The myth of the cop killing ‘epidemic’

[Beevee]

The media has been sensationalizing stories since the beginning of time

So that's all right then. Let the police engineered killings continue unabated. You know it makes sense.

[Tahuyaman]

So that's all right then. Let the police engineered killings continue unabated. You know it makes sense.

How did you translate that from my comment?

[Common]

So that's all right then. Let the police engineered killings continue unabated. You know it makes sense.

Police engineered killings lol, how do they engineer these killings. Did you even read the article ?

[Common]

So that's all right then. Let the police engineered killings continue unabated. You know it makes sense.

[zelmo1234]

While the policy shootings are remaining about the same from year to year, and of the 1000 or so shootings 5 to 10 are usually drawn into question, that in and of it self is really small

The Cops that commit murder, like the one in SC are quickly brought to justice, which for a cop is likely a death sentence.

But over the last few years, the cry's of innocent by the family member and friends have been taken more seriously by the Media, and the Justice department, if the victim is black

President Obama himself has taken the side of the victim on several occasions, only be proven wrong when the evidence comes forward..

So what is the difference? Well in todays world, even when overwhelming evidence it brought to light that proves that the victim was a thug and deserved what he got? The story and lies do not change, nor does this administration back off from those lies. but the double down on them using them as wedge issues to divide communities and these actions actually endanger the officers and their families?

In these situations the cops actually will become more violent. making it a bigger problem?

So who, or better year which agenda positions benefit the most from these actions. When you find those laws, positions, and of course monies that benefit from the racial divisions and the division of the people and the police.

Then and only then will the stupid actions being taken make sense.

[Dr. Who]

While the policy shootings are remaining about the same from year to year, and of the 1000 or so shootings 5 to 10 are usually drawn into question, that in and of it self is really small

The Cops that commit murder, like the one in SC are quickly brought to justice, which for a cop is likely a death sentence.

But over the last few years, the cry's of innocent by the family member and friends have been taken more seriously by the Media, and the Justice department, if the victim is black

President Obama himself has taken the side of the victim on several occasions, only be proven wrong when the evidence comes forward..

So what is the difference? Well in todays world, even when overwhelming evidence it brought to light that proves that the victim was a thug and deserved what he got? The story and lies do not change, nor does this administration back off from those lies. but the double down on them using them as wedge issues to divide communities and these actions actually endanger the officers and their families?

In these situations the cops actually will become more violent. making it a bigger problem?

So who, or better year which agenda positions benefit the most from these actions. When you find those laws, positions, and of course monies that benefit from the racial divisions and the division of the people and the police.

Then and only then will the stupid actions being taken make sense.

The fact that these incidents have in the past been swept under the rug is in part the reason that people are now demanding justice. Anytime innocent people are killed by law enforcement should be an issue. Oops is not really an excuse. Someone died. When an officer reacts badly and kills someone is not the same as if someone makes a mistake on an assembly line or puts an extra zero in the ledger. Those errors can be fixed. Dead is not fixable. Offering excuses that people who are untrained or perhaps mentally ill should control their emotions or the police might get panicked and kill someone doesn't really create an equivalency. Police are trained for their jobs, the general public is not. I would buy this argument if every citizen was required to pass an interaction with police course, but that is not the case. I appreciate the fact that police officers want to survive to police another day, however they also chose this occupation and the inherent risk.

For the same reason that the burden of evidence always rests with the prosecution to prove, particularly in the trials of capital crimes, jumping to conclusions about innocent people based on the interpretation of ignorant bystanders or killing someone because they have something that might possibly cause an injury is not a good enough reason to kill. When an officer or officers can keep space between themselves and a possible perpetrator of violence, but don't actually ascertain any violent intent or cannot find any way to disarm or disable a person with a possible sharp object, there is something wrong with their training. The value of human life then starts taking second place to expediency and personal fear. That is not justice, it is a license to kill with immunity.

[zelmo1234]

The fact that these incidents have in the past been swept under the rug is in part the reason that people are now demanding justice. Anytime innocent people are killed by law enforcement should be an issue. Oops is not really an excuse. Someone died. When an officer reacts badly and kills someone is not the same as if someone makes a mistake on an assembly line or puts an extra zero in the ledger. Those errors can be fixed. Dead is not fixable. Offering excuses that people who are untrained or perhaps mentally ill should control their emotions or the police might get panicked and kill someone doesn't really create an equivalency. Police are trained for their jobs, the general public is not. I would buy this argument if every citizen was required to pass an interaction with police course, but that is not the case. I appreciate the fact that police officers want to survive to police another day, however they also chose this occupation and the inherent risk.

For the same reason that the burden of evidence always rests with the prosecution to prove, particularly in the trials of capital crimes, jumping to conclusions about innocent people based on the interpretation of ignorant bystanders or killing someone because they have something that might possibly cause an injury is not a good enough reason to kill. When an officer or officers can keep space between themselves and a possible perpetrator of violence, but don't actually ascertain any violent intent or cannot find any way to disarm or disable a person with a possible sharp object, there is something wrong with their training. The value of human life then starts taking second place to expediency and personal fear. That is not justice, it is a license to kill with immunity.

