2.3% Other

According to the U.S. Census, the population of the United States (by race) is:

72.4% European American
12.6% African American
15% Other

The best study of Police Shooting (by Race) I could find was published by the San Diego Police Dept on December 4, 2007. Note should be taken that the City of San Diego is condiderably more ethnically diverse than Portland. The study surveyed 103 police shootings, the results are as follows:

White officer
Nonwhite suspect 42%

White officer
White suspect 22%

Nonwhite officer
Nonwhite suspect 12%

Mixed race officer
Nonwhite suspect 10%

Nonwhite officer
White suspect 9%

Mixed race officer
White suspect 5%

Clearly, as a black man, it is statistically more likely that you will die at the hands of another black man than a police officer. People much smarter than you and I will debate the causal factors regarding these statistics until the cows come home, but the statistics don't lie.

And, speaking of standards, don't police officers have the same right to the assumption of innocence, and right to trial (before presumption of guilt) that all citizens, or any common criminal has?

Yet, in post after post, you denounce every fatal police shooting as a "murder", even before the investigation of the incident is completed. You use terms such as "pigs", "thugs" and "Gestapo".

In your rhetoric, you resort to the exact same tactics that the KKK and other racist groups use against people of color; they *dehumanize* them. Do you realize, my angry young friend, that you sound as racist and biased as any cross-burning, knuckle-dragging, cousin-fucker that ever put on a white sheet and a pointy hood?

About a thousand years ago, in a previous life, I wore a uniform. One day, I had to shoot and kill a person. The person was angry about being jilted by a former lover, and attempted to kill the person's new lover. We had an encounter in the middle of the street in front of the address. The person drew a gun and began shooting at me at a distance of about 20 feet.

There was no cover to be had, nowhere to run, and you can't try to reason with a person actively engaged in trying to kill you. The only reason I walked away is because my aim was better.

The absolute worst day of my life, without a doubt, was the day of that call. The death of my parents, my grandparents, my sister (from cancer), my oldest brother (from suicide), pales in comparision.

There is simply no describing the feelings that one encounters by having to put four .45 ACP 265 grain Winchester Western rounds through a human beings upper torso. Then, making eye contact with the person as they lay on the ground, spitting up blood, making movements with their mouth like a fish out of water.

Then, you have to watch them die. When they quit breathing, and their eyes go like doll's eyes, the first thing that occurs to you (despite the fact that moments before they were trying to kill you) is "I did that." The guilt, weight, and finality of those three words cannot be expressed.

I sailed through the Grand Jury, my Departments IA and Use of Force Board, and the supect's family lawsuit was dismissed (with predjudice) at the first hearing. I was awarded my Department's Medal of Valor, and warmly greeted back to work by my peers after my administrative leave.

Yet, even though I am nearly a decade removed from the job, every morning the image of that person dying before me enters my mind. And, the notion that, on my final day, how will I explain my actions of that day to my maker?

Recently my wife I had a BBQ at the house for a few close friends. As usual, she rented a DVD for after dinner. On this occasion, she rented Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino." There came a point in the film wherein Eastwood's character was trying to explain war to a Catholic priest.

At one point, Eastwood's character said: "Father, there's only one thing worse than killing a man, that's being given a medal for doing it." At this point, I had to leave and not watch any more of the movie.

But then, I'm just one of those "pigs", right Damos?