Police in the United
States killed over 1,000 people in 2016. More than any industrialized country in
the world. The need for police reform has never been more needed than today.
Hit the Brakes! An allegory
A 16-year-old tugs
at his dad’s sleeve and begs to be taught to drive the car. Dad believes it is
time, so promptly shows his son how to start the car, put it in gear, hit the
brakes, etc. He even takes his son to a nearby parking lot and lets the
youngster drive around the empty lot. After they get back home, dad jumps
out of the car and turns to his son.
“Okay, boy, you
are ready to drive. Go take it for a spin.”
As you might
expect, the son promptly goes out and gets into a horrific traffic accident.
For although dad taught him how to physically drive the car, he didn’t teach
such concepts as who has the right-of-way, how to merge into traffic, what the
various traffic signs represent and more.
The boy knew how
to drive a car, but he didn’t know how to drive with other people around him.
From teenage driver to armed police
This is the same
scenario that plays out with police in the United States as it relates to guns.
They are taught to use a gun, allowed some basic target practice and given a
few rules to obey, then get handed a weapon and sent out into the world. They
have no experience in having a gun while other people are wandering around
them. They have no knowledge about when and when not to utilize said gun.
In fact, if
anything, they are encouraged to turn to using the gun any time they encounter
trouble.
• This is why we see
cops shoot a man who has been pulled over for missing a front license plate .
•When an unarmed teenager flashes his car lights at an officer
• Or if someone who
the policeman has asked to see his license reaches into his truck to get it.
Watch your temper
When you watch a
football game, look at the referee on the sideline. He's being constantly
yelled at by fans or coaches, some standing right beside him. Typically, he
does not respond at all as he's trained not to react. That's what we need with
today's police.
A large number of
police in this country do not have the temperament to wield a gun. They are
often ex-high school football jocks who got all sorts of respect while in
school, but now are shocked and angry when they don't automatically get that
same respect today while on the force.
This is why today
we see a large number of unarmed people shot and killed by police:
• Father is
dragging son away from cop who then shoots the unarmed young man.
• Policeman shoots unarmed robbery suspect in who is lying on the ground wounded from another
officer's shots.
• Policeman kills an unarmed teenager who is jumping on cars.
• Police kill
unarmed man who has his hands raised up.
• Police officers shoot naked man wielding a stick.
The European Example
In contrast, in
Europe the police typically disarm people without shooting or killing them:
• Two police in
the UK disarm a man threatening them with a knife.
• Four Swedish
policemen vacationing in New York City break up a violent fight without harming
anyone.
• German police
use broom to disarm man wielding a sword.
In fact, the
police in other western countries seldom fire their weapons at all and killing
of civilians is almost unheard of in Europe. For example, in 24 years police in
Wales and England killed 55 civilians, while in 24 DAYS in 2015 U.S. police killed 59 civilians.
The difference: Training
The reason for
this disparity of outcomes is training and mentality.
To become a police
officer in any of the other western industrial nations (Europe, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand) it requires from two to three years to get certified to
join the force. For example, in the UK it takes a minimum of two years of training to become a police officer. In
Northern Ireland, the training requires those two years plus candidates must
complete a 25 hour online course before that training even begins.
In Norway, police must earn a degree from a three-year college before becoming
officers.
Likewise, In
Germany the training and education last three years, and it includes training
in using a weapon—stressing NOT TO SHOOT. A
quote from this article explains this concept: “In every head of every
policeman, there is the aim not to shoot,” says Col. Uwe Thieme, the four-star
senior police director at the state’s office for education, training, and human
resources.
Meanwhile in the
U.S. the average amount of training is 15 weeks. Each city can be different,
for example, Sacremento requires 23 weeks, while in North Carolina it’s 15
weeks. It actually requires more training to become a barber or hair dresser than to become a policeman in the U.S. The training for cosmetologists ranges from 25 to 40 weeks.
Another difference: Attitude
Besides training,
the other major factor for why police in the U.S. use their weapons more than
other industrialized police forces, is due to mentality and attitude. By this I
mean here in the U.S. police are trained to think that the best alternative in
a dangerous situation is to use deadly force.
As mentioned
above, police are given training in how to use a weapon and practice using it.
Some get up to 60 hours of training like this. Often this training includes a
computer simulation, a form of a gauntlet scenario. They must wander down a
street filled with miscreants and a few innocent bystanders. The police must
wisely shoot the bad guys but not the innocent civilians.
Yes, this training
can help a person to learn to respond quickly to a situation. And admittedly,
police are often in situations where they must make split-second decisions.
However, this type of training also begins to plant a seed in the officers head
that whenever he walks down the street, he’s in a battle zone. That just around
the corner is some evil guy waiting to shoot him.
As noted above,
this is different overseas. Sure, they are taught how and when to use a weapon,
but more importantly, their training stresses how to avoid that situation ever
happening. They realize that once you get in your
head that you must react a certain way in stressful situations (pull your gun,
shoot the evil guy) you are likely to fall back on that instead of trying some
alternative.
How to correct the problem
The United States
must change how police officers are trained. As noted above, too often police
departments rely on the easiest and cheapest way to train officers: they
require less time for training. The best
way to have a more efficient and less violent police force is to implement
this:
• Each state must
have a standard for training of police officers to be licensed within the
state. It cannot be left up to individual cities/counties. In other words, the
training for a police officer in Austin would be the same as one in Dallas.
• Training would
be for a minimum of two years at a state sanctioned academy. At least 1/4th
of the training should be actual fieldwork. A large portion of this should
include training to interact with the community—without the use of a weapon.
• Increase
training in self-defense without use of a weapon.
• Increase
training in how to diffuse a dangerous situation.
Step 2: Mandatory test to use a weapon
In the movie
“Blade Runner” people were given the “Voight-Kampff test” to see if they were human or android. In
one scene, a person taking the test gets so angry at the question, he kills
the man giving the test. Yes, he was an android. (for fun, take the test here to see if you are a replicant).
Although we don’t
need to test people to see if they are human or not, we do need to test a
person who wants to become a police officer to determine suitability for
carrying a weapon. So besides improving training of police officers we need to
ensure that the person we allow to join a police department isn’t a hothead who
will use a weapon on someone else because his wife yelled at him before he left home
that day.
The test would be
some form of psychological evaluation to determine attitude as well as
likelihood that a person might be unsuitable to carry a weapon.
Failing this test
should not necessarily keep a person from joining the police force. It should
only prevent the person from carrying a weapon. If the person passed the above
academy but failed this test he/she could still be employed.
With this in mind,
half of today's police force should be disarmed. Not just because they are not
mentally stable enough to use it wisely, but also because the majority of
encounters with civilians does not require a weapon. If the person wanted to
carry a weapon, the person could be eligible for a retest after six months if
he/she performed without incident in the field. Also, although current police
officers should be "grandfathered in" so they don't need to go
through the new training standards--they should be required to pass the
psychological assessment in order to continue to carry a gun. If they don't
pass they are not dismissed, just reassigned to a non-weapon division.
Conclusion
What all of this boils down to is that police departments need to change the structure of how they carry out some of their duties. In Police Reform—Part 1 I talked about removing traffic duties from the police department and giving them to an unarmed city department. Part 3 of police reform will include suggestions on how a police department should be structured. For example, half of the department should be unarmed; there should be a rapid-deployment division that includes armed officers (not a SWAT team), etc. Current police forces have detectives, swat teams, police in uniform and other groups/divisions. Maybe there should be a different way to organize police forces.
Ahh, James Thurber