Well you all will not like this, but being you did not address any of the lies like in the case of Brown and Martin, I think that it must be said.

First it is not the Cops fault that a kid is out in the dark pointing a pistol that is an exact replica of the real thing at the police. That is the parents fault.

But I do like what is happening around the country. The police are learning what the people want and what they apparently want is for the point is for the police to stand down.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff put it correctly. "Folks we are not going to get to your emergency in time, buy and gun learn how to used it."

It is not the officers job to be killed because a bunch of bleeding heart liberals want to make a strong arm robber that was trying to get the cops gun so he could kill him with it.

And still we have hands up don't shoot

So the police have a sure fire way to not make this mistake is to show up and collect the evidence

[Fagan_the_Pagan]

I'm not sure if the fact that police officers are relatively closer to the top than the bottom is meant to suggest that the alleged "cop killing epidemic" is overblown, but something is very wrong if 43% of people don't consider Law Enforcement officers to be any more honest than "average." These are officers of the law; representatives of the government, responsible for the safety of the populace, and charged to protect and serve. Yet people do not have faith that they have any more integrity than anyone else. That is a problem.

Apologists for the police keep pointing out ways that the slew of killings against civilians by officers of the law are less than people think, especially in the context of the particularly charged killing of African Americans. However, the use of deadly force is mean to be used as a LAST RESORT. In many of the reported incidents, there is no clear indication that lethal force was necessary. Major reform is needed, in order to end these unnecessary incidents, and to repair the relationship between the police and the people they are meant to serve.

A few suggestions:
1) [Extra] Training Courses in threat assessment. The police need to be able to tell a kid playing with a BB-gun apart from a hostile assailant.
2) [Extra] Training Courses in nonlethal methods of subduing suspects.
3) Prosecute Officers for misconduct, murder, etc., whenever such incidents MAY have been committed. Officers should not be seen to be above the laws they are upholding. Therefore, if someone is killed by the police, there should be an investigation to be sure that such was necessary. Burden of proof rests on the prosecution, so this should serve primarily as a deterrent to excessive force, as instances where the police acted appropriately should result in the correct verdict.
4) Good Faith programs: The police need to repair their relationship with the people they protect. People need to trust them, and see them as members of the community, rather than just uniforms, or "those guys who gave you a speeding ticket," or at an extreme end, "who killed someone you love." Too many interactions with police are punitive in nature. Perhaps have patrols routinely involve speaking to civilians about their concerns, reports that have come in, and how the police can better serve them.

I'm sure there are many more things that could be done, or improvement that could be made to my suggestions.

[William]

There is a political campaign thats always the case during election times. The right and the left grab on issues to fire up their base. The media which mostly leans left picks up the lefts water and runs with a media campaign to slander or vilify to the lefts end. THe blogs pick up the right wing mantra along with talk radio.

In the end almost NONE of it is based in real truth.

To hear the media tell it, America is in the grip of an unprecedented crime wave, an orgy of wanton murder in which heavily armed thugs randomly gun down innocent unarmed people, some of them teens, just for sport.

Except that these homicidal goons are wearing the blues and badges of American police departments. It’s the narrative that’s given rise to the protest movement Black Lives Matter and to a growing public mistrust of the police in general. From Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., to the recent shooting of a middle-aged woman and a teen in Chicago, the body count seemingly keeps rising, exacerbating racial tensions and keeping the nation on edge. And each incident is breathlessly reported by a media determined to show that America remains deeply, irredeemably racist.


Last week, The Washington Post published a study of the police shootings that took place in 2015. Likely they intended the story to be shocking — as on Dec. 24, 965 people were killed by police! Instead, the report quells the notion that trigger-happy cops are out hunting for civilian victims, especially African-Americans. Among its key findings:

• White cops shooting unarmed black men accounted for less than 4% of fatal police shootings.
• In three-quarters of the incidents, cops were either under attack themselves or defending civilians. In other words, doing their jobs.
• The majority of those killed were brandishing weapons, suicidal or mentally troubled or bolted when ordered to surrender.
• Nearly a third of police shootings resulted from car chases that began with a minor traffic stop.

The moral of this story is: Don’t point a gun at the cops and don’t run when they tell you stop, and you’re likely to survive. Since the population of the US is about 318 million people, a thousand deaths at the hands of police works out to 1 in 318,000. You have a better chance of being killed in a violent storm (1 in 68,000) or slipping in the tub (1 in 11,500) than being shot by a cop, no matter what color you are.

http://nypost.com/2016/01/02/myth-of...ling-epidemic/

While just under 1,000 deaths at the hands of the Police may seem nothing to Americans, do any of you know how many deaths from Police gunfire happened in 2014 in the whole of the UK (the 2015 figure is not yet out)?

None, the armed squads in the UK discharged their weapons just twice in the 12 month period, and nobody was shot. (But the tasers are a worry - a man died in 2013 from being tasered.)

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uk-armed-po...y-used-1510101

So we backward Euros do get some things right - nicht war?

[Beevee]

Police engineered killings lol, how do they engineer these killings. Did you even read the article ?

Well, I assume that because of the article they won't in future. How enlightening.