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Commentary: Is there a magic bullet to reduce police misconduct?
Chicago Tribune ^ | 26 nov 2015 | Arthur Acevedo

Posted on 11/26/2015 5:38:21 AM PST by rellimpank

Imagine if the first bullet in a cop's chamber were a blank bullet. Would this approach save lives?

What if a police department adopted this approach as standard procedure. Or, better yet, if legislation mandated this requirement for state and local police departments. Would it help save lives?

Police in Britain, Ireland, Norway, Iceland and New Zealand typically do not carry weapons at all when they are patrolling the streets. Surely, crimes in those countries are no less threatening than what we experience in the U.S.

The idea is not to ban guns from the police departments here. Rather, it is to require that the first bullet in the chamber not be a live bullet.

Nonbelievers will say the hazards of entering a violent situation require an immediate and forceful response. True. They will say police officers often must make split-second decisions. True again. And they will say that "the bad guys" carry guns. True once more. However, we must allow police the opportunity to assess a situation and decide if a nonlethal approach is preferable. The knowledge that the first bullet in the chamber is a blank could provide that opportunity. If a police officer needs a live round, the second bullet stands ready.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; chicago; rkba
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To: Dutch Boy
Why not raid the entry standards and make it much easier to get rid of bad cops?

The "blue wall" mentality and the police unions make this almost impossible. For whatever reason, good cops will go to the mat to defend bad cops. It's one thing I've never understood about LEOs.

21 posted on 11/26/2015 6:01:23 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright (WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again (Amazon Best Seller))
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To: rellimpank

Is this satire? If it is not satire, then it just goes to show how Liberals are always ready to mess things up. Such a measure would get cops killed, period. If you want to control the small minority of police officers who are bad people, then just mandate body cameras that are tamper-proof. That will stop the few bad cops. But having cops go around with, basically, a snap cap in their gun, is wrong.


22 posted on 11/26/2015 6:03:00 AM PST by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: BenLurkin

Why don’t we have the first action be a stern letter, mailed to the criminal.


23 posted on 11/26/2015 6:06:49 AM PST by Vermont Lt (I had student debt. It came from a bank. Not from the Govt.)
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To: BenLurkin

>>The idea is ... to require that the first bullet in the chamber not be a live bullet.
What?<<

If this guy had done 10 seconds of research he would know cops are trained to empty their magazine once the decision to use deadly force has been made.


24 posted on 11/26/2015 6:07:07 AM PST by freedumb2003 (Don't mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance, or my kindness for weakness)
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To: rellimpank

Another “journalist” who graduated from MU


25 posted on 11/26/2015 6:07:20 AM PST by TYVets
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To: euram

>>maybe they should have one bullet in their shirt pocket, seemed to work for Barney, he never killed anyone.<<

One bullet would be pretty useless no matter what. A cartridge might be more helpful.


26 posted on 11/26/2015 6:08:31 AM PST by freedumb2003 (Don't mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance, or my kindness for weakness)
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To: rellimpank

Apparently the author has never fired a semi-automatic pistol. If you know the first round is a blank, then the second round is definitely less than a second behind it.


27 posted on 11/26/2015 6:12:44 AM PST by Bryanw92 (Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: rellimpank

End the teaching of the “thin blue line”. That’s a major part of why cops have this us vs them mentality.


28 posted on 11/26/2015 6:13:36 AM PST by discostu (Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right B, A, Start)
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To: cdcdawg

>>How much of a pretzel am I expected to twist myself into so as to not notice it?

Shhh. You’re not supposed to notice.


29 posted on 11/26/2015 6:14:26 AM PST by Bryanw92 (Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: rellimpank
What if a police department adopted this approach as standard procedure. Or, better yet, if legislation mandated this requirement for state and local police departments. Would it help save lives?

Probably not police lives. Not all police shootings are an abuse of power. The overwhelming majority are justified, and this idea would just kill or injure police officers.

