Frank Serpico wrote a column in which recalled a fellow NYC policeman in the 1960's who was slashed by the male half of a domestic dispute and then disarmed him and arrested him while wounded.
What has changed so that police don't respect the lives of people they are arresting?
In no particular order, that policeman was an ex-marine who knew how to fight with his hands. He also had conquered fear as a marine. Many policeman have no military experience and if they do, they learned how to empty an automatic weapon.
2nd, criminals didn't used to have automatic weapons. Now every Tom, Dick & Harry has an automatic weapon, if they want one. The police kill a 12 year old with a plastic looking automatic weapon because they are in fear of running into Tom, Dick or Harry with a real automatic weapon. The police are in fear for their lives and I don't blame them for that.
But I do think they need to show some restraint when they don't see a gun. That is why I have less sympathy for the killers of Eric Garner and Michael Brown and more sympathy for the rookie NYC cop in Brooklyn whose gun went off accidentally in an unlit stairwell in a housing project.
And I am sorry that there are not more policeman like that ex-marine many years ago. In control of their emotions enough to respect the life of the people they are arresting. I really don't believe the police respect the people they arrest, anymore, and I lay the blame for that on the real risk they face from the widespread availability of automatic weapons.
Of course, the NRA doesn't want to control that and I think, at the heart of that, is preferance on the part of most NRA members to rid the country of non-caucasions. There is a reason most KKK members are also members of the NRA.
No comments:
Post a Comment