Why Cops Shoot
August 25, 2017 8:14 PM   Subscribe

 
That first image, is that cop grinning? The one behind the car. Wow. Maybe they shoot because they like it, and they know they can get away with it.
posted by adept256 at 8:42 PM on August 25, 2017 [5 favorites]


This is the video from the first image. It does not appear to be that the cop is grinning; he's actually using a taser on the man, presumably in an effort to disarm him using less-than-lethal methods. A split second later another cop (toward the rear of the police cruiser) is the one who actually fires his rifle, kiling the man -- what looks like a grin appears on the video to be more of a grimace, a startle reaction to the loud gunfire from his left. I'm not going to say the officer you point is an OK guy or anything, because honestly I know fuck-all about him, but at least in this instance he's definitely not doing anything I would consider wrong.
posted by axiom at 8:53 PM on August 25, 2017 [4 favorites]


It's a shame that The Guardian stopped its investigation The Counted from 2015 and 2016 of every person killed by police in the US; it documents the same racial disparities and gives a face and details of those killed.
posted by Theiform at 8:53 PM on August 25, 2017 [5 favorites]


Why do cops shoot?
Short answer: cowardice.
posted by fredludd at 9:10 PM on August 25, 2017 [10 favorites]


in an effort to disarm him using less-than-lethal methods

Except that Tasers are lethal, and Taser goes after coroners who come to the conclusion that someone was killed with one.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:55 PM on August 25, 2017 [20 favorites]


"Still potentially lethal, but less often lethal than being shot with a gun" ≠ "less than lethal"
posted by lalochezia at 7:27 AM on August 26, 2017


I forget now where I read this, but it was validated by our local police chief in an interview I did with him: Police are supposed to assume that they will use the weapon in the line of duty seldom, and as a last resort. However, they train for many, many hours per year with that weapon (for a career officer, over 1000 hours). When stressed, all that training kicks in. A solution is to have officers spend as much, or more time being trained in de-escalation techniques, how to work with the mentally ill, etc.
our PD has found that this training actually works, and that the officers actually like being able to help citizens resolve issues without resorting to teasers or worse. We need more police chiefs willing to go this route for the culture to change, but in my small town it has, and I am so proud of that.
posted by dbmcd at 8:33 AM on August 26, 2017 [23 favorites]


Shorter answer: racism
posted by klanawa at 10:59 AM on August 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


I thought we were no longer saying "officer-involved shooting" when we mean "police-shooting." I'd say the Tampa Bay Times must not have got the memo, except that they use both terms in the first couple of sentences, so maybe it's just a case of not wanting to sound repetitive?

I guess what I'm saying is that I'll be reading these articles with a critical eye.
posted by surlyben at 1:17 PM on August 26, 2017


Why do cops shoot? Part of the reason has to be that there are hundreds of millions of guns in circulation in the United States, and they spend their whole careers worried about those guns being used against them. They're jumpy about getting shot.
posted by Daddy-O at 5:51 PM on August 26, 2017


That is likely true but there doesn't seem to be a rash of white people being shot for complying with police commands.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 5:53 PM on August 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


Being black is a distinct disadvantage when dealing with the police in the United States, no doubt about it.
posted by Daddy-O at 6:20 PM on August 26, 2017


Why do cops shoot?

Because we let them have guns.

Part of the reason has to be that there are hundreds of millions of guns in circulation in the United States, and they spend their whole careers worried about those guns being used against them. They're jumpy about getting shot.


oh my god

I am jumpy approximately all of the time and worried exactly all of the time. I am not also a macho racist on top of it, but if I were one of those as well as being a worrier, it wouldn't matter. because none of my workplaces ever issued me a FUCKING GUN. therefore, nobody has ever had to die. it's been a pretty good career so far.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:00 PM on August 26, 2017 [2 favorites]


They're jumpy about getting shot.

Grounds maintenance workers, fishing/farming/forestry workers, and truck drivers have fatality rates that are significantly higher than police officers and in general, they manage not to shoot people as a result. More unarmed people are killed by police than police officers are killed (by anyone).

I like to think our police officers are more professional than truck drivers.
posted by saeculorum at 8:22 PM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]


Why do cops shoot?
Short answer: cowardice.


I would believe this if it came from a repentant cop who'd pleaded guilty to murder and was giving interviews from jail out of remorse and in an effort to educate. From anyone else, I'd ask for a good argument as to why the short answer that seems obvious is just regular old fear, the humanest of all human failings, and not "arrogance" or "impatience" or "conditioned reflexes" or anything else that doesn't empathy-slam the listener right into the cop's shoes and out of the victim's.

because although that's plainly not the intent in calling it cowardice, it is the effect; anybody with the tiniest amount of humility can understand and forgive cowardice. we all know what it is like to be scared like a kid even though we are adults and to value our own lives more highly than a stranger's. but this is all just elaboration of the idea that literally anyone except maybe another cop's known and recognized spouse or blood relative is so legitimately terrifying that it makes sense to be scared enough that shooting them is the cowardly option. that is the part that doesn't make sense.

for some people, taking a human life is such an awesome and fearsome burden that they would be too cowardly to shoot someone who might, after all, be innocent or unarmed or legally armed and nonthreatening or a regular criminal who had not yet been arrested, let alone sentenced to death. that's pretty scary for some. with a little imagination you can be scared of it ruining your sleep for the rest of your life. people in bygone days did plenty of draft-avoiding and deserting because they didn't want to kill, not just because they didn't want to die.

but people who have those kinds of fears don't tend to be cops, or don't tend to be the kind of cops who kill freely or defend the practice. but cowardice can keep you decent if you let it. cowardice is all right in its place.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:23 PM on August 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


It isn't cops, it's Americans.

People outside of America have known what "tough on crime" means for a long time; the mystery to us is why you bother with the euphemism any more.

We know what it means when political candidates say "tough on crime", whether they're Democrats or Republicans, and we know why you vote for that.

American cops are the way they are because they have an implicit mandate to be that way, you just think if you don't say it out loud the whole world will pretend with you it's not a systematic, decades-long pogrom. You replaced explicit jim crow with implicit jim crow; implicit jim crow has remained fundamentally the same for 50 years.

Even the article, while discussing the racism, softens it dishonestly: ex: "blacks outnumber whites two to one" in the "shot while unarmed" stat. Bullshit, that's not the meaningful stat, they are shot at six to one the rate of whites, that's the meaningful stat.

Americans can't even be honest with the numbers when they decide to talk about their own racism.
posted by lastobelus at 9:39 PM on August 26, 2017 [6 favorites]


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