South Florida cops claimed they were “forced to fire” at a 32-year-old Black man named Donald Taylor in August because he was armed and would not follow commands.
But newly surfaced video contradicts those claims, showing the Black man walking away from cops with his hands raised to his sides showing no gun in his hand when a Hollywood police officer fired a single shot as Taylor had his back turned to the cops, killing him.
I think you’d need police for more than just that. Situations can change pretty quickly in a lot of circumstances, but definitely a lot of scenarios where you could send a social worker instead.
There could also be unarmed police like in the UK which would add some level of general deescalation from the start.
Yeah, I could see that working, IF training requirements matched the authorized use of force.
The big problem in the US is that most local PDs look more like SWAT teams, but lack the appropriate training to make responsible choices with the power they’ve been given. My vision involves both de-militarizing the police, along with increasing training requirements for the ones remaining.
It’s absolutely absurd that we give gear and equipment to military soldiers with years of training, send them to an active war zone on the other side of the world, and tell them they have to follow rules when they use that gear and equipment in an act of force against an enemy combatants.
Then, we take that same gear and equipment, give it to police officers with 6 weeks of training, and tell them they’re immune from any prosecution resulting from an act of force against a US citizen.
Literally, enemy combatants fighting a war against our military have more rights and protections than tax-paying, law-abiding citizens on US soil simply interacting with police.
It’s absolutely bonkers the gear PDs are being given and the lack of proper training for it.