30 posted on 11/26/2015 6:16:40 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: Bryanw92

“Apparently the author has never fired a semi-automatic pistol. If you know the first round is a blank, then the second round is definitely less than a second behind it.”

A blank will almost certainly not cycle the action. You would have to rack the slide to chamber the live round thus wasting valuable time.


31 posted on 11/26/2015 6:17:10 AM PST by CrazyIvan (Hey Pope Francis- The Gospels are not Matthew, Marx, Luke and John.)
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To: Bryanw92

...and there is of course, the training we go through to put two down range immediately, assess and repeat as needed.

These liberals are going to get USA killed...


32 posted on 11/26/2015 6:18:49 AM PST by GRRRRR (He'll NEVER be my President, FUBO! Treason is the Reason! Impeach the Kenyan)
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To: rellimpank

Indeed next patrolling the streets on unicorns.


33 posted on 11/26/2015 6:20:28 AM PST by Vaduz (women and children to be impacted the most.)
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To: rellimpank

That blank on the first trigger pull would be meaningless as the second pull follows as fast as the officer’s finger can move.


34 posted on 11/26/2015 6:31:32 AM PST by arthurus (Het is waar. Tutti i liberali sono feccia.)
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To: arthurus

See my post #31


35 posted on 11/26/2015 6:33:02 AM PST by CrazyIvan (Hey Pope Francis- The Gospels are not Matthew, Marx, Luke and John.)
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To: bert

Rodney King pretty much got the nightsticks put in the back room.


36 posted on 11/26/2015 6:33:38 AM PST by arthurus (Het is waar. Tutti i liberali sono feccia.)
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To: rellimpank

Chris Rock made a funny comedy video, targeted at black people, entitled “How Not To Get Your Ass Kicked By The Police”. It’s still on YouTube, uncensored and with lots of bad language.

It is funny because it is grounded in the truth.

In fact, so well grounded that police departments around the US should have been making *serious* versions of this video and distributing them freely.

This sounds nonsensical on the surface, until you have the harsh realization that *many* people have never had these lessons, and have not figured these things out.

Rodney King is an excellent example. Before he was attacked by the police, he and his companion did perhaps a dozen things *guaranteed* to upset, attract, and make police respond violently. He incited the heck out of them.

And King and his companion may not have even realized they were doing so. I know it sounds implausible, but it’s the truth.

A serious police video would be hard pressed to put all those lessons into just an hour long DVD, but it would be a great start. The best part is that they could involve local black church and community leaders in the video to give it greater credibility, as well as to teach them, since apparently a lot of them don’t know any better either.

Not too long ago, a police department invited a local black agitator to use their gun use video course, and it really opened his eyes up to what police encounter that results in gunfire.


37 posted on 11/26/2015 6:38:18 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: rellimpank
Really, there are two ways to monitor and enforce gross police misconduct.

1. Instead of the city paying millions for retribution, the court could charge the Union Pension Fund. Hit the cops in the pocketbook to promote self-policing to get rid of the out-of-control individuals.

2. The courts probably won't go for item #1, so the city issues insurance policies for each cop. The insurance policy pays the plaintiff instead of the city. If a LEO is so out of control that he has an excessive insurance payout, he loses his insurance coverage and in effect ends his career as a cop, his pension based upon time served.

38 posted on 11/26/2015 6:46:21 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi (NOPe to GOPe)
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To: rellimpank

While many LEOs act like thugs, having real standards for hiring and training would fix the problem. The real question is whether there is a “magic bullet” to reduce black and hispanic criminality.


39 posted on 11/26/2015 6:52:20 AM PST by achilles2000 ("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")
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To: rellimpank

And .. another one who’s probably willing to allow criminals loose on the street .. because their punishment is too harsh.

I’m at puke with these people.


40 posted on 11/26/2015 7:02:39 AM PST by CyberAnt ("The fields are white unto Harvest")
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