Judging vs Shooting.

We live in a country where a lot of people have a lot of guns.  The argument by gun advocates that wide ownership of guns make us safer.  The logic is that if you know everyone has a gun you will be reluctant to use yours.

 

In reality it just means you have to shoot first.

 

It is reasonable for the police to believe that a lot of the people they encounter are armed and at least potentially dangerous.  So they shoot first, understandably.

 

Its not acceptable and because of inbred cultural issues, the people they are most suspicious of are often black.

 

We tend to attribute this to racism but our gun culture has to take some of the blame. 

 

Statistics show us that the violence is not all directed at black people but clearly more young black men are victims than others.  They are viewed with the most suspicion.

 

We have seen some atrocious videos that are unjustifiable.  Those police need to answer for their actions.

 

We also need to improve the way police interact with black citizens.  Both sides consider the other dangerous and as a result the interactions escalate quickly.

 

Changing this is not going to be easy and previous efforts have not been successful.  Partly because in a perfectly reasonable conclusion police would rather be judged by twelve than be carried by six.

 

Of course ideally no one ends up in a coffin.

 

 

Stop Shooting Black Men for Nothing

From what I understand of the incident in Atlanta, a young black man, possibly drunk, fell asleep in a drive thru lane in his car.  Now sleeping in a drive thru lane is generally not very polite, but it was at most an inconvenience as other customers had to drive around his car.

It turned into a capital offense.  

Now it was likely he was guilty of a DUI but its hard to determine how these things escalate so quickly.  Should he have cooperated with the police, clearly but he had never got his burger and frosty so you can understand why he was upset.

They tased him twice but he managed to get ahold of one of the tasers and may have discharged it at one of the officers.  He then started to run away at which point deadly force was employed.

Considering that he was likely drunk or under the influence of some substance running from multiple police in Wendy's parking lot, you have to wonder what led to the need for this.

They may have already got his name, they had his car and while a DUI and resisting arrest are significant charges, they don't merit the death penalty.

Maybe the one officer who had lost his Taser was so upset that he simply lost it.  He has been fired and may be charged.

Rayshard Brooks was probably no angel and he certainly shouldn't have fallen asleep in a drive thru lane.  Maybe someone had a complicated order that took too long.

He won't do it again.

Saints and Sinners

Does it matter what your background was if an injustice is perpetrated on you? 

Suppose some of the victims in Hitler's death camps were actually bad people would that make a difference?  The odds are that out of 6 million there were some bad apples.

Similarly in Stalin's Gulag we are sure to find some people who had done bad things.  The guilty weren't treated better than the innocent?

Clearly an injustice is not vindicated because of unrelated bad acts.  We see a lot of kneejerk reactions to the George Floyd killing by people trying to say he wasn't a saint.  He didn't have to be.  Being a human should have been enough.  In fact we wouldn't let them treat an animal like that.

It was clear for all to see that a person already constrained was killed by the actions of a police officer while others looked on.  It isn't justifiable and it isn't even clear that there was any reason for the behavior.

I'll even speculate that murder wasn't intended.   Maybe the cop was trying to send a message or maybe he was just sadistic.  The fact that they worked at the same club makes on wonder if there wasn't some history involved, but it actually doesn't matter.

Whether you have been a saint or a sinner or something in between, deadly force should only be applied when there is no reasonable alternative.  Kneeling on someone's neck until they die is just wrong 

Fixing the Police?

One of the questions being discussed is whether police departments can be reformed or if they need to be dismantled and rebuilt.  Most consider this idea pretty radical and it is unlikely to happen (dismantlement) but is it even worth considering.

When you view the police a lot has to do with who you are and your station in life.  Most white people see police as protectors who keep us safe.  However many Americans have a different viewpoint.

Currently its the left and Black Lives Matter movements that are in focus, but we shouldn't ignore the fact that many on the right consider the police oppressors who enforce Government tyranny.  Many of them seem to have a love hate relationship with the police depending a lot on the nature of the police they deal with.  Still while they may very well be in favor of anarchy they aren't actually demanding dismantlement at this time.

