How Dead Is Dead? - Police Brutality Is Rampant
Mayor Calls 50 Shots by the Police ‘Unacceptable’
Some years back we had Rodney King. No matter what anyone says, I know that there was excessive force used on King. It was obvious in the video footage. The moment that anyone is in cuffs, even if they continue to resist, the use of clubs is execessive. This is especially true today when we have a variety of pepper sprays, tasers and other non-lethal (usually) options. Then, too, as a martial artist that has taught courses to law-enforcement folks, I know that there were options other than pepper spray, tasers and clubs. If the police involved in the Rodney King events were properly trained and supervised, that whole incident would have gone down differently.
Then we had the case of gunning down a black man by an all-white crew of copss in New York a few years ago. Then we have heard more excessive force complains coming out of Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Antonio, Boston and elsewhere. Now comes the matter of using 50 rounds to subdue an un-armed person. Even if the circumstances warranted the use of a firearm--which the circumstances do not appear to support--shooting more than three or four rounds before checking the weapon and re-assessing the situation is excessive. Indeed, shooting more than five rounds in anything less than an all-out firefight, such as those that might occur in Iraq or Afghanistan, is by definition excessive. According to reports made this morning, one NYC officer fired 31 rounds alone... against an unarmed person.
Certainly I do not want to second guess most cops on the job. I know how difficult, tedious and dangerous their job is in the great scheme of things. But this situation in NYC shows that despite incident after incident, going all the way back to the 1960s/1970s Knapp Commission, the NYPD has failed to properly train and supervise the vast majority of its cops. The same is true in Boston, LA, Chicago, New Orleans and other big cities. We do not train cops once and leave it at that. Training is an ongoing, often repetitve thing in law enforcement. Much like the training I received in the National Guard regarding crowd control, restraint of rioters, and civil defense during uprisings, the training needs to be repeated until it becomes second nature, then repeated again and again.
The current explanation of "contagious shooting" is no better than saying "mob mentality." If contagious shooting is a real phenomenon, and it is likely that it is, then there has to be more training on how to prevent it. However, common decency--which is supposed to exist among NYC's finest--would make the argument that ten shots could be explained by "constagious shooting," but 31 shots is rage and loss of control by someone that either should have never been on the police force, or is experiencing so much stress and so many interpersonal problems that they should be relieved of duty and asked to take a medical retirement... but that should have come before they committed a crime.
We should support our heroes in blue (or whatever color uniform), but our heroes have to act like heroes to get and keep our support.
See these other articles:
50 Bullets and a Death in Queens
Atlanta Officers Suspended in Inquiry on Killing in Raid
Some years back we had Rodney King. No matter what anyone says, I know that there was excessive force used on King. It was obvious in the video footage. The moment that anyone is in cuffs, even if they continue to resist, the use of clubs is execessive. This is especially true today when we have a variety of pepper sprays, tasers and other non-lethal (usually) options. Then, too, as a martial artist that has taught courses to law-enforcement folks, I know that there were options other than pepper spray, tasers and clubs. If the police involved in the Rodney King events were properly trained and supervised, that whole incident would have gone down differently.
Then we had the case of gunning down a black man by an all-white crew of copss in New York a few years ago. Then we have heard more excessive force complains coming out of Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Antonio, Boston and elsewhere. Now comes the matter of using 50 rounds to subdue an un-armed person. Even if the circumstances warranted the use of a firearm--which the circumstances do not appear to support--shooting more than three or four rounds before checking the weapon and re-assessing the situation is excessive. Indeed, shooting more than five rounds in anything less than an all-out firefight, such as those that might occur in Iraq or Afghanistan, is by definition excessive. According to reports made this morning, one NYC officer fired 31 rounds alone... against an unarmed person.
Certainly I do not want to second guess most cops on the job. I know how difficult, tedious and dangerous their job is in the great scheme of things. But this situation in NYC shows that despite incident after incident, going all the way back to the 1960s/1970s Knapp Commission, the NYPD has failed to properly train and supervise the vast majority of its cops. The same is true in Boston, LA, Chicago, New Orleans and other big cities. We do not train cops once and leave it at that. Training is an ongoing, often repetitve thing in law enforcement. Much like the training I received in the National Guard regarding crowd control, restraint of rioters, and civil defense during uprisings, the training needs to be repeated until it becomes second nature, then repeated again and again.
The current explanation of "contagious shooting" is no better than saying "mob mentality." If contagious shooting is a real phenomenon, and it is likely that it is, then there has to be more training on how to prevent it. However, common decency--which is supposed to exist among NYC's finest--would make the argument that ten shots could be explained by "constagious shooting," but 31 shots is rage and loss of control by someone that either should have never been on the police force, or is experiencing so much stress and so many interpersonal problems that they should be relieved of duty and asked to take a medical retirement... but that should have come before they committed a crime.
We should support our heroes in blue (or whatever color uniform), but our heroes have to act like heroes to get and keep our support.
See these other articles:
50 Bullets and a Death in Queens
Atlanta Officers Suspended in Inquiry on Killing in Raid
posted by Jim Downey at 6:34 AM
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