Does anyone have a good solution to the police shootings problem (statistics, suspect)
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I think most of us would agree that an innocent person should not be shot by the police.
I also think most would agree that resisting arrest is not a good reason for the police to shoot you (unless you are considered a threat).
With all the police shootings going on, I think it is at least a possibility than some of the people shot did not deserve to be shot and killed. This is wrong. Correct?
So how should this problem be addressed?
Isn't it also wrong to imprison a cop if he honestly felt like he was defending himself? How can it be determined what the cops motives were?
Any cop who kills a black man just because he is black should go to jail for life. Agreed? But how do we determine this?
The thing is, most of us can name a handful of police shootings, with various levels of justification. But probably not more than 10 or 15, tops. Last year, 300 black people were shot by police, and nearly twice that number of white people were shot.
Why haven't we heard about any of these?
I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that the overwhelming majority of these cases were examples when the person shot was very clearly a threat.
Yes, it's sad to see someone who didn't need to die get shot by a cop because the cop misunderstood or acted without thinking. But I'm fairly certain the overall number of police shootings has been going down over the years, and I don't think the problem is actually getting worse. We're just talking about it more.
1. Acknowledge that the statistics show this is a rare occurrence in day to day policing and is grossly overblown by the left and the media to get ratings and votes.
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Gag the media from reporting anything other than fact. Murrow, Cronkite and others are probably flipping over in their graves seeing what has happened to the actual business of News.... remember who what when where why...NO OPINION!
I think most of us would agree that an innocent person should not be shot by the police.
I also think most would agree that resisting arrest is not a good reason for the police to shoot you (unless you are considered a threat).
With all the police shootings going on, I think it is at least a possibility than some of the people shot did not deserve to be shot and killed. This is wrong. Correct?
So how should this problem be addressed?
Isn't it also wrong to imprison a cop if he honestly felt like he was defending himself? How can it be determined what the cops motives were?
Any cop who kills a black man just because he is black should go to jail for life. Agreed? But how do we determine this?
For every encounter ending in a death or undue violence, there are millions more that are normal, average encounters.
Having said that, it's not a problem that exists solely on the side of the people or the cops. So, I would suggest this -
All cops should be required to undergo psychological testing both prior to being hired, and annually following their hiring. Done by an outside agency with clear defined actions that need to be taken given certain indicators of undue stress, depression, racism, etc.
Standards for cops should be raised and cops working in large cities with higher crime rates should be paid more than their counterparts in calm suburbs that have more taxpayer money and larger budgets.
Cops should be trained on an ongoing basis about how to deal with certain situations and personalities so that they use a gun as a last resort.
Cops should be immediately fired if suddenly their camera doesn't work during an encounter where an incident took place.
Good cops should denounce bad cops and work to get rid of them.
Cops who have used excessive force, who have killed innocent people when their lives weren't threatened, should lose their jobs and be tried in a court of law.
Cops should have more protective gear.
No quotas in departments should be set for numbers of arrests or stops or anything else.
No targeting of certain ethnic groups should be done.
In areas of a higher crime rate, the community should be educated about why more frequent stops are being made of the citizens who are there. That sounds simple, but people don't seem to be connecting the dots. This is not a racial issue, by the way, it's the same complaint in small poorer towns where 100% of the population is white and the crime rate is higher than the norm.
Parents of all races should counsel their children to be extra respectful when dealing with anyone who has a gun.
Parents of all races should tell their children to explain to a cop where your drivers license is and ask permission to retrieve it...and do so slowly once permission has been granted.
Parents should not argue with cops in front of their children.
People who argue with cops should know they are escalating the situation simply by being argumentative.
Parents and other citizens should denounce emotionally charged rhetoric that leads to violence against police officers.
Parents should teach their children that most cops are well-intentioned, rather than teaching them they're all against them and it's okay to be disrespectful toward them.
Death penalty for anyone found guilty of killing a cop.
That won't prevent this 100% of the time, but odds are numbers will vastly improve.
For every encounter ending in a death or undue violence, there are millions more that are normal, average encounters.
Having said that, it's not a problem that exists solely on the side of the people or the cops. So, I would suggest this -
All cops should be required to undergo psychological testing both prior to being hired, and annually following their hiring. Done by an outside agency with clear defined actions that need to be taken given certain indicators of undue stress, depression, racism, etc.
Standards for cops should be raised and cops working in large cities with higher crime rates should be paid more than their counterparts in calm suburbs that have more taxpayer money and larger budgets.
Cops should be trained on an ongoing basis about how to deal with certain situations and personalities so that they use a gun as a last resort.
Cops should be immediately fired if suddenly their camera doesn't work during an encounter where an incident took place.
Spoiler
Good cops should denounce bad cops and work to get rid of them.
Cops who have used excessive force, who have killed innocent people when their lives weren't threatened, should lose their jobs and be tried in a court of law.
Cops should have more protective gear.
No quotas in departments should be set for numbers of arrests or stops or anything else.
No targeting of certain ethnic groups should be done.
In areas of a higher crime rate, the community should be educated about why more frequent stops are being made of the citizens who are there. That sounds simple, but people don't seem to be connecting the dots. This is not a racial issue, by the way, it's the same complaint in small poorer towns where 100% of the population is white and the crime rate is higher than the norm.
Parents of all races should counsel their children to be extra respectful when dealing with anyone who has a gun.
Parents of all races should tell their children to explain to a cop where your drivers license is and ask permission to retrieve it...and do so slowly once permission has been granted.
Parents should not argue with cops in front of their children.
People who argue with cops should know they are escalating the situation simply by being argumentative.
Parents and other citizens should denounce emotionally charged rhetoric that leads to violence against police officers.
Parents should teach their children that most cops are well-intentioned, rather than teaching them they're all against them and it's okay to be disrespectful toward them.
Death penalty for anyone found guilty of killing a cop.
That won't prevent this 100% of the time, but odds are numbers will vastly improve.
As usual a pretty great post from you.
The one glaring issue I see right off is the bold part. That is pretty harsh considering the nature of electronic equipment and the chance it may or may not be damaged during a violent encounter.
I think maybe this is in response to the two cops in Baton Rouge and how BOTH of their cameras "fell off" during their "wrestling match" with the suspect.
I agree that is pretty convenient and very suspicious, but to make such a rigid and broad "rule" like you suggest is not the right answer in my opinion.
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