Killing weaponless civilians by police is not acceptable, for any reason, ever. (A car can be a weapon, a fist generally not. A question of a weapon? - case by case favoring giving the police the benefit of the doubt). But when police kill unarmed citizens, and there is no weapon, it is murder. Murder. And it's not ok.
More often than not it's fear and adrenaline that fuels these murders, along with rage at being ignored or having their authority challenged. Maybe if they were in better shape, more highly trained in self defense techniques, better schooled as to the limits of their authority and 'power', and better screened to eliminate sociopaths, we would see less of these police murders.
Sad thing - this has been going on a very long time indeed. There are not more police murders these days, despite perceptions, there are just more of these murders being captured on video thanks to the smart phone. Smart phone - dumb cop.
There is a fine tradition of police authority abusing its 'power' in this country - a fine tradition of murder and coverup. It's just become harder to coverup. And it's about time.
Are all police like this? Of course not. This has always been a minority of sadistic, authoritarian, cowards all along. But today, thanks to the smart phone, the good cops, the majority of cops, and society have a real opportunity to to rid themselves once and for all of these weak, abusive, murdering, few.
I encourage all police to embrace this idea. Don't rush to defend your ranks in blind faith. Don't 'help' your fellow officers by covering up what you as a good cop believe to be a mistake - people just trying to do their jobs and making a mistake in the heat of the moment. Murder is never ok - it just isn't. You wouldn't do it - why excuse them?
Society realizes you have what is at times an almost impossible job to do. But it doesn't have to be us against civilians any more. With the camera you can clean up your ranks while gathering empathy and respect for what you do. With transparency you can go a long way to building trust. If you are trusted, respected, and empathized with - you are safer, and better equipped to do your job.
More often than not it's fear and adrenaline that fuels these murders, along with rage at being ignored or having their authority challenged. Maybe if they were in better shape, more highly trained in self defense techniques, better schooled as to the limits of their authority and 'power', and better screened to eliminate sociopaths, we would see less of these police murders.
Sad thing - this has been going on a very long time indeed. There are not more police murders these days, despite perceptions, there are just more of these murders being captured on video thanks to the smart phone. Smart phone - dumb cop.
There is a fine tradition of police authority abusing its 'power' in this country - a fine tradition of murder and coverup. It's just become harder to coverup. And it's about time.
Are all police like this? Of course not. This has always been a minority of sadistic, authoritarian, cowards all along. But today, thanks to the smart phone, the good cops, the majority of cops, and society have a real opportunity to to rid themselves once and for all of these weak, abusive, murdering, few.
I encourage all police to embrace this idea. Don't rush to defend your ranks in blind faith. Don't 'help' your fellow officers by covering up what you as a good cop believe to be a mistake - people just trying to do their jobs and making a mistake in the heat of the moment. Murder is never ok - it just isn't. You wouldn't do it - why excuse them?
Society realizes you have what is at times an almost impossible job to do. But it doesn't have to be us against civilians any more. With the camera you can clean up your ranks while gathering empathy and respect for what you do. With transparency you can go a long way to building trust. If you are trusted, respected, and empathized with - you are safer, and better equipped to do your job.
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