So the issue is related to the current situation mostly.  Many black Americans see the police as an occupying force who place their lives and their children's lives at risk.  Of course this is hardly a universal opinion there and I think that many older black Americans realize that they need police to maintain some level of law and order.  

Still incident after incident has led many to think that the police are more dangerous than helpful.  Clearly the statistics indicate otherwise but the incidents where young black males are apprehended for effectively being black are too numerous to abide.  Weeding out the ones that behave that way has been apparently too challenging  So do we need to rip it down and rebuild it.

How do we solve this problem.  Our black citizens, even if they break the law, should expect the police to treat them as citizens.  I've had a few interactions with the police over the years and never felt that my life was being threatened.  However black citizens have very different experiences. 

I and most of the people I know thought these were isolated instances and I would still like to think they are.  However, it seems that they are more pervasive than believed.  

It needs to be fixed but tearing down police departments and rebuilding them is no guarantee things would be better.  We need the police to self manage this.  The blue wall is a long tradition but that tradition needs to control those who abuse their power.  

Large police departments have years and years of tradition and changing it would require a lot of effort.  It is needed if the police are going to earn the trust of the black communities.

Inalienable Rights

What do we need to do to get equal treatment for all our residents.  The recent incidents show how that just isnt happening.

What happened in Minneapolis is just the latest example of uneven treatment.  I would like to think it was a single rogue officer by his four partners who didn't intervene show its prevalent.

The fact that it happened and that it took time for the authorities to take action was worthy of outrage, but the rioting is also an outrage.  In fact there are reports some of it was instigated by outside groups trying to spread chaos, not racial equality.

As long as police have an us vs them mentality we will have this problem.  Deeper we have a society where inequality is related to skin tone.

The police jobs and other civil service jobs have historically represented a bridge to respectability.   One of the issues plaguing this country is that opportunities for entry level workers have become very competitive.  

Police jobs over the years have added requirements allegedly designed to get better candidates.  Many of these requirements tend to disqualify many minorities, and whether they are actually needed should be studied.  For example we clearly don't want serious criminals on the force, some infractions might not be disqualifying.  In fact we might want to reconsider some assumptions to get local police actually local.

Police and the people they protect should share common background and beliefs.  The system we have now works in white neighborhoods but becomes an occupying force in some others.  

I'm not entirely sure the best way to fix it, but pretending it doesn't need to be fixed isn't going to do it.

All people are entitled to some inalienable rights, the first of which is life.

Too many are taken which shouldn't be.

Who Was Criminal?

We live in a world where we get to see things once unavailable to us.

There was a recent incident in Phoenix which involved a young family where a four year old girl apparently picked up a $1 doll at a store.  Possibly other low dollar items were stolen but that is not established yet.

The actions of the police, caught on cell phones, seem both extreme and probably racist.

They are seen threatening the parents with drawn guns in front of the children when nothing in the video indicates either failure to cooperate or any resistance.

If we didn't have the videos, this would have probably been adjudicated in favor of the police, but the videos are in fact damning and I suspect they will be held to account.

Police deserve our support and respect but they are not supposed to terrorize us.  At times they seem to act like some citizens are simply not entitled to respect and due process.

It is a tough job but they have to be held to the highest standards.  When they behave atrociously they need to face the consequences.

The actions of our law enforcers caught on camera seem to be much more criminal that a 4 year old taking a $1 doll.

BTW, the store owner decided not to press charges.

Tragedy in Witchita

Imagine you are at home with your family just living your normal life when outside there's a bunch of flashing lights and obvious police activity.

You go to your door to see what is happening and unexpectedly find out the police are focused on your house and start shouting orders at you.

You would certainly be confused and surprised at this point as a bunch of armed people in police uniforms are telling you to do something.

Maybe you hear them but think it is clearly a case of mistaken identity so you reach for your ID.

Now you are dead.

It turns out that someone called in a false SWAT call and even worse used a phony address they had been given by an online gamer who they had a dispute with ($1 or $2 bet).

