Protests, riots, anarchy..... all triggered by a few incidents where police used "excessive force", Some times we hear people defend police officers, mentioning that their work often puts their own life at risk... no wonder then that they sometimes over-react, or are too quick to pull the trigger, such as in the recent shooting of Jacob Blake, a person who had outstanding felony arrest warrants and resisted arrest. When Blake seemed to reach for something inside his car, the police officer shot him 7 times inthe back.. clearly "excessive force"
However... I assume, such confrontations are rare in the line of duty of a police officer. Most of the time, they just cruise the streets, looking for drivers who make incorrect turns or don't come to a complete stop at a stop sign..... easy work!!!
Here is such a traffic stop....
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61728
I see some similarity between this incident and the Jacob Blake shooting, except the police did not use "excessive force"
If I was the attorney representing the police office who shot Jacob Blake, I would play the above video to the jury.
I have an in-law who worked as a guard at the county jail
He told me, at his place of employment, after a while certain individuals get to you. Spitting, banging cups, not following orders etc. Then a fight breaks out and the pent up anger at the trouble maker plus the possibility of personal harm, makes certain guards over re-act
Anger , I am told is the biggest driver of excessive force followed by possible harm to one self
We also discussed the police stopping people for traffic tickets ass you mentioned above.
My in-law asked me
What would you do???
Take the easy way out while on duty or put yourself in a bad situation
The consensus of our discussion that soon, when you really need a police officer their will rarely be anybody willing or able to help you. Many police are just going thru the motions until retirement comes and keeping a low profile to stay out of personal problems
It used to be the family worried if a son or daughter was going into active duty and you hoped they came home
Can you imagine who many family members worry every single day if their police officer husband/wife etc will come home, at the end of their shift. More so if they are called into the line to defend against Antifa/violent protestors. Nobody can be completely protected against a molotov cocktail, laser beams etc., so the danger is real
Who can blame the police who decide their saftey comes 1st
Mean while most are not trained for other work and need the pay cheque
Police officers should be trained to handle all situations and respond using good judgement but each situation is different.
They must use street smarts and critical thinking/common sense with their professional training and try to read the actions of the person they are dealing with in order to predict what that person might do next.
Sometimes, it involves split second decisions.
The biggest overlying factor that determines how much danger the suspect presents is COMPLIANCE or non compliance.
Compliance means that person is cooperating and things are likely to go as expected with the cops calling the shots. It means the person just does what the cops ask him/her to do and/or cooperate.
Non Compliance or not cooperating causes alarm bells to go off in a cops head and for dang good reason. Every time a cop gets injured or shot, it came from a person who was not complying.
If you don't comply, you become an immediate threat to the cop. If you are a male with more strength than females, those alarm bells tell you that physical actions must be taken to subdue this non compliant person, when words are not working.
Not doing this means the situation could quickly get out of control and become life threatening and when its a violent criminal you have in front of you, Pretty Please with sugar on top does not work very well (-: