The United States clearly has a problem regarding its police. Too many people are being killed during arrests and even traffic stops.
I don't believe this phenomenon occurs to the same degree in other countries. Currently there is a proposed law before the US Congress that would legislate standards for things like use of choke holds by police, no-knock search warrants, etc. (Even though policing is not federal--except for the FBI, we have no federal police; rather, policing is done at the local, county, and state level.)
So some measures to fix this problem might be forthcoming. But has anyone tried to figure out the cause--why this problem exists?
Many people in American society feel that the problem is racism--that the police are prejudiced against minorities such as African Americans and thus more likely to use harsh measures on individuals belonging to those groups.
This may be true and I don't want in any way to deny the likelihood that this is true. But I want to ask, is there a deficiency in the training that police receive? Do police forces attract individuals who harbor serious aggressive tendencies? It seems that, if and when they shoot someone--possibly with justification--they shoot not once but four or five times, making it more likely that their shots will be fatal. And, as we know, there have been beatings, choke holds, and other possibly unnecessary or excessive assertions of physical force.
I suggested, in a letter to the editor, a long time ago, that maybe we need to administer psychological tests to prospective police officers to identify those candidates who might have more and unnecessary aggressive tendencies.
Look at this: we give police power and authority. We give them weapons: batons ("billy clubs"), tasers, and guns. What are they told about using the power, authority, and weapons that we endow them with?
Certainly in America there are too many guns such that people get shot during arguments, road rage incidents, and even accidentally. The enormous, incredible gun population makes it more likely that the police will encounter a gun, that the "offender" or "perp" or suspect will have a gun. So that is part of the problem, too. We certainly don't and can't expect the police to be totally outside of and removed from America's "wild west" gun culture (as I have called it elsewhere).
So this, I hope, will raise some questions, point out some issues that I feel need to be thought about.This a problem that we must not deny and must work on.
Copyright © 2021.
