Stephon was in his grandmother's back yard. The scairdy cat coppers said they thought it was a "TOOL BAR". What the he** is that? Also after the murder someone says "MUTE" and the audio goes dead. So we couldn't hear what was said. The cops in question are on PAID LEAVE. Why do they hire scairdy cats who can't tell the difference between a cell phone and a gun? Are they so desperate they have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for all the misfits and incompetents?
Wrong.
We went from "peace officers" to "Law enforcement officers" in the late 1960's ... when we started to militarize police departments.
Mayhaps you would prefer the term "substation precincts"? Or "neighborhood precincts"? I have heard both.
The goal is the same - to get officers out of their cars and interacting with citizens in their patrol neighborhoods on a daily basis.
Why don’t people comply with the police? Why, when asked to do something, do they, run, mouth back or act suspicious? Many (not all) police shootings are triggered by the “suspect’s” non-compliance with the officers. Someone sees a person who’s acting suspicious or is somewhere they shouldn’t be, so they call the police. The police come and instruct the individual to put their hands where they can see them. However, instead of complying, the person starts to reach into their pocket. Is that person going after a gun or other weapon? How do the officers know that? Sometimes a suspect will draw a weapon. Is this going to be that time? Or, instead of complying, the suspect ignores them and walks away, or they mouth off to the officers or they begin advancing towards the officers. How do the officers know what that person’s intentions are? Are they 100% sure? Theirs and other people’s lives may depend on that answer. These situations happen more often than most people realize. Not every police incident makes headlines. We like to think all people are nice and good. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Police officers see more crap in a week than most of us could stomach in a lifetime. So is it any wonder they’re overly cautious? If you had to deal with the situations police officers do on a daily basis, you’d be overly cautious too. Police officers must become callous to what they see, otherwise they could never do their job.
I’m not saying that 100% of all police shootings are justifiable. People are people – whether they wear a uniform or not. Yes, some officers are prejudiced – so are 99.99% of people in the world. Now before anyone takes offence at that, remember, a prejudice isn’t simply limited to skin color or race. It can be towards religion, social status, nationality, geographic location, political party, sexual preference, length or color of hair, clothing style, facial hair… and so much more. Do we expect police officers to be any less human than ourselves? If a high percentage of incidents are performed by a certain “race” or “type” of people, soon all people who are of that “race” or “type” are stereotyped as being troublemakers – whether a certain individual in that classification is one or not. It’s not right, but it’s how it is.
Should the officers, in this incident, have fired so many times? Probably not. Of course we weren’t there and, therefore, can’t know all the details (exact circumstances during and prior to the incident, the officers frame of minds prior to the incident, was the person belligerent, why did they mute the sound, etc.). We can guess, assume and attempt to lay blame, but without all the details we could be wrong. Does this make the incident any less tragic? Not in the least. It was horrifying and innocent people will suffer because of it. So, who’s at fault? The offices for shooting a “suspect” who may or may not have had a gun? The “victim” for non-compliance? Or both? Where do we place the blame? We’re quick to place blame prejudice. It’s hard when you have to make a split-second judgment – especially when a life is on the line. What if you’re wrong? What if you hesitate and someone else dies? What if you die? What if…?
Walt O'Reagun 