And yet there are instances where a person who’s been shot is at fault. Sometimes the “victim” really is to blame. Not sure if that is the case here or not, but blaming someone for their own culpability is not always wrong.
Wouldn’t that be nice? Unfortunately the american militarized police only use so called non-lethal weapons when they are 100% positive the citizens are not armed and pose no threat. To american cops, pepper spray is for peaceful protesters only.
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So why are you on here explaining and apologizing for these cops?
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It’s not that I am defending the cops, but if I saw someone throw rocks at a bear, I would not ask “why did the bear eat them?”
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The problem is they’re not as reliable, a tazer might hit clothing and do absolutely nothing, if the cop is shooting it’s (supposedly) because they’re scared and want to instantly and reliably stop the person
This means the only real use for a tazer is a less imminent threat like fists or a knife, or more often compliance. If someone is being belligerent rather than talking them down (or trying to engage in physical combat) it’s really easy to just taze them.
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You make good points, however a knife is totally an imminent threat when the wielder is within, say, 15-18 feet. Knives are potentially lethal even to a cop with a gun.
Bad analogy is bad, devil’s advocate.
As men are not “sharks”, officers of the law are not wild “grizzly bears” operating on base instinct alone.
We’re higher functioning mammals capable of analytical thought and complex reasoning.
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So cops simply have an instinct to kill random people they pull over? Is that what your trying to say? If that’s the case, then we should just take the advice of @popobawa4u and never stop in the first place.
There are millions of interactions a day between police and the general population that do not end like this situation. These two cowards should not be in charge of guarding the fridge, let alone patrolling our streets. If they were following procedures, which I doubt, then those procedures need to change. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that even suggests this kid “threw rocks at a bear.” Anyway, they were looking for a man with a rifle on foot. And after they double tap the kid and the kid is holding his hands up - and both are visible - they pump him with a shotgun. You’re explaining that with a bear analogy? At some point in there it should be egregious for most folks.
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Great comment, thank you for the personal experience.
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Your opinion of police is higher than mine.
You realize a ton of them are middle east vets, right? No wonder they’re so fucked up to hell. No excuse, but still a fact.
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I seriously fucking doubt that, dude.
What I was alluding to before a Captain Save a Ho came along “rushing to your defense”, is that we all have to hold ourselves to a higher standard as human beings in general; otherwise, we are proper fucked.
And if certain human beings have more power or authority over other human beings, then they should be held to an even higher standard than the average person, not a lower one.
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It’s the other way around. Tons of ex-mil end up on police forces, seeing as these days the only requirement seems to be willingness to TERMINATE TERMINATE TERMINATE! Shell-shocked vets are the BEST police, when you’re an authoritarian oligarchy.
OK, back to Pokemon Go. (Which will probably get someone killed by police inadvertently within the week.)
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Not stopping for police was @Quinquennial’s idea which I replied to. My preferred (and admittedly risky - but what isn’t?) approach is instead to pull over police first, to catch them unawares and have them dealing with the public from a position where they have little control.
In a completely pragmatic sense, the reason cops terrorize people is because people let them. But this obviously does not excuse it, or get good results. Normal people need to start dealing more forcefully with their town halls and police departments so that elected officials are brought into line and are directly accountable to the public. NOT trusted to investigate and punish themselves. Let them know that you are watching, and that there are very real consequences for betraying the public trust. And of course respect and compensation for a job well done.
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*sighs
Sad, but probable.
I’m all for that. I think it’s a travesty that they are able to get away with so much. They need to be held to the same standards if not higher than we are. And certainly those police union rules that allow them to get out of being interviewed and charged under the same circumstances that we do as civilians have to go. That’s unequal Justice. But that call for accountability doesn’t mean that I don’t necessarily understand stimulus reaction response that led to the shooting.
So let’s compare and contrast this with a similar situation. What is your position on the shooting of Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum? Was he in any way responsible in that situation? Or was it entirely the fault of the police that he was shot?
I can’t remember if he pulled his weapon, but I seem to remember he was running away in the snow. He should not have been shot. He should be on trial for his crimes. Same thing with the Dallas shooter. The Dallas PD should not have used a bomb robot to blow up the shooter. Starve him out or force him out with a flashbang and tear gas. Remote mines were fun in Goldeneye, but we are not playing first person shooters.
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Finicum did not pull his weapon, but kept reaching for where he might have (and and in fact did) have one and ignored officers commands. Based on his earlier statements had a rather clear martyr complex and was rather plausiblely committing suicide by cop, as may have happened in this incident.
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Well, if I’m ever attacked by a cage, it would be a good skill to have…
Well, it is pretty bad when Vader has higher standards. There are many non-lethal solutions. Lethal force is certainly necessary sometimes, but the proliferation of videos reveals that it is being used too often and when unnecessary. There is a significant public interest in prosecuting crimes through the criminal justice system. One solution is to change procedures and rules for lethal force. The other solution is to crack down on officers who use lethal force inappropriately. Explaining away their actions only helps the bad cops and hurts everyone else, good cops included.
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