http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/us/charlotte-police-shooting-what-happens-next/index.html
As we have all heard in recent news, police shootings have been very present in these last few months, and they are causing serious issues in certain cities. These shootings have sparked protests in defense of those who have been shot and for there families, in order to bring justice to the topic and to take a stand on the issue. In my opinion these protests are for a good cause as they are drawing attention to a very prominent topic. Just last week, a man was fatally shot in Charlotte, North Carolina as police were going to serve a warrant to him and thought that the man was threatening them with a gun and being belligerent so they took a serious action. As the saying goes, there is always two sides to a story. In this case, video footage from the now widowed wife of Keith Lamont Scott, was released with her stating that the man was just ill and not too shoot him. The police obviously saw a threat of the man, and made the decision to take action. After this shooting, as previously stated large protests were arranged and the city enforced a curfew for everyone and a heavier police present. The a majority of the population, including myself agree that this a wrong doing and something must be made out of it, but to others this might have been the best thing to do in the situation. This is where the question comes.
1. Do you think a that shooting the man was the right thing to do, or was there another way to go about this?
2. Do you think that officers are doing this truly out of fear for their lives, or just because of a certain mindset that they have?
3. What do you think we could do as a nation to prevent these types of things from happening in the future?
I think that shooting the man was absolutely the wrong thing to do. Even if the man was a serious threat there should be a better way to go about containing him without murdering him. I think that officers do this out of both fear and mindset. Officers obviously fear for their lives when they see guns, but potentially unconscious racism influences many police officers. For the future, I'm not sure what the country can do to fix problems like this. It seems that protests that turn violent have become more and more frequent. Police should not go into protests thinking about violence, they should be thinking about understanding.
ReplyDeleteThe shooting, any shooting, whether it be of a cop or of a civilian, is never something to be taken lightly, and many won't understand the impact of such shootings unless they happen close to home. However, the two sides of the story expands. Officers have one of, if not the most, stressful and pressure-filled jobs in the U.S; protecting and serving other civilians. Again, unless one is in the job itself, it's hard to understand the thoughts and pressures facing these individuals on a daily basis. The shooting, from a trained officer, may have been necessary in the situation, but almost universally accepted as an unfavorable solution. Therefore, to balance a necessary action with a favorable result, I believe again and again that non-lethal alternatives should be much more common place with officers. Blunt force projectiles to induce pain and stop a suspect, taser guns to seduce a suspect, and other means are all available and improving steadily for cops to use. I believe these shootings can see a drop if these methods are pushed more for use by cops and by the public and strike a medium between law and order and justice for suspects.
ReplyDeleteI think this event put the cop in a tough situation, as he had the right to defend himself because he was being threatened with a gun. This again brings up the idea that police should be issued better and more efficient non lethal forms of crowd control. But because he with shooting in defense, he cannot be charged with murder.
ReplyDeleteLike what was stated, there are always at least two sides to a story. I feel like both sides have made very valid points but I believe that the police should've been able to talk to this person without shooting him. There must be some kind of tranquilizer or knock out gas which would result in the immobilization of a person but not a death. I think the police were probably doing this a bit out of fear and defense. They only wanted to protect the community and this was the method they saw as the most reasonable course of action at the time.
ReplyDeleteI believe that police brutality is a myth created by the villains of our society so that in the end the power of our government and police forces would be reduced to the point where violence would be out of control everywhere in the United States. Bad, selfish people such as gangsters would get rid of the police as easy as snapping a finger and expand the black market, human trafficking, drug trafficking, or more unthinkable crimes. The final decision of this case should be settled by the more intelligent people in our country, who rest in the Supreme Court. Bad cops deserve to be punished, but I don't believe that we should generalize this situation for all cops. That's just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a lot of the causes of the recent shootings are caused because of the mindset of the police in this country, where they feel that because they have the gun they should have to use them even if they had other easily more moral ways to go about dealing with the situation.
