There can be little doubt but that Police are prone to the use of excessive force. There is some evidence suggesting that law enforcement training urges officers to use their firearms at the slightest hint of threat in order to protect themselves.
Being a policeman is nerve racking and strenuous. It is not a job I would want. There are many analogies between the job of law enforcement and being a Dentist. No one wants to go to the Dentist. No matter how badly your tooth hurts, the fear of the pain the Dentist will inflict upon you when treating the problem is terrifying! And who knows what he/she is really doing inside your open mouth with those little bitty tools of terror and torture?
Working in very small increments inside someone's mouth is obviously nerve racking for the Dentist as well. It is commonly reported that of all professions, Dentists have the highest first year rate of suicide. But, if you want to stay healthy, Dentists are vital to you. (A necessary evil.)
Police are much the same. We know they are necessary, but please don't let them be visible, unless there is a problem. The appearance of a police reminds of us of trouble or, at least, the possibility of trouble. Police near my house? Is my neighborhood safe? Will I walk the dog tonight, after dark without fear? A Police car behind me, are my license plates in order? Brake lights working? When and what was the last thing I did wrong that they have finally discovered?
The appearance of Police may be reassuring, but it is also unsettling, that makes us uncomfortable which leads to dislike.
The job is potentially dangerous: Police must go places we would not think of venturing. They must talk to people we would go out of our way to avoid. Will a knock on someone's door bring an angry or drunken resident with a gun? Perhaps even shooting through the door. Will a traffic stop result in a chagrinned motorist or a violent confrontation with a belligerent and armed fleeing felon.
In many places, the pay sucks, the benefits are few, the respect nonexistent. The people you are paid to protect and help fear and distrust you. Law breakers actively dislike you and bring violence to the job.
Yes, it is not a job I'd want.
But, all the potential dangers exist in the nature of the job. A doctor delivering the diagnosis of a terminal illness to a patient would be shocked and surprised to have a patient respond by pulling a weapon. A police officer would not.
My point is, I abhor violence. I don't expect much violence close to me in my everyday life. I avoid likely places of violence. Although violence can occur anywhere, an angry butcher, running amok with his cleaver in my suburban supermarket would be shocking. Violence is not an integral part of my everyday life. I do not feel the need to go about armed. A police officer is armed by regulation and necessity.
On he other hand, knowing it is a dangerous job, if you are not able to handle the possibility and stress of danger with rational reasonableness, don't take the job.
If a person is terrified of fire and cannot think rationally when faced with an out of control destructive blaze; firefighter is a poor choice of professions.
A policeman cannot react to every potentially dangerous situation by obliterating the concern in a hail of gunfire. There ae at least two good reasons: 1.) you find yourself in a public park standing over the body of a small 8 year old boy who was playing there; and, 2.) Even trained shooters, in a tense situation, at a target more than 15 feet away will likely miss his target 50% of the time or more, thereby creating an unreasonable danger to other officers and/or innocent bystanders.
Therefore, the first answer is more and better training. Less training on confrontation and shooting skills, more training in mediating the danger, better skills in assessing the situation.
Perhaps even worse, Law Enforcement mirrors the perception of the public. A very big white teenager is a "big kid." A possible, but unlikely source of danger. An equal sized black male teenager is a thug and a definite threat, no matter what. Too much of American Society has that perception, and officers are just a part of Society.
Two personal experiences from my past: In the 1970's, as a Special Assistant Attorney General, I was tasked with patrolling polling places where trouble was thought most likely to occur during national elections. I was paired with an armed uniformed officer. One year, that officer was, in fact, a juvenile officer. Although he was range qualified he rarely carried his firearm and his daily dress was more often jeans than his uniform.
As we left one polling place to cross the street to the other, we passed by a group (6-10) of neighborhood "toughs." (At least they thought they were tough.) In a perceptibly challenging voice, the largest one asked: "Ever shoot anyone with that gun?" My partner was too stunned to answer. I casually turned around, smiled and replied "He never had to shoot anybody more than once." After a short pause, the biggest guy started laughing, repeated what I said and commented: "I like that!." Whatever danger there might have been disappeared like a fall breeze. I had grown up in that neighborhood, went to middle school a block away, played little league ball near by. There were a lot of kids in that neighborhood. Some liked to be known as tough, very few really wanted a confrontation with anyone.
Okay, those kids were black, I'm white. I had grown up with black kids in that neighborhood, we played together, skinned our knees together, argued with each other, sometimes wrestled in the grass with each other. Only time I ever saw one kid hurt another was during a ballgame when a little kid went after his big brother with a ball bat and the older brother took the bat away and then punched him in the nose.
Second story, my son has been in the 99th percentile for size since birth. He's 6' 5" tall and 250 pounds of well developed muscle. When he was in high school and caused trouble, he was just " a big kid." Like me he is white, so he was never a "thug, criminal or gangster."
No matter how well we train our law enforcement they will always reflect the fears and prejudices of the community as a whole. ( Even black officers.)
A caveat: I write in generalities, there are many exceptions among law enforcement, but it only takes a couple of officers in every community to set the perceived standard and make the entire area look bad.
I would truly like to read your thoughts and comments, but, if you can't think before you write, please save both yourself and me the effort.
