Six people in 12 years. That's how many people former cop James Peters killed. His killing streak culminated in the death of John Loxas, a man who was shot while carrying his grandson with his back turned to Peters. Peters claimed that Loxas had a black object in his pocket that he thought was a gun. Turned out it was a cellphone.
You may wonder what happened to James Peters. Is he in jail? Fired dishonorably? Forced to pay the family of John Loxas?
Nope. James Peters took an early retirement from the Scottsdale, Arizona, police department. Now he has a new job where he—wait for it—teaches police officers how and when to use and their guns.
That's right. A man whose killing record equals that of many serial killers is now training cops on how to use their weapons. According to Gawker:
The Arizona blog Down and Drought reports that Peters now works as "Regional Director of International Business Development and Law Enforcement SME/Trainer" for VirTra Systems, manufacturers of virtual-reality equipment used by over 200 global law enforcement agencies to train officers on use of force. […]
VirTra’s flagship product, the V-300, resembles a big and expensive human-centric version ofBig Buck Hunter. [With VirTra's flagship produce, the V-300] officers stand in the center of five video screens and are placed in a simulation of a potentially dangerous situation. If they fail to fire upon the threat quickly enough, they receive an electric to simulate a wound. “VirTra’s pain compliance training operates on the theory that officers who hesitate to take action, die,” writes Down and Drought, effectively training them to shoot first and ask questions later.
Well, they hired the right guy. Meanwhile, it's taxpayers who are footing the bill for his misconduct—Scottsdale rightfully paid the family of John Loxas $4.75 million after his wrongful death.
Luckily, he's training overseas police, so at least he's not actively helping to make police in America even worse. Still, it's unbelievable that Peters not only gets off scot-free but ends up with a nice cushy job where he gets to train people how to be as brutal as he was.
I'm sure the families of the six lives he took are just thrilled.