Police

I doubt that there are very many people in police departments anywhere in this country who go to work hoping that they get a chance to kill someone during their shift. Today, more so than even a decade ago, their lives are very much in danger every day that they put on that uniform. A lot of prominent people, including elected officials, have made it okay to kill a cop today, and some people are made to feel that this is something to be proud of.

Police are being set up for false allegations by people who know full well that the media will go along with whatever story they want to tell, and that politicians will take to the microphones to make heroes of them.

Police are being set up to be assassinated as well, and this is something they need to be aware of too. Every traffic stop could mean the end of their life. Just driving or walking the streets that they patrol could end their life without warning.

These two variables lead to a couple of things that make the job of a police officer very difficult. For one, every police officer is well aware that if anyone is able to get video that can be edited to put them in a bad light, their career is over, and it's unlikely that the city they work for will back them up, and they can be sure that the media won't. Because of this, there might be a tendency for them to be very cautious about any action that they might take. This caution can lead to hesitation that can mean the end of their life in an instant.

They know that too, because a significant segment of our population has made them targets. When someone pulls a cell phone out of their pocket, they have seconds to decide whether or not this poses a threat to them. Is it a gun, is it a cell phone, or is it something else? They have seconds to decide and the result of a wrong decision could mean the end of their career, the end of their freedom, or the end of their life. If someone wants to make an issue, there's no positive outcome for the police officer.

On the other hand, the fact that they may very well become the victim of an assassination attempt, at any time and without provocation, can result in a scared police officer misidentifying a toy gun for a real one, or a cell phone for a gun, or an innocent movement as a threat to their life. Again, he or she has only seconds to decide.

Anyone who has been following the threads here knows that I have been critical of police officers at times. Yes, sometimes they are wrong, and sometimes their wrong decisions are indeed based on racism or other factors that shouldn't turn an innocent person into a victim.

Now, the picture that people get when racism is mentioned isn't the picture that I intend. I am not talking about a cop who hates black people, or Muslims, or someone else and sets out to kill one. There's no excuse for that, and those kind of people belong in prison, not on a police force. There are also not very many of them, thankfully.

No, what I am talking about is the sort of racism that isn't so easily controlled. A year or so ago, the police were called to a report of a child with a gun. The dispatcher told the cops three times before they arrived that the report was that it was probably a toy gun. Yet, when the first cop arrived on the scene, almost as soon as he got out of the car, he shot the 12 year-old boy dead. The child wasn't given a reasonable chance to understand the seriousness of the situation or to put the gun down. He was a boy playing with a toy gun, as most of us have at the same age.

I don't believe that this police officer shot this child because he hated black people and wanted to shoot a black child that day. I don't think he was an evil man, and I doubt very much doubt that intended to shoot a black person, let alone a black child.

However, at the same time, I strongly suspect that if this had been a 12 year-old white child, the outcome would have been different.

I don't know what the answer to these problems are. There may not be any. There are no easy answers because there are too many people today who don't want reasonable solutions.

Looking at the problem from another perspective, the police are trained in the responsible use of firearms. They are also trained to recognize a threat. They also have to go through periodic retraining. This is why people who are in favor of strong gun control will often insist that only the police should be allowed to possess a firearm.

Some states require firearms training in order for a citizen to carry a firearm, but not nearly as much training as the police receive. In some states, including Maine, no training whatsoever is required in order for a citizen to carry a firearm.

Yet, I am held to a much higher standard. I am allowed to carry a firearm, and to use a firearm in the protection of my life. Yet, if a trained police officer mistakes a cell phone for a handgun and shoots someone, the chances are very good that it is going to be ruled a good shoot, and he won't be charged with a crime. He probably won't even get a reprimand. But if I were to mistake a cell phone for a handgun and shoot someone, thinking that my life was in danger, the same police officer would put me in cuffs in a moment, and there is almost no chance that I will be able to avoid a prison sentence. Certainly, I will never again be able to possess a firearm.

Something is wrong there too, but I'm not sure what the answer is.