Are Today's Cops Too Quick to Shoot?

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/are-todays-cops-too-quick-to-shoot/281159/


Outrage has erupted in Santa Rosa, California, where Andy Lopez was shot and killed by Sheriff's deputies in October (Noah Berger/Reuters).

"The deputy's mindset was that he was fearful that he was going to be shot," said Santa Rosa Police Lt. Paul Henry in a news conference, after a Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez, who was carrying a pellet rifle in northern California late last month. According to the Sheriff’s department, two deputies first saw the boy holding the plastic gun that resembled an assault rifle on a routine midday round. Federal law requires replica guns to have an orange tip, but the toy rifle Lopez held was missing one. The deputies kneeled behind their patrol car’s doors and shouted to get his attention. As Lopez turned in response, Deputy Erick Gelhaus fired his weapon, hitting Lopez seven times and killing him at the scene.

A teenager holding what appears to be an AK-47 may very well be an alarming visual, and a regular citizen would understandably be frightened and react accordingly. The question now being asked, however, is whether Gelhaus, a 24-year veteran of the Sheriff’s office, a firearms training expert, and a uniformed law enforcement officer entrusted with a gun, should have proceeded with greater caution.

Andy Lopez’s death grabbed national headlines and left a community dazed and in despair, with hundreds rallying in front of the Sheriff’s headquarters in Santa Rosa on Tuesday. The uproar surrounding the tragic death of a young teen is likely what prompted the FBI to launch an investigation into the incident, a review that is very rarely afforded to police officer-involved shootings. Andy Lopez is hardly the first unsuspecting civilian to die at the hands of an officer in uniform, and given the culture of police camaraderie and the protections often furnished to law enforcement officials in use-of-force incidents, he will likely not be the last.

Police-involved shootings and use-of-force incidents are on the rise in cities all across the nation—everywhere from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to Milwaukee. In some cases, the growth is striking. In Philadelphia, for example, shootings by police officers rose to the highest level in a decade in 2012, despite the decline in violent crime. It’s hard to know how to interpret the differences in data from year to year: factors like underreported data in previous years and the dearth of national data of civilian deaths by police must be considered.

[Katashi_itto]

1. This a trick question?

[xchrom]

3. ya gotta keep an eye on me -- cause i'm sneaky that way.

[Katashi_itto]

4. !

[RKP5637]

2. ... tasers for awhile seemed to be their choice, but seems that has worn off and now

they are going for the hard stuff. ... used to be that was a choice of very last resort, now for some, seems to be the first choice.

[bluedeathray]

13. Dead people don't sue...

Just family members, or sometimes the ACLU.

[Hoyt]

15. I'm a taser supporter - since alternative is this tragedy - but folks still criticize police for

using them. I don't think police should be in field without them, and they need a darn good excuse for not using them when some kind of device/weapon is necessary. I also support video cameras that cannot be turned off.

[Mariana]

21. Folks criticize police using Tasers to torture people for fun.

Folks also criticize police using pepper spray, nightsticks, etc. in a similar fashion. You won't find too many people criticizing police for using these things for true self-defense, or for defense of other people.

[hobbit709]

5. The storm trooper mentality seems to have taken over many police departments

I've noticed the change here in Austin.

[xchrom]

8. austin? hippie dippy, weird austin?

wow.

[LiberalArkie]

7. When I was growing up, cops did not shoot until they were shot at. Of course I am old.

[Ikonoklast]

9. We allowed this to happen.

We allowed the militarization of local police forces to happen, under the guise of "The War On Drugs".


"War".

That word was used in a deliberate fashion.

In a war, the object is to defeat your enemy, using every means at your disposal.


Which, for the most part, meant shooting inner-city youths.

[DefenseLawyer]

11. Lots of combat veterans patrolling our streets

What did their training and experience teach them?

[bluedeathray]

12. Quick! Get down!

America's gun culture will be studied for years to come. The complexities, the lies, the militarization... Not to mention fear mongering and legislation aimed at making it easier to kill in many cases, than reason.

How many other American cultural features are being turned against we the citizens?

[My Good Babushka]

14. Cops are quick to shoot

Because they know our nation is flooded with guns and mental illness is not treated.

[Hoyt]

16. I really do think prevalence of gunz in our society, is a factor in these cases.

Mental illness is too.

[My Good Babushka]

20. If the officers are exposed to repeated encounters

with mentally ill people and firearms in unstable situations, the response to shoot first becomes generalized and conditioned. Stress makes people make repeatedly bad decisions, always, not just in a person to person shootout. Police officers have a lot of stress related disorders, domestic abuse, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc. Better screening and mental health programs should be available for our police officers, too.

[oldhippie]

17. Yes nt

[FarCenter]

18. It doesn't look like there is a clear trend in number of people killed by police

The number varies from year to year, but there isn't a clear trend upwards.

How many people have been killed by the police?

http://masscopblock.org/how-many-people-have-been-killed-by-the-police/