Watchdog Radio: Police are out of control and getting away with it

By Eric Boehm and Katie Watson | Watchdog Radio

No one can look at the video of two New York City police officers restraining Eric Garner and conclude that everything that happened was OK.

But a grand jury in New York declined to issues an indictment in the case — and it’s not all that unusual. For the past few decades, police forces across the United States have become increasingly militarized in training and tactics, and when they cross the line there is little accountability from prosecutors and grand juries.

Watchdog Radio examines the Garner case and asks if we need large-scale public policy changes to address how policework is conducted in the United States.

Part 1: Hosts Boehm and Watson talk about Eric Garner’s death. Then, Bruce Parker from Vermont Watchdog joins us to talk about the cost of a single-payer health care system in the Green Mountain State.

http://watchdog.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/120514WatchdogRadio1.mp3

Part 2: More on the death of Garner and the lack of accountability. The Cato Institute’s Tim Lynch joins our hosts to talk about what reforms are needed to return police to their proper role in society. This is an issue that goes way beyond the incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, you won’t want to miss this interview.

http://watchdog.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/120514WatchdogRadio2.mp3

Part 3: Switching gears, our hosts take a look at the lawsuit filed by 17 states last week against the Obama administration’s amnesty proposal. Then, are college professors getting more liberal?

http://watchdog.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/120514WatchdogRadio3.mp3

Part 4: Police are doing more work with data and statistics, but they do a terrible job of tracking incidents where they hurt or kill suspects. Why is it so difficult to get information from America’s police when they want to collect more and more information about the rest of us.

http://watchdog.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/120514WatchdogRadio4.mp3