Police officers are forced to make decisions every day from deciding whether or not to pull someone over for speeding to whether or not to use lethal force on a threat. My opinion on the officers in shootings is that these officers may take more shots than needed or miss a lot of their shots but it’s going to happen. Most of the police forces do not record such stats and I think they should. However people don’t know how stressful it must be to be in a situation where a police officer is in danger and must protect himself and others from a threat and it is his duty to make these shoot don’t shoot decisions. I also think that police officers should be more cautious and make sure they do every thing right.
Most police agencies do not recorded how many shots were taken and of the shots were missed. i think that they should because these stats will help agencies see that there is improvements needed for the gun training for officers. But I do see how the public will look down even more towards the police if the stats were released to the public because the stats may not be as good as you want.
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The stats show that 70% of police officers showed no sign of sight alignment when in a shooting and 10% can’t remember if they did or not. These stats show how stressful it is to be in that kind of situation. Some police officers don’t even fear in the situation until it is already done. Police officers have to make these split second decisions and the cause of these decisions have caused many deaths due to the assumption that a person had a gun or that they saw a gun and there was no gun found. My opinion on this is that police officers are going to make the wrong decision but we don’t have to look down at every police officer because of one’s wrong
According to the website killedbypolice.net, they have been keeping track of deaths by police since 2013 and that number is a whopping 2,966 casualties. That is only in three years time, compared to the deaths of terrorism it is still less but this website is only look at three years of deaths. According to an article on cnn.com the deaths of American lives since 2001 by terrorism is at 3,380, while that is high that is information that has been taken over 14 years while the 2,966 deaths by police has only occurred in 3 years time. This shows that we should pay more attention to the policies that are being used by our police departments and officers and make sure the procedures and policies they are going to enforce are better suited than the ones they are using now because things must change and I hope they do for the betterment of everyone in the United
Public mass shootings have increased at an alarming rate over the past three decades and have become a growing concern for the people of the United States. It has appeared that approximately every few months, media outlets report incidences of tragedy involving a sole gunman targeting groups of people with the intent to harm or extinguish life due to various motives. Recent research data indicated that over 80 public mass shootings have occurred in the United States since 1983. Some of the more recent shootings to date are: Marysville-Pilchick High in October 2014; Santa Barbara, California in May 2014; Fort Hood, Texas U.S. Army base in April 2014; Washington Navy Yard in September 2013; Sandy Hook Elementary, Connecticut in December 2012;
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
The negative views of everyday people often make work hard for officers, adding more stress to their careers. The general public regularly criticizes officers for using excessive force and brutality, especially when a police officer ends up killing a suspect or criminal. Oftentimes, especially when a white police officer shoots a citizen of a minority race, the general public is quick to find faults in the officer, blaming the officer for being racist. However, cold, hard statistics show that the majority of police officers are, in fact, white, and the neighborhoods in which these officers are placed in tend to be high-crime areas with many minority citizens living there (Miller “When Cops Kill”). In addition, people might say that a citizen who was shot was not armed; however, almost anything close to the shot individual could have been turned into a deadly weapon that he or she could have used to wound or kill the officer involved. Whenever officers are in this position, the natural reaction is to defend themselves. Everyday, police officers confront the most aggressive, immoral, and sick-minded individuals of society. Officers jeopardize their own lives every time they report for work. Officers witness things that no person should ever have to encounter. They see the most horrific and gruesome scenes that the general public turns away from and
Police shootings occur all over the world but are a huge problem within the United States. We continue to hear more and more about them. These shootings are making headlines. Front page news it seems almost weekly. All the shootings go one of two ways.
Mass shootings have become a common occurrence in the United States society and have brought our society's safety debate to the attention of American politics. Both sides of the debate agree that we need more safety precautions but neither side can officially agree on what is to be done. What can we do about the raging number of mass shootings? There is no definite solution for mass shootings but there are precautions the United States can take to try to overcome the overwhelming number of mass shootings occurring. Gun Control is a major topic in the debate of how we can keep our society safer but how is what remains a mystery but we can start with altering the second amendment, and having stronger gun laws and background checks.