ReplyDeleteI think that police should be given the benefit of doubt of threat assessment and taking action for the greater safety overall. While this can be abused at times, I think that generalizing all policemen as corrupt and actively attempting to unlawfully attack people of color is outlandish and is equally as discriminatory and presumptuous as the racism that they are accused of. The stigma of cops being bad is pretty much ingrained in everyone's minds, but this leap in logic is a extreme final conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI think that police should be given the benefit of doubt of threat assessment and taking action for the greater safety overall. While this can be abused at times, I think that generalizing all policemen as corrupt and actively attempting to unlawfully attack people of color is outlandish and is equally as discriminatory and presumptuous as the racism that they are accused of. The stigma of cops being bad is pretty much ingrained in everyone's minds, but this leap in logic is a extreme final conclusion.
ReplyDeleteHonestly events like these will never end unless true action is taken. Yet again, an African American man was shot and killed by police for being deemed "dangerous" when in fact the man was of no harm. As stated in the article, the man did not have a gun on him, but the police officer continued to shoot. It once again was the death of an African American for no reason
ReplyDeleteI think that this violence is unpreventable due to there being a negative attitude and stereotype of African Americans ingrained in our society. I think that huge things would need to happen in order to completely take this away.
ReplyDeleteI think that in most cases officer are doing this in fear of their lives. It is a problem that African Americans are being shot by police when they actually do not have a gun or any weapon of the sort. And with more and more protest about this should help solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteI think that in most cases officer are doing this in fear of their lives. It is a problem that African Americans are being shot by police when they actually do not have a gun or any weapon of the sort. And with more and more protest about this should help solve the problem.
ReplyDeletePolice officers are suppose to protect and serve the country. However, they're causing more fear to many around the world especially for the African race. I agree with Lee if they protest more and have more supporters, I believe it can solve the problem a bit.
ReplyDeleteThere is always another way to handle a situation like this other than killing him. Fear because of the amount of cops that are being attacked across the country due to all the hate towards them. As a nation we just got to stop hating each other.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is always a non-lethal option to solve situations. But, at the same time I don't want cops endangering themselves or others because they are afraid of the flack that they will receive if they shoot someone black. Sometimes the safest way to handle a situation is to use a gun. If in that situation he avoids the use of a gun because the danger is somebody black, it would endanger himself and everyone around him more.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is always a non-lethal option to solve situations. But, at the same time I don't want cops endangering themselves or others because they are afraid of the flack that they will receive if they shoot someone black. Sometimes the safest way to handle a situation is to use a gun. If in that situation he avoids the use of a gun because the danger is somebody black, it would endanger himself and everyone around him more.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the cop was right in taking action, but the manner in which he did was not. There is a reason police possess weapons such as pepper spray, taser gun, etc.. They have the alternative weapons to guns so that they do not have to use them and kill people.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that the shooting was not a right thing to do. A shooting like this isn't planned so, obviously if there was something that could have prevented this event it would have been done instead of shooting.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that shooting was the right thing to do and in most cases there is always an alternative, but on the other side we have to remember that cops are humans too. If the cop was also being threatened with a gun he was probably scared also scared. Although it was not the right thing to do, he was most likely just trying to protect himself.
ReplyDeleteMaking a generalization like calling all cops racists and victimizers of inequality is just as unfair as calling all african americans criminals. This particular situation had the cop in a very difficult position, and the cop chose his life over the victim's
ReplyDeleteAs in most cases, shooting a person who is armed and dangerous is the right thing to do. However, in cases like this that have been occurring in America for so long including with the black community, it was not the right thing to do considering the man was no a threat. Mistakes like this have happened for too long and what needs to happen is the restriction of weapon use for police officers. Instead of having guns that Kill, there should be bullets made that stuns an enemy at even farther distances
ReplyDeletewell the police have to protect themselves too , but at the same time shooting an innocent person is not fair. there should be a way they can defend themselves but not to hurt others .
ReplyDeleteShooting the man was a form of self defense because they thought that the suspect would attack them. However, there was certainly a work around. They could have worked something out instead of shooting him to death.
ReplyDeleteI think that some officers shoot because they have a stereo type in their head which in a lot of recent cases is totally wrong.
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