Monday, September 16, 2013

How about a little "Citizen Safety"?

One of the big items I read about (and see on reality TV programming) is an emphasis on "Officer Safety" when police are conducting their day on the job.  And I understand it.  I have friends in the law enforcement profession and I want them all to come home safe after every shift.  However, I also want all of the innocent citizens that they come into contact with to get home safe every day as well.  However, the possibility of things going sideways has caused law enforcement leadership to introduce policies and training that ensure officer safety but severely degrade citizens rights and citizens safety.  Two examples of questionable shootings are a recent one of an unarmed man in his own driveway with his own car being shot multiple times and now an accident victim being shot while apparently running towards police for assistance.  Now, both of these incidents happened at night and rather quickly, so armchair quarterbacking it is easier sometimes, but in both cases less than lethal options were there and not used by all officers.  Then we have (once again) the NYPD dropping bystanders.  However, this time the man was unarmed.  Oh, and they didn't hit him, just two bystanders.

This trend has to be reversed.  I don't know if it is more training, better policies or a combination of both, but the safety of the general population at some point has to come before that of the officers.  And the officers have to be made aware of that at the beginning of their shift.  For the amount of crap I see heaped on people who want to be able to carry a firearm for personal protection, I expect better from the police that are supposed to be the reason that people don't need to carry.



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