Your blogger

My photo
When Roger West first launched the progressive political blog "News From The Other Side" in May 2010, he could hardly have predicted the impact that his venture would have on the media and political debate. As the New Media emerged as a counterbalance to established media sources, Roger wrote his copious blogs about national politics, the tea party movement, mid-term elections, and the failings of the radical right to the vanguard of the New Media movement. Roger West's efforts as a leading blogger have tremendous reach. NFTOS has led the effort to bring accountability to mainstream media sources such as FOX NEWS, Breitbart's "Big Journalism. Roger's breadth of experience, engaging style, and cultivation of loyal readership - over 92 million visitors - give him unique insight into the past, present, and future of the New Media and political rhetoric that exists in our society today. What we are against: Radical Right Wing Agendas Incompetent Establishment Donald J. Trump Corporate Malfeasence We are for: Global and Econmoic Security Social and Economic Justice Media Accountability THE RESISTANCE

Saturday, September 5, 2015

COP LIES ABOUT BEING SHOT AT

Days after Lt. Joe Gliniewicz was shot and killed in Illinois, setting off a widely publicized manhunt, a Massachusetts officer was fired Thursday for lying about being shot at and causing an hours-long manhunt the day before.

Before his termination on Thursday, the unidentified officer, who was on his way to becoming a full-time member of the Massachusetts State Police (MSP), claimed he crashed his car because a white male fired several shots at him in Millis, Massachusetts. Residents of the town were on high alert after the incident, and schools were shut down for safety precautions. But a ballistics report conducted after the alleged shooting concluded the bullets discovered in the officer’s vehicle actually belonged to him. Investigators are also looking into whether or not the officer torched his vehicle as well.

The former officer now faces criminal charges. His motive for lying has not been determined.

The fabricated story comes in the midst of media hysteria over the “war on cops.” In response to a string of officer murders (eight have been killed in 10 days), pundits have argued that “incendiary, anti-police rhetoric” has inspired a wave of cop killings. Fox News has gone so far as to call Black Lives Matter organizers — whose mission is to put an end to violence against black bodies that is largely perpetrated by police — a murder movement and hate group. It has also zeroed in on anti-police acts, such as Arby’s employees’ refusal to serve an officer in Florida.

Police officers have also said they are too concerned about public backlash to fulfill their duties, resulting in the so-called “Ferguson Effect.” The theory, which gains momentum every time an officer is killed, says there is an uptick in violent crime because officers are too weary to do their jobs.

In reality, while officer deaths are tragic and should be cause for concern, the number of police fatalities pales in comparison to the number of people killed by police every year. More than 1,000 people were killed by officers in 2014, compared to 126 officers who were killed in the line of duty. Fifty of them were shot — up from a record-low number of firearm deaths the year before, but still below the decade average. In fact, the number of officers killed by firearms annually has experienced a downward trend since the 1970s, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

This year, 83 officers have died in the line of duty — 24 by gunfire. Motives for the killings in the last ten days have yet to be determined, and so far, no one has cited Black Lives Matter as the driving force.




NFTOS
STAFF WRITER