This is the very definition of “won’t someone Do Something!”, as they offer no ideas, just typical leftist whining, pointing the fingers at police (who need it pointed their way now and then, but, not all, just ones who did it wrong), but failing to point any fingers at the criminals who commit the crime
The fatal shooting of a homeless, mentally ill Escondido man with nearly 200 arrests on his record on Wednesday raises many familiar questions, starting with, Why does America have a history of accepting that it is OK for a police officer to kill someone for aberrant behavior? Why are police officers expected to know how to deal with those who have mental health issues? And how can people with chronic mental health problems be more readily compelled to accept professional treatment?
Since they start with this, let’s go to that linked article
Police Chief Ed Varso said in a video Wednesday that officers were responding to a call of a man who was striking vehicles at the intersection with a metal rod. An officer opened fire when the man approached him in a threatening manner after receiving numerous commands to drop the object and several use-of-force warnings, Varso said.
While his name has not been released, Varso said the man was well-known by Escondido police, with 188 arrests since 2002 for offenses including “violent assaults on police and the public, parole violations, drug charges, vandalism and a host of other property crimes.â€
He was warned, and still came after the police, who don’t feel a need to let someone get close enough to them to assault them, and warned him. Back to original
But there is another angle to this issue that is not considered nearly enough: Why can’t inventors, entrepreneurs and law enforcement agencies come up with a highly effective alternative to a handgun to subdue criminal suspects?
Why won’t someone do something! There is an alternative: don’t commit crime. Don’t attack people with a knife in plain sight of police officers. Don’t do things that force officers to pull out their weapons.
Way back in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson ordered a criminal justice study that came back with an urgent recommendation that police needed to have a non-lethal method of incapacitating people without permanently injuring them.
Which brings on a discussion of the taser, and how it can be deadly. And, they don’t always work.
After the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a range of police departments across the nation sought out new alternatives in non-lethal weapons. But an analysis by the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on the criminal justice system, found that the alternatives had the same problems as Tasers: They could be lethal and weren’t always effective.
Well, there’s the answer: there isn’t really anything. Except people not being criminals. Here’s an idea: let’s use more corporal types of punishment and/or hard labor. Remember the kid who was caught vandalizing cars in Singapore? He got four months in jail and 6 lashes (reduced to 4) with a cane. Bet he never did that again. Of course, that doesn’t solve the problem with 13 year old kids running around firing a weapon at 230am with a known Latin Kings member, running from cops, then dropping the gun while running from the cops and turning around quickly, which would cause the cops to shoot him.
That must change. The status quo of Americans dying at police officers’ hands has got to go. Any number of wealthy philanthropists — or maybe the Biden administration — should offer a big financial prize to the person or team of people who can come up with a highly effective, non-lethal device that can be used to subdue suspects. The need for such a device is immense — demand for it would be huge.
Page the richest Californians: Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Ellison or Larry Page or …
Or, how about the newspaper spend its money. Or the people on the editorial board. It is much like how they want to blame all police because people are criminals, rather than the criminals for doing things that get them shot. Don’t want to be shot? Don’t commit crime. If you do, comply. Don’t like what’s going on? Ask for a supervisor. Still comply. Fight your fight in court. Don’t resist. Don’t run. Don’t reach for a weapon. Don’t charge police. Drop your weapon. Did I mention don’t commit crime?
