I believe their is something fundamentally wrong when the police shoot and kill on average close to 1,600 people a year. We never hear anything about further training or taking away their firearms! It takes a nurse two years to get a degree, it take police six weeks on average to go through the police academy. Does anyone else see a problem here? Almost all the police I have meet have an air of superiority about them. They are free to harass the populace and break the laws they are sworn to protect.
Several years ago the local police were called to one of the local mental health group homes. One of the residents was threatening to stab people with a pair of scissors. When they arrived the resident the patient retreated till their room. The police quickly forced their way into the room and the resident who was sitting on the bed threatened them. One of the officers shot and killed her. It was investigated and judged to be a justifiable shooting. I have worked in many crisis situations and can list a number of interventions that can be used to de-escalate the situation. The police mentality of barge in and shoot is one of the reasons the death rate is so high.
You are correct police shoot too many people, but many Americans are armed and that’s how they are trained to respond. The problem is when innocent and unarmed people get killed, which happens way too often. If your government CARED about poor and brown people cops would be better trained. The air of superiority you notice is what they call “command presence” which is taught so they can invoke respect, gain compliance, or get trust in a crisis. I agree no one is above the law and they should be held to a higher standard in obeying the laws themselves. Many have no clue about the Constitution, which they swear to uphold but never read.
Posted by SkepticusJust following orders huh? What's JUST about that? So WHO IS MOST MORALLY CULPABLE DO YOU BELIEVE?