Some of the comments on here are blowing my mind. Coming from people that have not walked one second in the shoes of a police officer.
I do not like what I am seeing happening in our streets today, whether it is the mishandling of situations by "some" officers, or the multiple shootings happening everywhere, especially Chicago. But to even think I could come anywhere near understanding what police officers go through when walking into unknown circumstances keeps my mouth shut on that particular subject.
More programs like these should be in schools...
Police officers are not suppose to be like civilians in these situations. Placing a person who isn't a police officer in the position of a police officer is avoiding the issue. It isn't their job to police society.
Police are not enlisted. They choose the profession. Keeping a calm, cool head in these situations is their jobs. Protecting the citizens, including those they are investigating, is their jobs. If they are unfit to be police officers, they shouldn't be police officers. It doesn't change the standard because the cops aren't fit to do their jobs. Perhaps they shouldn't have got pass the screening process. I think there are too many cops who should never get to be cops, but once they are on the force that is not an excuse.
A major problem I have with this is it excuses the cops for being jumpy and nervous as a natural state, which is exactly the opposite of what they are suppose to be. It excuses them escalating situations because of this. It excuses them for "imaging" a weapon. "It is a stressful job" gives them almost complete license to do as they see fit, which includes killing people who do not pose them a legitimate threat. As long as they can say the perceived a threat, they can shoot anyone theoretically. And when that is okay, they can rationalize any shooting as justified.
This line of thought avoids obvious major issues in these situations. Namely the training and insular nature of the police force. The new mantra is that police officers number one job is to get home safe. This reinforce that idea that their lives matter more then civilians, to take zero perceived risk. And how black males by their very nature are higher perceived risk to the officer's lives. This also leads to other cops avoiding reporting on their fellow officers. As we see when they do that, the good cop who did his job is ostracized. Defending these incident, making excuses, not testifying, victim blaming, and straight up lying to defend other cops. This makes the police as a whole responsible. This is an issue with the entire police structure, but we aren't allowed to question this on any level because it is "disrespectful" to the cops. As if we need to blindly trust them because their jobs are stressful.
And then there is smearing the victims to justify these killings. Look at how victims are smeared with irrelevant information. In both the Tulsa and Charlotte situations they can't wait to say the victims have past convictions. Something the officers themselves were not aware of at the time. So what relevance is there? How does that make their non-pointing of a weapon at the police anymore dangerous?
Now they say the man in Charlotte had a gun, but he had an ankle holster, was not walking towards the cop, and was not lifting his hands in the air to point a gun at anyone when they shot him. His wife is there telling them he had a brain injury, and yet they continue to escalate the situation.
This isn't seeking the truth, or justice, it is about giving the police the best chance to not be held responsible for their actions.
Come on...you are the one with the US vs THEM mentality.
