Originally posted by: Drift3r
Originally posted by: Cogman
Originally posted by: Drift3r
Originally posted by: Cogman
This (former) cop needs to go to jail. Cops shouldn't have special rules that make it ok for them to kill someone on accident (IE they get discharged as a punishment). It is BS that we have some double standards for them just because they have a uniform and are in charge of enforcing the law.
IMO a cop should never be able to fire his gun without the fear that there might be criminal charges as a result. Just because the state gives you a firearm doesn't mean that they sanction every bullet you fire.
You do realize that all police officers have to already account for every bullet they fired in the field and they have to give valid reasons as to why they decided to discharge their weapon in front of a police commission after a shooting has occurred? Second having police officers second guess themselves all the time is not a policy I would like to see implemented period. A police officer second guessing each and every action would basically give criminals the upper hand and our society based on law and order would degenerate rather quickly in chaos.
Tell me then, what is happening to this cop who clearly should be charged with manslaughter? Is he being charged for anything? Yes, they have to account for the bullets they fire, but so what? The most that will happen to them in 99% of case is they loose their badge. Other then that, nothing, maybe a 3 week vacation.
No one in this thread has suggested that this police officer should not be charged with manslaughter. Right now there is an ongoing investigation about what exactly happened. I know it's easy to get into a knee-jerk emotional lynch mob mentality but the legal process must be allowed to proceed forward. We are after all a nation of laws first and foremost.
Somehow, I expect it to be a more serious issue when an individual is killed/endangered.
Well that is an assumption you are making based on your opinion.
The only thing the cop should be (and validly so) second guessing is the use of firearms. I am all for somebody by necessity having to take in consideration the consequences of using a firearm. Surprisingly, most situations that cops run into don't require the use of their firearm, so I doubt very highly that the world will descend into anarchy because cops become more cautious when using them.
Do you have any idea how many bullets are fired nation wide by cops? Believe it or not it is ridiculously low compared to the number of arrests made nation wide each year. You have more of threat of being killed by a fellow citizen then you do by a police officer. In fact the biggest killer of youth in the inner city by those wielding firearms are other youth.
There are even a few countries that don't allow their cops firearms, and they haven't descended into complete chaos. Surprising I know.
That is a very naive view. Those countries have very different cultures then ours and the prevalence of guns and violence amongst their citizens are no doubt lower then ours. Even in the US we have different levels of crime from city to city which means there is no one perfect solution. Do yourself a favor and take trip to Oakland and go live in some of the higher crime areas for about month and lets see if you come back with this view of yours. Oakland as whole ( It only has 400,000 residents ) based on the number of homicides is proportionally a more dangerous city to live then New York city which is way larger by a few million more people.
http://www.cityrating.com/city...?city=Oakland&state=CA