Comments

1
873 criminalizes errors made in good faith.
That is all one needs to know to realize it is a maliciously bad idea.
Officers are seldom charged with crimes because they seldom act “without good faith belief that the act was justified” and prosecutors know it.
Baltimore is an excellent example of what happens when emotion and agenda poison the decisions of prosecutors.
Community-Police trust is a two way street; criminalizing honest errors of officers as 873 does will be one HUGE step AWAY from rebuilding the working relationship between police and the community
2
@1
So what should be the standard used in prosecuting cops who kill?
3
How about; if they act in “malice” and “without good faith belief that the act was justified” ?
4
#1

So if you want continued immunity from manslaughter charges..

Why are you to "shoot to kill"?

All I've encountered from those who have taken police-themed self defense courses are pressure points. Not exactly a calming maneuver.

I think your training is all fucked up.

Bring back kneecapping.
5
Editor: You have an "it's" in the second to last sentence where you need an "its".

On to the subject matter: Try a thought experiment. Suppose that for a year, all US police secretly agreed to never draw their firearms under any circumstances. How many police officers do you suppose would be killed for lack of self-defence? Probably in the single digits, or a few dozen tops. Compare this number with the hundreds and hundreds of citizens the police kill every year.

Do you really believe the life of a police officer is worth the lives of ten or more citizens? If not, then you have to conclude that the police are too quick to use force in this country.
6
@5

No.

A fifth of all people shot by police had already shot at the police and police were just returning fire.
Hundreds more were armed and threatening officers with their weapons.
The Guardian did a nice article breaking down the circumstances where police are forced to shoot, you should find it.
from the article:
"Data collected by the Guardian this year highlighted the wide range of situations encountered by police officers across the US. Of the 1,134 people killed, one in five fired shots of their own at officers before being killed.
"In addition to those killed after opening fire, 160 people were accused of refusing commands to drop a weapon. Another 157 were said to have pointed or levelled a gun at officers. Police alleged that 158 people killed had “charged”, advanced at or fought with officers. And while 79 people were killed after allegedly “reaching for their waistband” or grabbing for a weapon, 44 attacked officers, some with knives and blades.
“It would appear that police officers are often confronting people who are armed, non-compliant and threatening,” said David Klinger an associate professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St Louis
7
this doesn't really address any core problems with policing. if someone's dead there's still a problem.
8
@1 Actually all I need to know is that our current resident right-wing crank is against it.

I would not be surprised to find out that you are in fact a cop.
9
Cool, an initiative I want to sign.
10
Or maybe cops could stop murdering citizens
11
@10
Yeah. for sure.

BTW, how many citizens were murdered by cops in, say, the past year?
12
Initiatives should always be considered carefully before signing, and if they do make it to the ballot, they should be very seriously reviewed by the voter, before casting their ballot. This one is no exception to the rule.

In cities that do put police officers on trial, for homicide, and whenever a jury comes back with a not-guilty verdict, which they do, more often than not, there are usually riots, that go on for days afterwards, claiming many more additional lives. Fortunately, this doesn't happen in Seattle.

Perhaps a better way to handle this situation here locally, is to recognize the fact that police shootings almost exclusively occur with the Seattle Police Department. This is what this initiative stems from. That is because the Seattle Police Department Guild agreement between the city and the Seattle Police Department, is designed around the principle that the city can't discipline it's police officers, the police department, will decide if it will discipline it's police officers or not. This offers an inordinate amount of protection to the few bad apples within the rank and file.

This can be averted, by not renewing the current labor bargaining agreement, between the Seattle Police Officer's Guild, and the city, by doing away with the guild, and allowing a nationally recognized police union, to represent Seattle, similar to the current bargaining agreement with the City of Tukwila, and it's police department, for example, where the city decides if it will discipline it's police officers.
13
Expect more mayhem in Charlotte.
The long-suffering minorities there are sick and tired of racist black cops shooting armed black men….

Please wait...

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