Here's a question I think has not been put forward enough in regard to most interactions with police, and especially the two most recent ones to get national attention (the killing of Daunte Wright in Minnesota and the traffic stop of the Army officer in Virginia): Why were the cops so quick to draw their weapons?
In both cases, these were nothing more than traffic stops. "Hey, buddy, your registration tag is expired." "Hey, buddy, you're missing the rear license plate." In the first case, the Minnesota DMV has admitted it has been delayed in processing registration renewals, so why was this a big deal to the cops? In the second case, the driver had a temporary plate in his rear window--which he pointed out to the police officers--and yet they still treated him as a violent threat.
Are these officers being trained that any refusal or hesitancy to respond to their commands is a life-or-death situation that requires weapons to be drawn? Are they so in fear for their lives even when they outnumber the "suspect" two- or three-to-one? What's more--as the video of the Virginia incident shows--multiple responding officers can result in them giving contradictory orders: "Show me your hands!" "Undo your seatbelt and get out of the vehicle!" (Literally impossible to do both, right?)
Is every suspect now to be considered "armed and dangerous?" Even military personnel in uniform? Will it only stop when the unarmed person injured or killed is a middle-aged white woman?
1 comment:
I think the entire institution needs to be rethought. There are some great cops out there, but there are also some horrifying ones. People told me stories about cops in Delco that went back 70 years, so it’s not new, but you are right: pulling a gun for a traffic stop is a response to blackness, not the offense. Which is why you will never see a middle-aged white woman get killed. Maybe traffic stop for minor stuff needs to end, period. Send them a ticket in the mail.
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