Training Officers to Shoot First, and He Will Answer Questions Later

NY Times ^

[WayneS]

So when someone is breaking into your house at 2 am who are you going to call?

I will call my lawyer, and then I will call the cops - AFTER I have stopped the person from breaking in to my house.

The police are nothing but a clean-up crew. 99.9999% of the time they are not in a position to prevent someone from breaking in to your house, and they are not even legally obligated to stop such a break in if they see it happening.

[indthkr]

I have friends and family in law enforcement, but LEOs that shoot people in the back, or unarmed persons in non-threatening situations should be eligible for sentence up to, and including the death penalty if convicted in a court of law.

It should also be possible to charge their commanding officers and sue their municipalities out of existence.

[DoodleDawg]

When they tell you do not do something, don’t do it. Nobody ever died when being polite to a cop.

In the first paragraph of the article it relates the story of a cop who ordered a man to take his hands out of his pockets and then shot him as he did so. So what happened there? Not polite enough?

All to often the police can shoot anyone for any reason, or suspicion, and walk away from it. And this guy is helping him. I would love to see his defense of that police officer in Minneapolis who shot that unarmed woman. No doubt he would have half a dozen explanations justifying it.

[Bulwyf]

A lot of us are real vets who have done far worse things in a far worse environment. I wouldn’t paint folks with that keyboard warrior brush.

[donna]

Thanks for calling me insane.

Please take your hand out of your pocket, lol.

[redcatcherb412]

In war time, you know who the enemy is. Cops don’t have that benefit.

Please point out these cuties if they were walking in downtown Bien Hoa the evening before TET '68.

[Bulwyf]

If someone is breaking into my house or a house near me, the cops wouldn’t be needed.

There’s very few situations that can be improved by calling the police.

[discostu]

Just because we wouldn’t do the job doesn’t mean these cops aren’t doing the job poorly. Cops have had an us vs them mentality for a long time, many get trained that they are the Thin Blue Line, the only thing holding society together. This causes them to live in a world where there’s cops and there’s scum. And since they go out that door seeing all of us as the enemy they act accordingly, and we get killed.

Just look at the story, guy did WHAT THE COP TOLD HIM TO DO, and got shot. That is quite simply not right at all ever. Whether or not I would ever take the job has no impact on the simple fact that that cop is a murderer.

[DoodleDawg]

Police are not perfect but I doubt any of the keyboard warriors here would do their job no matter what the pay.

Nobody denies that police have a hard job. Nor would any rational person deny that the overwhelming majority of police officers do that hard and dangerous job very well. It is a small minority of police officers who panic, and when they panic then people die needlessly. And people like this Lewinski help them get off.

[DoodleDawg]

So when someone is breaking into your house at 2 am who are you going to call? Not the police I hope if that’s the way you feel.

There was a lady in Minneapolis who heard a noise and called the police...and now she's dead. What now?

[DoodleDawg]

Cops don’t have that benefit.

So then they should view everyone as their enemy?

[Pearls Before Swine]

It only makes sense that cops are apprehensive of their lives. When they tell you do not do something, don’t do it.

While I agree with the sentiment, what are you supposed to do when you are told to take your hand out of your pocket, and don't know if it will be perceived as a threat? You can say "taking hand out, slowly," which would be good, but shouldn't be shot for forgetting. (Assuming the facts of the case are as stated in the article).

[donna]

If your son or daughter is a cop, what would you advise them to do?

[redcatcherb412]

Cops don’t have that benefit. So then they should view everyone as their enemy?

If they are hired straight out of the military without enough transition and training then they probably do view the public as the enemy. Police is a very confrontational job that pits them against the public and need very extensive detailed training in threat recognition. Not enough training then yes, everyone is your enemy. Problem is that with every police/innocent citizen shooting, the police will be viewed as the publics enemy instead of peacekeeper.

[usurper]

“if I see the gun, I’m dead?”

Anyone with that cowardly mindset has no business in law enforcement. They are a danger to themselves and all of us.

[TalBlack]

Bingo, Donna, cops do what a bunch of average, armed women would do because the job has been feminized. There’s a reason it was a man’s job and it was more than because of size and strength: Standards, merit. Men instinctively hew to these things.

[pacific_waters]

And on this case the not cop was shot BECAUSE he complied. Every time a cop stops someone he/she MAY face a gun. Every time you;re stopped by a cop you WILL face someone with a gun. What this bullshit says is that your life is worth less than a cop’s.

[zeugma]

Seriously, the cops need to start acting like Americans instead of the armed force that’s occupying America.

Absolutely agreed. It's way past time for that.

[DoodleDawg]

If your son or daughter is a cop, what would you advise them to do?

What should I be advising them to do? Shoot everyone on sight?

[DoodleDawg]

Men instinctively hew to these things.

I would point out that in the overwhelming majority of these unarmed suspect shootings, it's a man pulling the trigger and not a woman. Has the hewing of their instincts deteriorated over the years?