Working in public safety, though not (as I had hoped growing up) as a police officer, I still get to see both sides of these situations.
I am not at all defending the use of deadly force in this case, I hope that the officer involved in punished for what, based on what's reported here, seems like a flagrant use of excessive force. However, reading a textual description of events does not fully convey what's really going on. There is a lot of emotion, a lot of physical reactions involved in a situation like that. And there are a lot of split second decisions.
It is quite easy to analyze for hours at a time, a decision made in less than a few seconds and find fault with it, but we must always remember the decision making environment that those people must work in.
Now, having said that, this sounds (again from the related information) inexcusable. A subject who is proned out, with his hands visible cannot be a threat to life and limb, and there was no cause for deadly force. This, like the incident on the train platform in oakland, sounds reprehensible.
The solution is well paid, well trained, well supervised, and highly disciplined police officers, who are held accountable for their actions. But really we have none of those things. Well paid and well trained takes money, and we all know how evil the big "T" word is. But lets face it, we get what we pay for. New Orleans, the lowest paid big city police force in the country is the perfect example of that.
Well supervised... good supervisors come from well paid and well trained police officers. Accountable, ask jsut about any cop and they'll tell you it's "us against them", police don't trust the public, because all too often the public rushes to judgement about police actions without understanding the circumstances in which those decisions were made. Is it a cop out from time to time by the police, of course, but do they get treated unfairly by the public as well, absolutely. The systems of accountability much be balanced, and public outrage should never play a part in an incident review.
Additionally we need more cameras in police cars, and microphones on police officers. Video is a two edged sword, and as much as we would like it does not (in fact seldom) tell the whole story, it does however give some good information, when taken in the right context.
And this is not limited to racial issues. We had an issue here in suburban KCMO where a police officer omitted exculpatory evidence from a case because he was having a sexual affair with the wife of the accused (whom he later married) The city is out 16 million over that one, but as far as I know he still has his job as an office, despite a spotty history.
It is a very complicated issue, and it is never as clear as we all wish it would be. Keeping the piece is not an easy job, and I do not envy those that have it. Having said that, they accepted the responsibility of life and death, and they must be held to a much higher standard.
no subject
I am not at all defending the use of deadly force in this case, I hope that the officer involved in punished for what, based on what's reported here, seems like a flagrant use of excessive force. However, reading a textual description of events does not fully convey what's really going on. There is a lot of emotion, a lot of physical reactions involved in a situation like that. And there are a lot of split second decisions.
It is quite easy to analyze for hours at a time, a decision made in less than a few seconds and find fault with it, but we must always remember the decision making environment that those people must work in.
Now, having said that, this sounds (again from the related information) inexcusable. A subject who is proned out, with his hands visible cannot be a threat to life and limb, and there was no cause for deadly force. This, like the incident on the train platform in oakland, sounds reprehensible.
The solution is well paid, well trained, well supervised, and highly disciplined police officers, who are held accountable for their actions. But really we have none of those things. Well paid and well trained takes money, and we all know how evil the big "T" word is. But lets face it, we get what we pay for. New Orleans, the lowest paid big city police force in the country is the perfect example of that.
Well supervised... good supervisors come from well paid and well trained police officers. Accountable, ask jsut about any cop and they'll tell you it's "us against them", police don't trust the public, because all too often the public rushes to judgement about police actions without understanding the circumstances in which those decisions were made. Is it a cop out from time to time by the police, of course, but do they get treated unfairly by the public as well, absolutely. The systems of accountability much be balanced, and public outrage should never play a part in an incident review.
Additionally we need more cameras in police cars, and microphones on police officers. Video is a two edged sword, and as much as we would like it does not (in fact seldom) tell the whole story, it does however give some good information, when taken in the right context.
And this is not limited to racial issues. We had an issue here in suburban KCMO where a police officer omitted exculpatory evidence from a case because he was having a sexual affair with the wife of the accused (whom he later married) The city is out 16 million over that one, but as far as I know he still has his job as an office, despite a spotty history.
It is a very complicated issue, and it is never as clear as we all wish it would be. Keeping the piece is not an easy job, and I do not envy those that have it. Having said that, they accepted the responsibility of life and death, and they must be held to a much higher standard.