Attention Getter: Are all the officers who are intended to "Protect and Serve" really following through with that?
Micah Jester repeatedly told police officers to kill her in Austin. She was shot by police because she was holding a BB gun that looked like a handgun. Later, authorities determined she was mentally ill. Police officers aren’t trained on how to handle calls that involve mentally ill people. In order to fix it, police officers should undergo a 40 hour training to be able to understand when a person is in a crisis and when they should not be held accountable for their actions.
On the night of April 19, 1989, a brutal incident occurred that would be known as one of the most heinous crimes in New York History. Around 9p.m., a white woman by the name of Trisha Meili was severely beaten and raped in northern Central Park. Within several days, five teenage boys under the age of 16 were charged and eventually convicted for the attacks. Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana Jr., Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey served between 6 to 13 years in prison for this crime. However, what made this case significant was that all five boys were falsely convicted because they gave false confessions.
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday, forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have when to use force or when to use lethal force.
...ith the public” (When cops kill). The bodycams would capture the time when Officers use force it will protect the Officer with lawsuits but it can also be used as evidence against him. There are many controversies that come from using the bodycam many are that the Officer can pause or stop the recording or that they can edit the recording so it can not look bad to the public.
With the media shining so much light upon this topic, it is evident that mass murders in the United States of America are more frequent and deadly. In fact, studies have found that the USA has more mass public shootings than any other country (Christensen). These numbers have only been increasing in the past decades. This is shocking because the USA holds only 5 percent of the world’s population, but as a nation, contributes to 31 percent of mass murders (Christensen). Although these murders continue to be a rare phenomenon, weak gun laws, the need for fame, and issues with societal views are the main causes of the increase in cases.
Policing relies on the public trust, police legitimacy and accountability, which can be destroyed by unjustifiable police shootings (Squires and Kennninson, 2010). Within this country, there is a recognition that the police do not always adhere to the rule of law (Newburn and Reiner, 2012: 809), which has led to consistent public outrage at the lack of effectiveness and legitimacy the police has maintained. Therefore the deliberate decision to enforce police to attend to the streets unarmed was employed to reassure the public that the police were not to be feared (Waddington and Wright, 2010). Ultimately, concerns derive from the belief that the police are completely ineffective when dealing with gun crimes (Farrell, 1992: 20). However, whilst arming police with guns can act as a protector when on duty it can also cause an increase in police misconduct. This issue will be discussed throughout this essay.
What happens when officers forget their role and responsibilities? They abuse their power and go beyond their duties crossing lines that should not be crossed for instance in Saratoga New York a police officer tries to conduct and illegal vehicle search, when the civilian refuses, the officer slaps him and takes the keys. This type of conduct should not be tolerated and officers should constantly be reminded of the consequences of such actions. One thing in particular that can be observed is that in most videos the officers are not alone yet the other officers knowing their partner are wrong do not intervene, this pattern shows that the officers are not being trained properly. Proper training can easily avoid such conflicts for example in the case of Saratoga New York another officer could have deescalated the situation by letting his partner know that what he is doing is illegal, this simple action could had avoided a lot of problems. The majority of police officers do an excellent job but is the few that do not do a good job the ones ruining the image and reputation of the force, reminding officers of their duties and paying attention to their actions can make a difference in job performance while helping keep good community
...eing the victims of crime. Police officers should have a right to protect themselves. Fewer officers may die on duty if they were better protected. Arming the police is a matter of self-defense rather than being actively involved in regular shootouts. This is shown by the fact that most routinely armed police never fire their weapon on active duty in their career. John Mizon says “How much longer can this go on? Would criminals not think twice when faced by a police officer holding a firearm? Arm them now, give them the protection they deserve” and film director Michael Winner, founder of the Police Memorial Trust, is among the most vocal advocates of guns for all officers. "The criminals are armed with guns and knives, with weapons that kill the police and I think they should have a better chance of retaliation," arming the police will be a good way to save lives.