Based on the facts, the United States has the most violent incompetent law enforcement of any developed democracy. In the past five years alone the police have murdered at least 5,710 men, women, and children. American police kill more people in a single year than all the European countries combined. I want to be clear here. There are police who are genuine heroes, who do everything you could reasonably ask of a policeman or sheriff. But there is another cohort who are little more than thugs and bullies. Interacting with the police in the United States, particularly if you are a person of color, can be very dangerous.
It is my view that this very serious problem arises because the police in the United States are the least educated, most ineptly selected, and poorest trained of the world's developed democracies. Again, let's just stick with facts. In Norway a man or woman seeking to be a member of the police trains for three years. Between 2002-2016 the police killed 4 people in total. In Finland, you train for three years, and a total of 7 people were killed by police between 2000-2018. In Germany, a person trains for two years and from 1990 to the present 267 people were killed by police. In stark contrast in the United States, all you need is a high school degree, and you only train for 21 weeks. Do you notice some recurring correlations?
US law enforcement killed at least 1,176 people in 2022, making it the deadliest year on record for police violence since experts first started tracking the killings, a new data analysis reveals.
Police across the country killed an average of more than three people a day, or nearly 100 people every month last year according to Mapping Police Violence. The non-profit research group maintains a database of reported deaths at the hands of law enforcement, including people fatally shot, beaten, restrained and Tasered.
The preliminary 2022 total – a possible undercount as more cases are catalogued – marks 31 additional fatalities than the year before. In 2021, police killed 1,145 people; 1,152 in 2020; 1,097 in 2019; 1,140 in 2018; and 1,089 in 2017. The earliest data goes back to 2013, when advocates began counting these fatal incidents. A database run by the Washington Post, which tracks fatal shootings by police, also shows 2022 as a year with record killings.
The data release comes two years after the murder of George Floyd sparked national uprisings calling for racial justice, police accountability […]
It is incomprehensible that we alow such a terrible record not change our methods of hiring and especially training our police and sherriffs to become enforcers pf the law which was meant to PROTECT ciovilians, not kill them.
That said, I totally agree with you, Stephan; we must do better at making the training our officers to PROTECT us. I would say at least three years or even better 4 years at a University to train them for their own good and more importantly for ourselve.
It is incomprehensible that we alow such a terrible record not change our methods of hiring and especially training our police and sherriffs to become enforcers pf the law which was meant to PROTECT ciovilians, not kill them.
That said, I totally agree with you, Stephan; we must do better at making the training our officers to PROTECT us. I would say at least three years or even better 4 years at a University to train them for their own good and more importantly for ourselve.