I cant keep quiet any longer on this. I am not at all trying to decide who is right or wrong. But it is clear to me that the way our police operate, even the greatest of them, is dysfunctional. They and we deserve better protocols. I am not vilifying the police. I believe they behaved the way their commanders (and many citizens) expect them to. I am begging that we please have different expectations for our police. It is not reasonable, in my opinion, to use deadly force whenever a citizen does not immediately comply with their commands. It is wrong to continue moving closer and closer to an agitated citizen, and then shoot him for being close. If you may feel threatened, then keep your distance and try some other tactics first. I just have to insist that you stop approaching aggressively then killing out of feeling threatened. I have seen it, and I know it occurs often. And when the suspect doesnt die, there is still a violent beating from the police and that is not right nor healthy for them, nor society. Also I know the police arriving on the scene are frightened and upset. But in my opinion they need to react with more calm and civility to the rightly concerned citizens who just watched this death in the street. If you carry deadly force and the full weight of the law, it is incumbent upon you to go above and beyond to protect and serve. Not to get harmed, but to use restraint. I see an awful lot of aggression, and it is difficult to remind myself that we are on the same team. Much less that we are all human. Police need to remember that, and practice that. If they cannot then we do not live in a republic. I can not imagine how difficult their job is. But they must find a way to do their job without so many deaths, and without so much violence, and by policing each other a little better. I believe it would make their job safer and less stressful anyway. As a teacher, when threatened by students, and yes my life was threatened often, and I was attacked by my students. it was not ever an option for me to escalate nor return the violence. The one time they were attacking I defended myself then got AWAY. I realize that the stakes are higher for police, but I have to insist that deadly force be used rarely if ever. And I believe that encouraging police into these situations is the opposite of respect for the police. All these police are going to suffer emotionally from this situation. We did not help them, nor their families by training them to execute their duties this way. They are less likely to come home to their families if they go into neighborhoods where they are out manned and out gunned, telling them to be at war with everyone they meet. Stop the madness now. It is not about how awful the perpetrator is smeared, and it is not about the morals of the officer. It is about our society constantly doubling down on fear and violence, and seeing some (poor, black, others) as problems and not as fellow human beings. Respond to this post civilly or not at all, please.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 02:03:15 +0000
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