So far this year, sixty-nine officers have died in the line on duty. Thirty-two of them were shot and nine killed by vehicular assault. Statistics can illuminate, and they also can conceal. We should not lose sight of the fact that each person killed, regardless of race, regardless of if they are a policeman or a civilian, should be seen as an individual, not as a representative of an ethnic group. Another thing that we should do is distinguish between a law enforcement officer acting in the line of duty and a vengeance killing by someone who takes the law into his own hands. One of the officers killed in Baton Rouge was black, indicating that the color of the officer’s skin mattered less than the color of his uniform. The activist narrative of innocent, unarmed person murdered by racist cop sometimes is true; but that narrative often is incomplete or wrong. Sometimes it is hard to be patient, but everyone would be better off if the politicians and activists would wait until the facts are in and would understand that the legal system, not violent protest, is the best way to bring justice.
By John Shaffer With sickening frequency, American police officers are being targeted, shot and murdered. In the latest episode, in Baton Rouge, the killer lured the officers into ambush and opened fire. A few days earlier, in Dallas, officers were ambushed as they were providing security at a rally to support black victims who had been shot by white police officers in other cities. The Dallas shooter said he wanted to kill white cops. The Baton Rouge killer wanted revenge for an incident in that city where a black man was killed by white policemen. The policemen were targeted, not as individuals, but because they wore the uniform. So far this year, 509 US citizens have been killed by police. 238 were white, 123 were black; 79 were hispanic, and 69 were of other races or race is unknown. According to a study by The Washington Post, “the great majority of people who died at the hands of the police fit at least one of three categories: they were wielding weapons, they were suicidal or mentally troubled, or they ran when officers told them to halt.” In 2015, 965 people were shot by police. 564 of those killed were in possession of a gun; 281 were in possession of another weapon; and 90 were unarmed. The Post found that white police officers killing unarmed black men represent less than 4 percent of fatal police shootings. So far this year, sixty-nine officers have died in the line on duty. Thirty-two of them were shot and nine killed by vehicular assault. Statistics can illuminate, and they also can conceal. We should not lose sight of the fact that each person killed, regardless of race, regardless of if they are a policeman or a civilian, should be seen as an individual, not as a representative of an ethnic group. Another thing that we should do is distinguish between a law enforcement officer acting in the line of duty and a vengeance killing by someone who takes the law into his own hands. One of the officers killed in Baton Rouge was black, indicating that the color of the officer’s skin mattered less than the color of his uniform. The activist narrative of innocent, unarmed person murdered by racist cop sometimes is true; but that narrative often is incomplete or wrong. Sometimes it is hard to be patient, but everyone would be better off if the politicians and activists would wait until the facts are in and would understand that the legal system, not violent protest, is the best way to bring justice.
So far this year, sixty-nine officers have died in the line on duty. Thirty-two of them were shot and nine killed by vehicular assault. Statistics can illuminate, and they also can conceal. We should not lose sight of the fact that each person killed, regardless of race, regardless of if they are a policeman or a civilian, should be seen as an individual, not as a representative of an ethnic group. Another thing that we should do is distinguish between a law enforcement officer acting in the line of duty and a vengeance killing by someone who takes the law into his own hands. One of the officers killed in Baton Rouge was black, indicating that the color of the officer’s skin mattered less than the color of his uniform. The activist narrative of innocent, unarmed person murdered by racist cop sometimes is true; but that narrative often is incomplete or wrong. Sometimes it is hard to be patient, but everyone would be better off if the politicians and activists would wait until the facts are in and would understand that the legal system, not violent protest, is the best way to bring justice. Comments are closed.
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