The following statistics seem impossible to believe. While I wonder how accurately the UK has been tracking these numbers historically, the enormous spread seems much too large to ignore, and is a national embarrassment that should be dealt with immediately.
From the Free Thought Project:
A new report by ThinkProgress.com unearthed disturbing figures when it came to the number of police-related deaths that occurred in America in the month of March alone.
Just last month, in the 31 days of March, police in the United States killed more people than the UK did in the entire 20th century. In fact, it was twice as many; police in the UK only killed 52 people during that 100 year period.
According to the report by ThinkProgess, in March alone, 111 people died during police encounters — 36 more than the previous month.
This high number in March increased the average for police killings from every 8.5 hours, to nearly 1 police killing every 6.5 hours in the US.
China, whose population is 4 and 1/2 times the size of the United States, recorded 12 killings by law enforcement officers in 2014.
Dude...
I forget where I came across it but I recently saw, I think, a thing where people were talking about the two radically different roles of police and soldiers, and how that seems to have been skewed as of late. Where police officers exist to maintain peace, soldiers do pretty much the exact opposite. While I do think we live in a world where the majority of people just flat out do not understand at all what the job of policing is, and there is also a seriously disrespectful attitude in certain circles to law enforcement, there also does seem to be quite a big gap between the way cops view some of the communities they are responsible for protecting as peace officers vs potential combatents. Those stats are crazy!
US Police Kill More Civilians In March Than UK Police Killed In 100 Years
1. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly for over 30 years that the police have no legal duty or obligation to protect citizens, prevent crime, or even respond to a crime in progress. (See "Castle Rock v. Gonzales" and "Warren v. District of Columbia" for examples.) The are here to keep the peace, investigate crimes after the fact, arrest criminals and suspected criminals as directed, and protect the entity which employs them (the government) for the supposed good of society as a whole.
2. For several years now police have been trained, from their first day at the academy, that EVERYBODY they come in contact with is a criminal, and to thus act accordingly.
Man, it's sad to discover such statistics... It seems to me that nowadays US police considers that it has a right of permissiveness.
KEN! Seriously man, there is like 6 people that actually use this forum. You can't go disappearing for a month at a time like that. Hope you've been well!
Castle Rock v Gonzales- WTF? How in the hell did that case devolve into an argument about the monetary value, and therefore the obligation to enforce, a restraining order????!!! W.T.F?
And on top of that, thanks to looking up that case, I just found out government officials have something called "Qualified Immunity" just in case they violate someone's constitutional rights and they don't want to be charged. Ignorance is bliss. I didn't even know just how blissful until I read that.
Warren v District of Columbia- Ken, I really had been sleeping well lately. I believe that's out the window now. I wonder if this case happened in a crappy neighborhood and that's why the cops didn't pay it too much mind or investigate too thoroughly.
Where did you hear about these cases?
That is really messed up though, the cops have no legal obligation to help you, but you really aren't able to carry a gun in most cases and even if you did and then actually used it, the legal repercussions are enormous.
I knew cops were trained to treat every encounter as if the civilian they're talking to was a criminal, but never thought much about it, or the impact it has on the relationships or perception that cops then develop towards their community, or the way the community starts to see the cops.