Absolutely, men are abused, and absolutely that fact needs much more attention, but the situation for men and that for women is not the same. On average, men are stronger, which gives them a kind of power in a relationship that most women do not have. When we focus on domestic violence perpetrated by men, we are mainly focusing on acts that stem from that power. That is a fundamental and Important part of the reality, and lumping all discussion of domestic abuse into the same gender-free pile would do a disservice to our understanding of the topic.
You imply that because there are other evils in the world, that this one should receive less attention than it does. That's not the case. What the captain was saying shouldn't be tempered; if anything should be amplified. Violence and other abuse perpetrated by women against men deserves special focus As Well. If you find a good video about that, I'll happily promote it.

Indeed, and half of it will be committed by a woman against a man. There is a presumption in our culture that domestic violence is committed by men against women when, in fact, it is committed by *people* against other people. Lets not perpetuate the myth that men are evil, violent thugs who deserve a pat on the head if they manage to suppress their biological urges and get through the day without beating up their partners, and women are sweet angelic creatures who couldn't possibly hurt another living being.
http://www.batteredmen.com/straus21.htm
http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/abusiverelationships/a/male_abuse.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/05/men-victims-domestic-violence

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"no lesbian would be cruel to another lesbian"

yeah, right...

women are cruel to women even more than men are
and lesbian domestic violence is almost higher than that of heterosexuals

bs propaganda to make minorities seem "cute"
while they are just the same assholes like the rest of us


edit:

these women don't look REAL at all
they look like hipster corporate products, and sound like that too

From the news link - "In a press release, Cotati police said the officers’ actions were justified because it was a call for domestic violence, and as such, the officers could not leave without making sure everyone inside the apartment was safe."

Oh the irony. Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity.

Since it is a domestic violence call, the judge would have to look at precedent cases. There are countless state level cases that uphold a warrant-less entry in the case of possible violence to someone in the home, visible or not. Brigham City v. Stuart is one that went to SCOTUS and further cemented the situation.

Based on the that sadly broad ruling, if a 911 call is made claiming even possible domestic violence, police can force entry into a residence to see if everyone is ok. I don't like it or agree with it, but they will walk on any charges from the entry.

I do think they could call the immediate use of a taser into question, however.

Let me start out by saying I work for a county Sheriff’s Office and will give you some insight or an idea what goes on in an officers/deputies head with any situation (which could pertain to this one)

First, I am a big nerd and have been around computers all my life and the internet so I have seen many police videos online. So let me say first that I agree that there are bad officers out there. Are we all bad? No, but the few ruin it for the many and I’m sorry to see such hate and distrust because of it. The only thing I or any law enforcement can do about that is do our job correctly and wipe the stigma away one person at a time.

Second, when it comes to responding to a 911 call (A call for service), 9 times out of 10 you do not know what you are going to. Dispatch (radio or control whatever moniker you want to use) can only give you the info that the person calling 911 gives them. Say this video instance, that someone from inside the home or a neighbor called 911 because of possible domestic violence going on inside the home. This is usually all the info an officer will get before showing up on scene. Now if the officer approaches the house and tries to make contact and is confronted by a man who has locked his door and is shouting at you, this is going to cause alarm with the office. Not only can he not make contact inside the house to verify if someone is actually hurt or to clear the call as it was made on accident by a neighbor, he has a male subject who is disobeying his commands to answer the door. I’m assuming this officer made a few attempts to make contact before he called for backup (fill units). Now with multiple officers, they will attempt to make contact a few more times. These officers broke down the front door to make contact inside the house. The only reason they would do that is because they saw danger or possible harm to someone inside, or the call made to 911 dictated that there was someone inside the house who was injured or in fear of their life.

To be honest, there are many reasons why responding authorities would break down that door. Maybe the 911 call was from a family member inside the home stating that their brother etc… was off his medications and was threating to hurt himself or others. Maybe he was acting erratic because he was off his meds and police broke down the door due to this individual having a violent past when he stops taking his medications. Maybe there were no meds involved at all and this individual has a violent past so the officers chose to act based on past experiences with said individual.

See, that’s the problem with almost 98% of these videos, WE DON’T KNOW. There are so many possible scenarios that without full disclosure on what went on, what info did the police have, and what were they witnessing on scene. We cannot “Monday night quarterback” these videos. I know videos prior to this have shown officer’s acting in the wrong with all the info available, but that doesn’t give us the right to assume this or others videos are showing officers acting in the wrong. I do not go to work every day planning on hurting people or making false arrests. I have said this many times to people who I have arrested or deal with when they ask “why are you arresting me”, “are you taking that money out of my pocket and stealing it?”, “this is a false arrest!”, my response is your few dollars or property or the statistic of making one more arrest if false is not worth my job. I am not going to make false allegations or take someone’s property that would cause me to lose my job and most importantly my pension. My family relies on me to bring money home so I can provide food and shelter. I would like to think almost every officer/deputy thinks and believes the same. We do what is right, even if during the situation it may seem wrong to others (civilians), we do what we think is right so at the end of the day we can go home to our families and the city/county stays a little safer. That’s my whole day, trying to make the city a better place one call for service at a time, and then get home safe to my family.

I really wish we were appreciated like firemen or military but I know we never will be. Law enforcement only show up when things have gone bad to worse. Nobody ever wants to go to jail. Try having a job where everyone hates you no matter what good you do. Yet we still go to work and put our lives on the line everyday (many of us die each year) so people can sit at home or in there office cubicle and judge videos of our actions. So please try to remember we are not all bad.

Just my .02

quite true. any notion of a child in imminent danger here?

while i realize there can be situations that justify entrance without a warrant...this power is extremely abused.
i'll note that i worked as an attorney representing victims of domestic violence in New Orleans under a federal grant for about 2 years.

i'll say this about the cops in these types of situations: in exigent situations, cops tend to be very, very light fingered. anything in "plain view" may be confiscated as evidence, and then it is good-fucking-bye.

Domestic violence isn't limited to just women. There was a child in the house.

ok people.
if the cops want to enter your house without a warrant, they need what is called:

"EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES"

ie: imminent danger...etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exigent_circumstance_in_United_States_law

did they have it in this case? doesn't seem likely. and it is noted that in this possible domestic violence situation they immediately tasered the woman.

It's not "a little Temporary Safety". We're talking about cases of domestic violence here. Absolutely the cops should have the right to enter the home.

Let's be clear here. We're not talking about the police being allowed to enter your home whenever they feel like it, we're talking about a case where there is "probable cause of ongoing spousal abuse".

Past rulings, from California and elsewhere, recognize that "probable cause of ongoing spousal abuse at a residence warrants immediate police intervention."

Basically if there is any call on domestic violence made, be it to any age person in the house, police can and will enter the home without a search warrant. You can resist, but the courts will side with the police.

In this case, the police had the authority to do what they did because our courts have been dumb enough to give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety.