CaptSMRT wrote:bradleygt89 wrote:
As I mentioned to Billy, we can get lost on just one case like this, but for every Smith out there who was causing real 'trouble' and had put some lives in danger due to his actions, there are a LOT of folks killed by cops who were doing nothing more than going about their day. If you honestly think that police in most of those cases aren't using racial profiling, aren't trigger happy, don't use excessive force when not needed, and that the justice system is far to all regardless of their race, then I don't know what to tell you. Saying to 'stay out of trouble' is just a cop out to the real issue that is behind the protest: systemic racism in our institutions.
How are you measuring this?
Here is a
link for all of the officer involved fatal shootings in 2016. I am seeing a lot of folks armed with guns.
Good source, thank you.
First thing; just because someone was 'armed' with a gun doesn't mean they were using it in the threat. We also have the highly protected 2nd amendment, which allows for folks to carry legally. The data doesn't show how many of those armed were using the gun as a weapon towards the officer or public, just that they had that weapon on them.
But to the data provided; of those 2679 killed by police since Jan 1, 2015, 174 were unarmed and 1502 were armed with a gun (which means that the rest, some 1,000 others were armed with a knife, shovel, vehicle, or other weapon).
What is most troubling, is that 950, or about 1/3 of those killed had shown signs of mental illness. Also, 1794 were not fleeing while it shows that 1698 were 'attacking'.
This data tells me that one of our biggest problems goes back to health care and the lack of training with law enforcement on how to deal with those who are in need of mental health assistance. Fortunately, some cities and police departments are taking steps to better deal with de-escalation techniques that work: "Lynda Roseman called police to get help for her son, an Iraq War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who was brandishing a knife and high on inhalants. Instead, the former Marine was shot in the chest and charged with 10 felonies, including assault with intent to murder.
The violent encounter, she told legislators Tuesday, could have been avoided if the police officers who responded had been trained to handle people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/ ... story.html
and others like here: "WHEN a 22-year-old man holding a knife begged Seattle police to shoot him on Third Avenue during rush hour, bystanders thought he might get his wish. That would probably be the result in many other cities, and maybe even a few years ago in Seattle.
But Tuesday’s incident ended after two hours without violence as the man’s mother looked on, and her son was taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation — not gunshot wounds. Most officers on the scene had specialized training for defusing crises with people in psychosis."
http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/edi ... ves-lives/
And sorry Tim, but 'open season' on drug dealers? Seriously? I'm assuming you are a fan of Duarte, the POS president in the Philippines? I'm no fan of heroin, but extrajudicial killings or cops killing dealers is not the solution to heroin. Full legalization of all 'drugs' especially cannabis (most of those addicted to opiodes, which leads to heroin use, would benefit from cannabis as a pain reliever, and opiode use is down in states that have legalized cannabis:
http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/28/opioi ... marijuana/), along with better health care and prevention, is the only solution, as has been found in other nations and communities that have taken that brave step.