Machiavellian said:
You do not need the news clip, as the police body cam video shows everything up to the moment of the shot and after the event. I do not doubt the situation is tense and the perceived threat that the person has a gun is always prevalent within the US culture. I watched the video probably a dozen times looking at the moment of the cop asking to see the kids hands to the moment of the shot. There really was no delay. He asked to see the kids hands which the kid begins to raise them and then its done. People stated he moved to fast, why did he turn around and a whole lot of stuff but the thing is the situation was stressful for both. Logic doesn't always kick in those situations and especially for a kid 13 years old. What I believe is that there were really not to many things the kid could have done where the cop doesn't shoot him since he shot so fast. We know he did not see a gun first, we know that the kid never got his hands up. The thing is, there are videos where people have been shot by cops where they give commands and they still shoot you. This is why the distrust. The words of a police within the US is trash because of the ones let free who abuse that power. There is a video where a man got shot in a driveway because he raised his cell phone or another where he was said to have a gun but it was a cell phone. Its these situations like this where the police have time and again shot unarmed people on fear and this one will be another. Whether there was a gun or not, the end results is that it was not in the person hands when they were shot. The cop did not say put your hands up nice and slow. So the real problem is comes down to training. There really isn't besides shoot to kill in the US. 6 months and you can be a cop while other nations it takes years. Giving clear and direct directions where you are in control probably could prevent some of these types of deaths. The real problem I see is people being ok that the result is always death and justifying it because their is the perceived threat. I guess as long as it happens to those gansta then all is ok, until its not. |
I mean, the news clip I posted shows the bodycam and a stillshot of a gun in kids hand. I can also post you a 11min clip with initial 911 calls and security cam footage if you wish. You can slow the bodycam part down yourself and see the gun. And understand the bodycam isn't actually recording through officers eyes. He even tells the kid to drop it.. I'd say had he not ran and the pick up the gun trying to hide it and raise his hand he most likely would still be breathing. But unfortunately as you said, logic doesn't always kick in.
I don't think people are ok the result is always death. I don't think even US cops are ok with that. Just look how many responses there are each year. How many arrests. How many armed or violent people arrested without result of death.
About training.. it's a job you mostly learn by doing it. Training is important of course and you should regularly do it throughout your career but it only gets you so far. You can train for 10 years and still something unpredictable can happen in the first high-stress situation. Some people aren't cut out for the job and it might get unnoticed until it's too late. There's plenty of footage US cops doing outstanding job so I guess lack of training isn't a problem everywhere.
For example in Finland training is 2,5 years. But around half of it is training on duty with a senior officer. It's 10 months in academy and you're working as a younger officer. So you are basically a cop. And that 10 months includes basics of pre-trial investigation, Basic forensics stuff and so on, not just use of force situations. And there's actually very little taught about de-escalation and interactions with people, suspects and stuff. It's something you learn with experience anyway.
