Posted on 09/01/2014 5:15:00 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
But most interesting, perhaps, was the race of the officers who fired their weapons. About two-thirds were white, and one-third black — effectively identical to the racial composition of the St. Louis Police Department as a whole. In this study, at least, firing at a black suspect was an equal-opportunity decision.
The experiment’s 102 subjects, a mixture of police officers, combat veterans and civilians, were run through a random sample of 60 scenarios drawn from actual police encounters. The scenarios, using white, black and Hispanic actors, were projected in life-size high-definition video on laboratory screens.
Whether officers, veterans or civilians, the subjects consistently hesitated longer before firing at black suspects and were much more likely to mistakenly shoot an unarmed white suspect, the researchers found. And when they failed to fire at an armed suspect — a potentially fatal mistake — the suspect was about five times more likely to be black than white. The study’s 36 police officers were the lone exception in failing to fire: The suspect’s race wasn’t a factor in their decision not to shoot. “The findings were very unexpected given the previous experimental research,” said Lois James, an assistant professor who conducted the research.
“The notion that cops want to shoot anybody is a lot of baloney,” said Dr. Klinger, who has interviewed some 300 officers involved in shootings. “But white officers are much more reticent to shoot a black man than a white man because, all things being equal, they know the social context in which they’re operating.”
By that theory, officers are more careful when confronting black suspects because they know a fatal shooting will open them to controversy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ding, ding, ding - we have a thread winnah!
If black folks are tired of their criminal sons getting shot they should work to develope technology that is just as effective but less lethal than firearms. Oh wait, never mind.
The slimes should be asking if more Blacks make themselves a target because of their activities. Always the victim, always!
Why is it in black area’s are all the stores and such have bars on the windows big gates with locks is it to keep the whites out or is it that the black are committing the crimes???
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