General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bodycam footage released in police shooting of Isaiah Brown [View all]ShazzieB
(15,952 posts)This: It's interesting that the victims in these situations - who are untrained and frightened - are always second-guessed, but the trained cops with the experience, guns and badges are given a pass, regardless what they do, because "they were in fear."
Wow. Holy crap. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I never actually thought about it from this exact angle, that OF COURSE the cops should be held to a higher standard, since they're the ones with the training.
I mean, I think I'm pretty good at not always looking for a justification for the cops. I definitely don't ever assume these things are justified; if anything, I tend to go in the opposite direction. I figured out a while back that there are a hell of a lot of cops who seem to operate on the assumption that all poc are automatically super dangerous and threatening, regardless of the individual's age or other personal characteristics or circumstances. I see that as being the basis for the vast majority of these shootings, and I know how mesed up that is. But I never thought about the training angle and that being a reason why we have the right to hold the cops to a higher standard. Bingo. I'm so glad you pointed that out.
The more I think about it, the more I think the training that cops are getting must be lacking in a lot of areas. There doesn't seem to be enough emphasis placed on learning how to de-escalate tense situations or developing good communication skills or actually LISTENING to what people are trying to tell you. A lot of cops don't seem to be able to even be able to recognize when they are dealing with someone who is so terrified they literally can't think straight. They definitely don't seem to be aware that poc are more than likely to be very afraid of them (for very sound and real reasons), let alone realize that certain behaviors (like shouting confusing orders in an angry and threatening way) is a lousy way to deal with someone in that frame of mind.
That is just some of the stuff they should getting a lot more training on, based on the behavior a lot of them demonstrate. And don't get me started on how badly they need to be trained on how to recognize their own unconscious biases (which we ALL have) and be aware of how those things can influence their behavior without their even realizing it.