LanceOregon
Moderator
I cannot believe how this subject has been sidetracked, and turned into a totally different sort of discussion that the lawsuit clearly was not about.
The lawsuit was not about the officers that were involved doing anything wrong. They were not blamed in any way at all.
It was the county government that was faulted, for not having provided adequate training for the officers.
Are all of you against officers getting more training, so they can better do their job? Do you perhaps think that people should just be hired off the street, given no training at all, and asked to serve as a police officer?
This discussion has become ridiculous. It is simply amazing how defensive some people get about law enforcement. They seem to put them up on some kind of pedestal, as if they were some sort of perfect Gods, that can never make any mistakes, or have even the slightest flaws. Or even allow for the suggestion that maybe they could do things better, if they simply got additional equipment and training.
You know, we have had a handful of police shootings here where I live in recent years, where the police actually shot unarmed men. In each case, however, the officer mistakenly believed that they saw a gun, and thus shot and killed the criminal.
Now all of these people had committed crimes, but nothing that in any way warranted death. One of them was just a high school student who stole a car for a joyride, and lead officers on a wild and dangerous car chase. When the car was finally disabled and stopped, the approaching officer thought he saw the teenager go for a gun, and thus fired.
Now the boy was not an innocent kid, but he did not deserve to die either. His father was no good, and had many convictions himself. In fact, he was so upset over his son's death that he then plotted to have the officer that shot his son murdered. However, the police fortunately discovered his plot, and now he is locked up in prison for virtually the rest of his life.
In each of these cases, our local DA cleared the officer involved, since the law allows for an officer to shoot if he believes that his life is in danger. But does that then mean that the police should not try to learn from such situations, and try to do better the next time, and not shoot an unarmed person?
Why then should we not also try to avoid killing the mentally ill, if there are ways to lessen that from happening?
Many of you seem to be saying that you want the police to be totally unaccountable for their actions, and thus be able to do whatever they want, no matter what the outcome is.
.
The lawsuit was not about the officers that were involved doing anything wrong. They were not blamed in any way at all.
It was the county government that was faulted, for not having provided adequate training for the officers.
Are all of you against officers getting more training, so they can better do their job? Do you perhaps think that people should just be hired off the street, given no training at all, and asked to serve as a police officer?
This discussion has become ridiculous. It is simply amazing how defensive some people get about law enforcement. They seem to put them up on some kind of pedestal, as if they were some sort of perfect Gods, that can never make any mistakes, or have even the slightest flaws. Or even allow for the suggestion that maybe they could do things better, if they simply got additional equipment and training.
You know, we have had a handful of police shootings here where I live in recent years, where the police actually shot unarmed men. In each case, however, the officer mistakenly believed that they saw a gun, and thus shot and killed the criminal.
Now all of these people had committed crimes, but nothing that in any way warranted death. One of them was just a high school student who stole a car for a joyride, and lead officers on a wild and dangerous car chase. When the car was finally disabled and stopped, the approaching officer thought he saw the teenager go for a gun, and thus fired.
Now the boy was not an innocent kid, but he did not deserve to die either. His father was no good, and had many convictions himself. In fact, he was so upset over his son's death that he then plotted to have the officer that shot his son murdered. However, the police fortunately discovered his plot, and now he is locked up in prison for virtually the rest of his life.
In each of these cases, our local DA cleared the officer involved, since the law allows for an officer to shoot if he believes that his life is in danger. But does that then mean that the police should not try to learn from such situations, and try to do better the next time, and not shoot an unarmed person?
Why then should we not also try to avoid killing the mentally ill, if there are ways to lessen that from happening?
Many of you seem to be saying that you want the police to be totally unaccountable for their actions, and thus be able to do whatever they want, no matter what the outcome is.
.