TO PROTECT AND SERVE

"Hey, hey. Ho, ho. These killer cops have got to go." (chant on NY streets this evening)

Ferguson, Missouri protestors

"Protect and Serve" is the motto of the LAPD, the OPP's motto is "Safe Communities, A Secure Ontario" and the Guelph Police Service  slogan is "Pride - Service - Trust", but can citizens feel safe when confronted with police officers? The Free Thought Project website suggests that Americans are more likely to be killed by a US police offer than a terrorist. Mint Press News, an online news service, reports that US police have killed 5,000 civilians since 9/11. This week protests erupted in New York City because a white police officer was not charged for the choke-hold death of an unarmed black man named Eric Garner. For the past several weeks the town of Ferguson, Missouri has suffered violent rioting because a white police officer shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, 12 times.

Just in case you think this only happens to black citizens and residents of the United States...

In July 2013 a bystander video recorded a Toronto police officer shoot Sammy Yatim (a white youth who was on a Toronto streetcar with a knife) 9 times and then tasered his inert body. Then in August 2013 RCMP officers went to the home of Josee Valiquette on Cold Lake Alberta’s First Nation’s reserve with the intent of arresting him, when a fight broke out Valiquette was shot dead. And just in case you think using tasers instead of guns is the answer, Robert Dziekanski was tasered to death at the Vancouver airport in 2010. Robert did not speak English and a witness video documents the aggressive police response to his failure to comply.

NYPD body camera pilot project

British police officers traditionally do not carry guns. New York City police a testing body cameras, initially to protect officers against wrongful accusations of excessive force, but knowing they are on camera has been found to modify police behaviour. 

Here's your reflection question: If you were on a consulting committee to a police force, what would you suggest as a means to address the problem of police officers killing unarmed citizens? Is this a matter of improved training, restricted weapons, stronger consequences following incidents, or something else?

Don't rant. Don't ramble. Develop a clear, concise statement of opinion.