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It's interesting seeing the difference between American police and Australian police and how they deal with violent situations. A couple of weeks ago, we had a
by toomanybeersies 8y ago
It's interesting seeing the difference between American police and Australian police and how they deal with violent situations.
A couple of weeks ago, we had a terror incident in Melbourne, where a man set his car on fire and started trying to stab people (killing one). The police arrived on scene within seconds, and attempted to stop the attacker using non lethal methods, it was only when it was clear that he wasn't going to be stopped that one of the officers drew their firearm and shot the attacker (apparently only once too, unlike in the USA where they empty their magazine). You can view footage of the incident here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnk4su6HSHk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnk4su6HSHk
The officer only used lethal force when it was clear that there was no other option. I don't want to speculate, but I feel like if this was the USA, both officers would've immediately unloaded their magazines into the attacker, possibly hitting bystanders (it's happened plenty of times before).
Compare that to the USA, where an unarmed Australian woman who rang the police to report a possible assault was shot by the police from inside their car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Justine_Damond https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Justine_Damond
- loveyourmother 8y ago"shot the attacker (apparently only once too, unlike in the USA where they empty their magazine)." I am not sure if you have ever dealt with someone who is a lethal threat to you but it isn't like the movies. A wounded person can still shoot and kill you or stab you. You can put multiple bullets into a target and they can still kill you. Do police over react sometimes? Of course. If you have reached the point of actually firing a weapon at an individual you don't pause in between each individual shot to wait and see if you have done enough. Each shooting is different. If you think cops are leaving their houses with the intent or hopes of shooting and killing someone then you must not know any cops. They just want to make it home at the end of their shift.
- mixmastamyk 8y agoSurrounding a suspect who brought a knife to a gun fight does not put one in substantial lethal danger. And there is a pattern that other countries don’t feel obliged to repeat.
- scarface74 8y agoUnfortunately, the US is more gun happy than most countries. There is a statistically irrational fear of getting shot and most people who are killed are killed by someone they know, not a random stranger. That means cops have to be more vigilant about guns.
- loveyourmother 8y agoThey also leave out the number of incidents and the breakdown of those. I am sure there are 10s of thousands of times the police do not overreact compared to times they do.
- scarface74 8y agoI wish I could take credit for this, but as Chris Rock said.... I know it's hard being a cop … But some jobs can't have bad apples. Some jobs, everybody gotta be good. Like, pilots. American Airlines can't be like, 'You know, most of our pilots like to land, we just got a few bad apples that like to crash into mountains.'
- loveyourmother 8y agoThere were ~940 people killed by police last year in the US. ~46 Police were killed (by an attacker) in the line of duty. I wonder how these numbers compare to those countries you mention. If you are constantly facing a more violent threat then it only makes sense you would be responding more violently. I don't know the break down of how many of these incidents involved arbitrary emptying of clips but I would guess the number is very small.
- loveyourmother 8y agoA person with a knife and intent is just a lethal as someone with a gun. It only takes a second or two for someone to cover 20ft and give you a deadly wound.
- mixmastamyk 8y ago
- scarface74 8y agoI don’t disagree with you, but there have been way too many incidents where cops overreacted and shot an unarmed minority. They signed up to put themselves in danger, I didn’t sign up to be shot because the cop got nervous because of the complexion of my skin or because I “fit the description”.
- loveyourmother 8y agoHow many of those incidents could have been resolved by the offender just complying or not fleeing? Here is a link to show the breakdown of all police shootings. You can filter by race, if they had a weapon, mental illness, fleeing. In all of 2017 22 individuals were killed that were reported to be unarmed and not fleeing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2017/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shoo...
- scarface74 8y agoBaked into the statistics is an assumption that cops never lie.... https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xvzwp/baltimore-cops-carried-toy-guns-to-plant-on-people-they-shot-trial-reveals-vgtrn https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xvzwp/baltimore-cops-car... https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/courtroom-files/st-louis-cop-charged-with-murder-video-shows-him-planting-a-gun-Joqf_t7wPUysqq_qwpqHGw/ https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/courtroom-files/st-louis-cop-...
- Audible_logic 8y agoBecause we know police statistic to be above question. Also, how does someone fleeing place the cops life in danger and require lethal force? I find this "comply in order to live..." logic dangerous.
- anonnyj 8y agoIt's more like "Given the unlikely to change current state of things, you happen to be more likely to live if you comply, and as such, complying is a very good idea". I won't mind-read and suggest where you went wrong.
- kisstheblade 8y agoIn Finland when we had a terrorist knifing people and killing some, the police just shot him in the groin and the man is still alive. Some justice I suppose :) Look at how calmly they handle the aftermath when bystanders want their piece of the attacker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ktuyfsHCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ktuyfsHCA No guns drawn!