Is
it just me or does it seem like just about every day now we hear reports about
another police involved shooting across the country that claimed a life, ie, a 23-year-old man
was shot and killed by St. Louis County police officers in Jennings, Missouri, after
allegedly charging at them with a knife; Prosecutors drop charges against a
Kansas City police officer who shot and wounded an unarmed man arguing the case
was not strong enough to secure a conviction; a police officer in North
Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder after the April 4 shooting of an
unarmed man, Walter L. Scott was caught
on video; LAPD officers shot a Skid Row resident on Tuesday afternoon - One
more incident of an unprovoked shooting which, thankfully did not result in
death; the man who was shot and killed by a police officer early Sunday morning
in Jessamine County was 40-year old Michael Foster; A white police officer in
an Atlanta suburb shot dead an unarmed black man who was not wearing clothes on
Monday; Funeral held for man shot and killed by Smyrna police; An 18-year-old
man was fatally shot by police just blocks from his home; Atlanta police are
investigating an officer-involved shooting that injured a man on Ralph David
Abernathy Boulevard near Garibaldi Street; White deputy sheriff becomes latest
American officer charged in the shooting of a black man that was captured on
video; Police have released video capturing the accidental fatal shooting of a
black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Atlanta police officer accused of killing woman
he met on Craigslist. Well that last one is not the same as the others, but interesting and worth mentioning just
the same.
From what I've read it appears some police
officers are not using good judgement when faced with what has now become routine
situations. How in the world you can mistake your teaser gun for a hand gun? Shouldn't they be kept on separate parts of your body to avoid mixing them up? I'm no expert, but it seems to me that a teaser and a hand gun would feel different. Shouldn't you double check to make sure you have the right thing in your hand before you squeeze the trigger?
And when these officers of the law are not discharging their weapons without cause, they
seem to have the same judgment impediment when pursuing suspects, i.e., Man Fatally Shot After Police Chase,
Multi-Vehicle Crash in Houston; Fatal U-Haul Police Chase in Southern
California; Officer says passenger was holding pop can, not gun during chase
and shooting; Police chase leads to fatal wreck in East Point; Police officers
fatally shot a man who led them on a chase Wednesday morning in northeast
Harris County; Southern Methodist University police chase ends in fatal crash; Suspect
charged in fatal police chase accident in Toledo; A police chase in California
left at least seven dead – including four small children; Suspects crashed
after a police chase in Cobb County on Wednesday; Duluth police chase ends with
fatality; A 17-year-old driver was
killed and a passenger was critically injured when a high-speed chase with
police involving a stolen vehicle ended; Teen driver in stolen car killed in
crash following police chase; 17-year-old dies after trying to jump from roof
to roof in Fordham section of Bronx to avoid police.
I must admit I am shocked at the amount
of officer related shootings and fatal crashes across the country this year
alone. Sure each case is different and in some cases the victim was guilty of
some infraction but did they need to pay with their lives? Whatever happened to
“due process”? In all of these cases the officer appointed himself the judge,
jury, and executioner. It may not have been their mindset at the time of the incident (or maybe it was),
but the end result is the same. Some of these cases have become racially
charged as the officer was “white” and the victim was “black”. Some may argue
that officers are trained to shoot to kill in the face of imminent threat or
danger, however in some of the cases referenced above, it was a clear case of
murder because the victim was either running away from the officer or had surrendered thereby posing no imminent
threat/danger to the officer or anyone else.
I don’t think for one minute that the number
of officer related shootings have increased, but rather it is the number of
documented incidents that have increased as a result of social awareness and
social network, along with modern technology which puts video capability in the
hands of anyone with a cellphone. Back
in the day, black men were prone to be pulled over while driving by an officer
who felt he had just cause because the driver was “black” and fit the “profile”
of any given offender they were looking for just because he was black, thus the
popular saying “guilty of driving while black” was coined. But back to what I was saying about increase
in documented incidents of police shootings. Had it not been for private
citizens who captured the events, those officers would lie about the details of
the shooting as well as incriminate the victim by planting guns and/or
substance on the victim to justify the shooting as was recently the case in
North Charleston, SC. Had the video not surfaced, the officer’s account of the incident
would have been the beginning of the end and that victim’s death would have
been ruled justified. Thankfully the
video reveals that the victim was running way from the officer when he was shot
point blank in the back. Makes you think
of how many other victims were killed in a similar manner and their deaths ruled
justified.
It seems to me that some of these officers
have no right being police officers, let alone carry a gun because they
displayed poor judgment. They took an oath to protect and serve but they have failed on so many levels. I remember years ago on the island that potential police
candidates were sent for psychiatric evaluation to determine their suitability
for the role of a police officer. If it was found that an individual’s psyche
was not strong enough to withstand the strain that being a police officer would
inflict upon it, meaning they would make poor judgement when faced with a life
or death situation, a recommendation was made not to hire that individual. I’m not
sure if that practice holds true on the mainland, but if it is not then I seriously
suggest they adopt that practice. Not that this would be a save all to end all,
but it would help weed out some of the trigger happy people who can be a victim’s
nightmare. If in fact they already do practice this policy of psychiatric screening,
then some serious training or re-training in judgement is required. Officers
need to be able to defuse a potentially dangerous situation by pulling back in
the interest of the public’s safety. They don’t have to always catch their man
that day. In most cases they know where the suspect lives or can tap into
resources which will eventually lead them to the suspect another time. I am convinced
that the reason a lot of these officers pursue their suspects at all cost is all about their ego and the need to prove
to others, and even themselves, that they can take down a suspect even at the
expense of innocent bystanders. Proper
training will ensure that if a suspect tries to engage an officer in a high
speed chase that the officer would pull back and let the suspect think he got
away. A few days of freedom is a small price to pay as opposed to having the
suspect killed in a high speed chase which could also claim the life of others.
I don’t know about you but I think it’s
time for a change. Officers need to be held accountable for their actions, accidental or not, and
not allowed to hide behind their badge. I see them every day breaking the law because
they feel they are above the law. I know you've see them too, i.e., turning on
their siring to avoid sitting at a red light, going above the required speed limit,
turning without utilizing turn signals, etc. It’s hard for me to respect the men
in blue when they don’t respect me. How can they expect to enforce the very law
that they themselves have little or no regard/respect for? I know disobeying
traffic laws is a far cry from taking someone’s life, but to me they are all on
the same plain. If you have no regard for the little things, then it’s only a
matter of time before you disregard the big things. I’m just saying – I got
issues, what about you?)i(
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