Beware of Easy Comparisons when Discussing Use of Force by Police
Much has been made about extreme use of force by the police. The right blames the victim, the left blames racism. A favorite past time is pointing to the lack of police shootings in “more civilized” countries. I, too, liked to point to this until that nasty thing called thinking intervened. Why are police more likely to use deadly force in the US that other parts of the world? Because anybody can get a gun. Every person the police approach may be carrying. In Sweden, Finland, the UK, France, or any other country sited where police have shot only 3 people in the last 10,000 years, the police are less likely to encounter someone who is armed.
This is not to excuse the reliance on their sidearm, or poor decision making, but fear is a reality of their job. We can do intensive re-training, apply new conflict resolution tactics, create new policies regarding use of force, but when every encounter is underlain by fear, base survival instinct will take over.
New tactics and policing attitudes need to be put into place. Training must be updated. The social issues that lead to crime need to be effectively addressed. Officers must do everything they can to avoid the appearance of impropriety, and video of encounters can make them think twice. Law Enforcement Organizations need to take immediate steps to reign in or remove abusive officers. Fear, though, is not something that can be removed until the cause of that fear is addressed.