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Biden did say he opposed ‘cash bail’ which is nice.
The shooting to maim comment was stupid and is an example of his tone-deafness.He needs to come out with an eight or ten point plan for CHANGING police forces. Not a rambling, half-assed cliche-fest.
Its an historical time. What will he actually DO to prevent police brutality?
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vI’ll tell you how you change “police forces”. Get the bad cops out ! But that ain’t so easy. The core culprits are the police unions-and their attorneys- who will not budge an inch on police brutality claims and will always claim bad conduct was justified. Much like teacher’s unions protecting bad teachers that make it all impossible to fire a teacher that has tenure. And all 1st responders have unions that are paid to prevent any type of disciplinary action against one of their members. And its costly for taxpayers and burdensome on governing authorities to overcome that in court. Been there done that. But THAT is where the reforming must begin. Right square in the face of the unions at the bargaining table when the cops-bad and good-come clamoring for more and more money, benefits and ever increasing measures to protect the bad cops. The Floyd case was an anomaly. The officer’s conduct was recorded for the public to see. He HAD to be charged and the union could not in good faith run interference. But it took until the video surfaced before any resemblance of justice could begin. But most police brutality cases-and you know this as well as I do-are not out in the public to see. Reform is badly needed but the real secret is that it must start with the bargaining agreements formed in negotiations over police salaries, benefits, and independent investigations into claims of conduct by individual officers. That is where it starts. And guess where I got that from WV? Biden himself !
Given my job I’ve had in the past to sue individual officers and police departments for unreasonable and unauthorized conduct that result in injuries to another. In that light I have reviewed police manuals from both the LAPD and the LA County Sheriffs. There is nothing about shooting an “unarmed” man or woman in the heart. Addressing an attacker the following is a brief sum of what actually is in a manual: if an officers reasonably believes his life is in danger he was the right and obligation to do what is necessary to protect himself or herself. What Biden is suggesting is that in that situation officers can and should be trained to shoot to disable an attacker rather than kill them. Many police departments do precisely that. Of course not always does an officer in the heat of an attack ask “hey are you armed”.
Common guys. I know when police conduct is outside the boundaries. But how about some fairness on this subject. Otherwise it simply smells like agenda driven politics.
My point was not about cops. My point was about Biden.
He had a WEEK to come up with a statement on this, and he came up with “shoot them in the legs?” That’s the compromise? That’s just…embarrassing.
I take it for granted that the police should NEVER shoot to kill. Never. Any fatalities at the hands of the police should be accidental. They are not judge, jury, and executioners.
First of all: Biden has addressed the point often and for a long, long, time including even before he was Obama’s VP. His point has always been if possible whey a police officer’s life is in danger by an attack the police should be trained to disable the attacker instead of the freedom to kill. But he and legislators are ALWAYS faced with push back by police unions because they know their members are against that. So- back to your point-your wrong on Biden.
Now let me ask you this. You are home with your family and subject to a break in. You and your family are threatened with not just physical harm but possible death. You have a gun. (don’t dodge the Q by saying the hypo doesn’t apply because you don’t have a gun) Do you believe you have the right to be “judge, jury, and executioner” and do whatever is necessary to kill the intruder?. Now the odds are that likely will never happen to you. And you do not likely have a gun. But police see that every day. Most, if not all, police unions will argue with Biden that when facing an attack it is difficult if not impossible to know if that person has a loaded small firearm-moreover, many policemen and women have had their weapon taken from them in a struggle and used against them-and that is why they continue to oppose anything less that use of lethal means.
These are not easy issues and don’t deserve simplistic answers. I certainly don’t have easy answers. I do have one easy answer: If I saw a person about to attack my daughter with a knife or any member of my family I would do whatever I needed to prevent that from happening and if that was to kill the attacker I would. Would you ?
BTW: just as I finished the above I learned a police officer in Vegas is on life support right now for being shot in the head by a so-called “protester”.
has anyone here been a cop? i haven’t. can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a cop. i’ve met officers in law enforcement. some of them have ptsd from years of seeing shit no person should ever see.
mental health evaluation would be at the top of my list. evaluate these officers’ well being. see if they’re fit to go out on the streets.
some stats i’ve read show that rates of ptsd are similar to rates seen in veterans. 6 times higher than the general population. shoot some of them have come from the military and are still dealing with issues from their tours of duty.
i actually sometimes wonder if ptsd issues are affecting some of these officers during the protests with all the yelling and confusion and explosions going on.
we have to treat this problem with compassion.
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