Of course the person making the call is guilty but you have to wonder how a trained group of police officers could roll up on a residential household, see no evidence of violence and just shoot a citizen who was unarmed and unthreatening because in that moment he failed to instantly obey shouted instructions?

I've heard of suicide by cop where someone decides to confront a cop but this is murder by cop.

Its likely that somehow the murderous police officer who shot an unarmed man, answering his door will be exonerated since his story that this person made a potentially threatening move to his belt is considered justification.

I just don't understand how a squad of heavily armed police, surrounding a residence would feel the need to fire without actually seeing a weapon?

I really just don't understand it and something needs to happen.

Where's the coordination

Another unarmed black man got shot yesterday by police who said he assumed a "shooting stance".

Now in this case his sister called the police to get her maentally disturbed brother some help.  Not sure how you define help, but her call was unsuccessful in my opinion.

Now, a lot of details still need to come out, but they responded, approached the disturbed individual at which point he took something (not a gun) from his pocket and pointed it.   Now this could be perceived as a threat and one cop fired a taser while another one fired five bullets.

The effectiveness of the taser can't be determined but the bullets did work.

Now, at the moment of confrontation, split second reactions are hard to control, especially if the very sight of a young black man is terrifying to you.

However, and maybe I'm spoiled by television, where was the plan and coordination?

You respond to a call about a mentally challenged individual acting erratically and decide to provoke a confrontation?

Where is the negotiator or the person with the bullhorn trying to talk him down?

Yes guess it would take some time and cost some money, but isn't a persons life worth something?

I'm waiting for the justified shooting report.

How do we stop the killing?

Police officers have to deal with dangerous situations all the time and at times have to make split second decisions.

But sometimes, and more so in instance where black citizens are involved, the incident seems to stem from police making a situation worse than it needed to be.

An example, a black man is sitting in his car waiting for a bus to drop off someone.  The police, in plainsclothes is looking for a burgler and see him there.  Now I don't have the full details, but he emerged from the car carrying either a book or a gun and ended up dead.

I realize that an investigation was ongoing but being upset because you got distrurbed for what would seem like no good reason should not result in your being dead.

Similarly, having your car break down is also not something that should result in getting shot.

Now, I'll even accept that the two victims might not have fully cooperated with the police and one of them may even have had a gun.  But how does it get there?

Neither had committed a crime, at least not a crime the police were aware of, and they ended up dead.

It happens all too frequently and it happens to young black men the most.

it has to stop and maybe the police need more training.  Mabe preserving people's lives should be the highest priority.

I don't want them to put themselves in danger, but maybe they don't need to be in a rush to end these incidents while protecting themselves.

I just know that something has to change.

To Serve and Protect

People who enter law enforcement do so for many reasons, but they all take an oath at some point that probably includes the words to serve and protect.

The reason we have laws and law enforcement is because there are criminals.  Criminals are defined by what they do, not what they look like.

Criminals do bad things and can be very dangerous.  Dealing with them can certainly impact someone in law enforcement and further, can create a distorted view of the world when you deal with the criminal element so frequently.

Now add in terrorism and law enforcement becomes more difficult and more risky.  They certainly have the right to defend themselves and should be given the benefit of the doubt if a situation poses a believeable threat.

However, they have to be held to certain standards, not allowed to gun down unarmed people because they got nervous, or didn't know what was going on, or failed to control their weapon.  Use of deadly force is not reversible.

I see videos of police actions that are deeply disturbing.  In some cases I realize the video might not be the entire story and wait for the authorities to sort it out.

Howevr there was another young black man shot dead in Tulsa who was unarmed, had his hands in the air and seemed to be complying with police orders.

Yes he was a large man but it seems like his car had a problem and the police arrived, but for some reason they treated him as if he had done something wrong.

Now the situation is in process when the video starts, but he is seen walking with his hands in the air and going to his car followed by a number of police.  Maybe they gave him some order he didn't follw, it looked like he was going to get proof of ownership when they tasered him and then almost immediately shot him dead for some unexplainable reason.

So a college student has a car problem, has no weapons and ends up dead.

I cant understand it and can't imagine it would have ended that way if he had been a white man.

This has to stop.