Posted on 12/08/2003 5:53:56 PM PST by CHICAGOFARMER
Cops accidentally kill 300 citizens annually
Editorial: Nonlethal weapons a better approach
http://www.ccchronicle.com/back/2003-12-08/opinions2.html
Here lie the casualties of an epidemic that has been increasingly gripping American cities since the early part of 1990:
·Steven Curry, 21, shot and killed by an off-duty Chicago police officer, Nov. 25, 2003.
·Michael L. Jacobs, 37, shot and killed by a Shreveport, La. police officer, claiming self-defense, Dec. 2, 2003.
·Courtney Mathis, 12, shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer, Sept. 1, 2001.
·Timothy Thomas, 19, shot and killed by off-duty Cincinnati police officers, April 7, 2001.
·Ahmed Diallo, 22, shot 41 times and killed by New York City police officers, Feb. 4, 1999.
·Robert Russ Sr., 22, was one of two unarmed civilians shot and killed by Chicago police in a single week, June 1999.
·Gonzalo Martinez, 26, shot and killed by Downey, Calif. police, Feb. 15, 2002.
·Nathanial Jones, 41, died after being beaten by Cincinnati police, Nov. 30, 2003.
These cases are only a small percentage of the more than 300 unarmed citizens killed each year by police officers who claim they had no other option than to use a service firearm or other means of lethal force.
Other options, however, to bring people under submission have been made available to various police departments across the country. In the western United States, there is a sweeping trend by police districts to adopt nonlethal weapons.
According to the San Diego Tribune, more than 1,200 policing agencies have begun using PepperBall guns.
The PepperBall Gun is a semi-automatic, high pressured-air launcher that fires balls containing the strongest, hottest pharmaceutical-grade irritant available.
In October, San Carlos, Calif., police began carrying taser guns, opposite their firearms. The taser sends 50,000 volts of electric shock into the nervous system, completely incapacitating a subject. Officials from the Phoenix Police Department began using taser guns in 2002.
Since its implementation, there has been a 50 percent decrease in the number of shootings by police officers. And in San Diego, where officer-involved shootings are among the highest in the country, police districts are retraining their officers in sensitivity and deployment of nonlethal weaponry.
Nationally, only 1,000 of the 18,000 police agencies currently supply nonlethal devices to officers based on a variety of poor reasons. Major cities of the Midwest and Atlantic regions argue they are sticking to their guns, no pun intended, due to tight city budgets, the lack of training and most importantly, doubt.
Its troubling when the use of nonlethal weapons becomes an oxymoron for police in cities such as: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Providence, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., where police-involved deaths continue to rise. It seems those sworn to protect and serve are ignoring a proven remedy.
According to a 2002 Associated Press report, a majority of U.S. law enforcement agencies do carry Mace or pepper spray. But officers believe the chemical aerosols dont pack enough punch to subdue suspected criminals. So, are police trained to believe that the only alternative is to shoot or pound the culprit to death?
Part of the problem lies in the lack of training in defensive tactics and nonlethal artillery. Officers often reach for their holsters because training goes out the door during challenging confrontations. Police must be properly educated in understanding how to best handle all situations. But perhaps the ultimate cure is in the eradication of police officers who sidestep proper training practices. In any other profession, the incompetent are let go. Unfortunately, in law enforcement, someone has to die before incompetence is realized.
If you are so hopeless and that is what you really believe, then why are you here at FreeRepublic? Conservatives are not so blinded by ideology.
Should we condemn all of capitalism because some businessmen are doing crooked deals? Should we condemn all politics because some politicians are corrupt? Should we condemn all law because there are some shyster lawyers?
Conservatives recognize that the good far outweighs the bad, and we are never so given to hopelessness and despair as you are.
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What am I missing??? The Police are off limits??? So I can't say anything at work, at school, or in public about my feeling about the sickness of liberalism, unions, nepotism, and government corruption, and now you say I am wrong to mention here??
Do you know there are powerful liberal groups who are proselytizing and preaching immorality and lauding personal irresponsibility and hatred of authority?
Geeeze, SPARE ME! There were 14,000,000 crimes committed in 2001 of which there were, 1,1439,000 violent arrests. That was for a single year in 2001, and police encountered millions of whacked out, crazed, drug infested, lifelong felons, with little regard for their lives let alone the police.. The fact that only 300 were killed is a testament to the restraint that we show the guilty and innocent alike.. All of this hand wringing is folly, get on your knees and thank the Lord, that you live in a land that trains their police force to show such courage in the face of such danger.
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