Once again, I feel I have an opinion too controversial for posting on Facebook, so I will post it here. I post these things here because then they are out, but I don't have to deal with fighting in the comment sections of anything I post on Facebook. I don't think anyone actually reads this, but that's alright.
There has been a lot of fall out recently about police in Louisiana (most recently) fatally shooting an unarmed person (who appears to have been a convicted felon, so any firearm that he may have had would have been illegal). I am not saying that the officer who pulled the trigger was in the right, I am not familiar enough with the situation to make a determination on that front. It's possible that the situation was escalated that far, it's also possible that the officer misread the situation. And yes, it is possible that the officer involved was abusing his power as law enforcement. There are situations that an officer may find him/herself in that requires the use of lethal force in order to protect the community as a whole by ending a bad situation. That is not every time that someone gets non-compliant with an officer, but it can happen. It's possible that departments, especially ones with high officer involved shooting rates, need to re-evaluate their policies regarding the use of lethal force, and adjust the process by which that decision is made. However, there are always going to be issues with people who abuse the power of being an officer of the law. That is an unfortunate truth, and one that departments around the nation need to work on changing.
Now, part of the fall out has been citizens shooting officers, and some of these shootings have been fatal, or permanently damaging. To me at least, it is NEVER alright to shoot an officer, The only exception I can imagine would be the if the officer was abusing power, in an obvious manner against oneself, and that only if other methods have been exhausted. Less drastic intervention, though possibly still physical, can be used if another person is the victim. Still, lethal intervention should be avoided, on both sides.
I, as just about every other driver in the country, have had the occasional encounter with an officer in the form of a traffic stop. I have spoken with the police three separate times. The first to times I got off with warnings. The third I got a ticket, but I fully expected it, and was fully deserving of that ticket. The first time I cut off a person while making a lane change when I was getting off work, this was my fault and I had made an improper lane change without looking for other vehicles. I admitted that I had not checked for other vehicles and the officer let me off. The second time I was pulled over for tail-gating. I am still certain that the vehicle I was behind was not going the posted speed limit which caused part of the problem. I have no depth perception and judging my distance is difficult, especially at night, which was the case this time. I knew there was a car behind me, because I could see the head lights, but couldn't tell how far behind me they were, I was trying to increase my distance from the car in front of me without getting too close to the car behind me. I explained myself to the officer who had been behind me (and pulled me over), he asked if I had been going about the posted speed limit, and let me off with a warning when I told him that I was driving about the speed limit. The third time I had tried to make a U-Turn and failed to check properly causing me to bumper car a city bus. The bus was not really damaged, and no one was injured, but because it was a city vehicle I had to pay the price for my mistake. I was more freaked out by having just been in the first accident that was completely my fault. I paid the fine that was my punishment.
The biggest thing when dealing with police is to be polite, they are humans too. They are trying to do their jobs and keep people safe. We may need to seriously look at the way officers go about their interactions with people, but only to keep everyone involved safe, that means that officers are going to have to carry guns, tasers, or other devices/weapons in order to keep peace as best that they can. It does mean that there is the possibility for misinterpretation because the officer must make a decision quickly that might have several factors that are difficult to weigh properly in the seconds that an officer has to make the decision to use lethal force or some other intervention.
That is what needs to be remembered by people who are against the police in regards to officer involved fatal shootings .Every officer involved shooting is investigated, hopefully by non-biased people, but those are incredibly hard to find. Everyone's lives matter and need to be treated like humans, with respect. That needs to be remembered by EVERYONE, officers and citizens alike.
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