Here in western north Carolina the clouds are scurrying off the dance floor and the sun is lighting up the autumn color. Glorious! The extension burst until spring's pastels. I do miss this time of year in this setting.Because I can't enjoy anything without being a "negative nellie" (or whatever the masculine version of that phrase is) I immediately starting ruminating on death and destruction....
An article in today's CNN headlines recalls the tragedy of a young man killed by campus police. Its hard times all around in south Alabama. Can this be used to change policy and training? There's a good question.
Unfortunately I have only more questions. Like, who tracks police shootings and what does the data show? I am interested in this topic because I wonder if there are ways to train officers to increase the compassion of their interactions with the public, even an aggressive and potentially dangerous public. This interest is not just about police; the general public has an anti-authority bent--it takes two to tango, they say.
Hell, if I could be "king of the world" I would like to reduce competition in favor of cooperation. Following the Buddha more couldn't hurt anyone, except those who want to destroy. But, alas, I'm just a guy.
A website with a law enforcement POV with a newsfeed for police involved shooting is PoliceOne. It looks like a good source for cops to support each other, find training & tips, and preview gear. Not quite what I was looking for, but interesting as a presentation of that POV. It reminds me to be sensitive to the complexities that law enforcement (and military) personnel attend to in the performance of their duties.
The data I'm interested in may not exist, if this story from 2001 remains relevant. "[A] provision in the 1994 Crime Control Act requiring the Attorney General to collect the data and publish an annual report on them, statistics on police shootings and use of nondeadly force continue to be piecemeal products of spotty collection, and are dependent on the cooperation of local police departments. No comprehensive accounting for all of the nation's 17,000 police department exists."
In a late 2011 news story there is the appearance of no change:
"The nation's leading law enforcement agency collects vast amounts of information on crime nationwide, but missing from this clearinghouse are statistics on where, how often, and under what circumstances police use deadly force. In fact, no one anywhere comprehensively tracks the most significant act police can do in the line of duty: take a life.
"We don't have a mandate to do that," said William Carr, an FBI spokesman in Washington, D.C. "It would take a request from Congress for us to collect that data.
Congress, it seems, hasn't asked."
Consider a report about a LAPD unit that investigates police shootings "to insure that investigations of police shooting incidents are full, fair, objective, independent, and timely".
Title:Implementation and Possible Impacts of Operation Rollout
Author(s):C D Uchida; L W Sherman; J J Fyfe
Date Published:1981
Here's something I didn't expect to find: A map from the conservative Cato Institute noting entitled Botched Paramilitary Police Raids. The map shows incidents where law enforcement actions resulted in the injury (or death) of an innocent solely due to action based on incorrect information. I.e, raiding the wrong home looking for suspects. The map was created to accompany the report Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko.
The issue is sensitive. And important.
No comments:
Post a Comment