Holding Police Officers to Higher Standards
Two stories that finally show some pushback on lax policing:
Philly Cops Face Criminal Charges For Performing An Illegal Pedestrian Stop
and
Jason Van Dyke guilty of 2nd degree murder and aggravated battery in shooting death of black teen Laquan McDonald (also at the AP)
On one hand I do not like second guessing the cops doing their job. But on the other hand, I believe anyone who is put into a position of authority should be held to the highest standards. And to hold people to high standards, you must be willing and able to enforce discipline when they do not meet those standards.
We send our troops into far more dangerous situations and often with less training than the training offered police recruits, yet the military is much more strict on any use of force - meaning that when our troops fire their weapons, they do it like they mean it and only when they mean it. (Shouldn’t Police at Home Exhibit at Least as Much Discipline as Soldiers at War?)
Police need more training and must be more than thugs-in-uniforms-with-guns. They should be paid more and respected more. But most importantly, we must demand more of the people we entrust to wield violence in our name.
UPDATE
I should have included this story in this post:
YouTube video trigger internal investigation after Gary officers tell man he couldn't film them
One of the best ways we can hold police to higher standards is by filming them and reminding them they can and will be filmed doing their jobs and that it is entirely legal and constitutional.