Truly outstanding coverage of a complex, multi-layered problem that is bad now and will only get worse. This Tangle deserves to be read more than once. There is keen insight and spot-on analysis in almost every paragraph. With links! I can't believe you wrote it in just 24 hours.
PS: Think for a moment about Officer Kim. 28 years a cop. Past president of the union. An exemplary career and with only two years left until full retirement. She resigned yesterday.
Can you think for a second that she for some reason actually wanted to shoot a young black man? The evidence shows that she was appalled at her blunder. Forget her career, her whole life is now ruined. She might as well go into witness protection.
As a Member of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) I recently watched the 3rd of a 4-Part Webinar Series entitled "HELP Not Handcuffs" which focuses on addressing Mental Health Crises with Comprehensive Community Response.
This is, without doubt, an issue faced by police officers daily. This is well worth your time and very ENCOURAGING. If you watch (or even if you don't) please share this link with those who might be interested or in need of this information and resource. The interviews with key players in this program started in Miami Dade County, Florida was truly ENLIGHTENING and HOPEFUL.
I was so glad I took the time to watch and hear what a difference can be made in dealing appropriately with Mental Health Issues as opposed to incarcerating those needing this specialized help.
"Black men are far more likely than White men to be victims, and Hispanic men are only slightly less likely to be victims than are Black men."
This statement is misleading. More than twice as many white men are victims of police shootings than blacks. Proportionately the rate of blacks being shot is higher so any individual black man is more likely than any individual white man to be a victim but white men are victims twice as often. This does not lessen the issue you are addressing but facts are important.
Your suggestions for improving policing in the US are all on the mark. The only addition that I would suggest it finding a way to break the blue wall of silence. Cops who witness criminal actions by other cops and don't report it should be charged as accomplices or co-conspirators. Unions should protect and reward those officers who help weed out the bad apples rather then drive them out of the force. Until your other initiatives take hold, the only remedy is for good cops to get rid of the racist, corrupt or imcompetent cops. Good luck with that.
As I read, with great interest, Isaac's perspective, I found myself questioning the same statement which you site. I recalled hearing something about those numbers, and what Isaac shared was a bit confusing to me.
Your distinction of "proportionality" might be the key to what I remember hearing about this issue, making Isaac's statement missing that particular element.
As you also pointed out, numbers are mere statistics, while what really matters is each individual life affected with deadly or life-threatening results. All human life and its potential are priceless and can never be replaced. The dignity of each person in a police encounter should be of importance to all involved.
I also greatly appreciate Isaac's reminder of just how difficult such a job as policing can be, physically, mentally and spiritually.
My Mom and Dad always taught us that "you have to walk a mile in a man's shoes before you earn the right to judge him."
Another way of expressing that same sentiment and one of my favorites is, "I don't know what I don't know."
Both of these are important reminders that it is always easier to be an observer than a participant.
Without ignoring the reality that there definitely exists bad cops, a situation that needs to be addressed and no longer tolerated going forward, I want to thank those hard working officers who have devoted, and also sacrificed, their lives out of a genuine love of their fellow man and their desire to protect communities from criminally harmful behavior.
I also very much appreciate, and agree with, the need for a close look at what constitutes "criminal" behavior and how lesser offenses should be dealt with with more insight and wisdom.
Hey Dan! I appreciate the note. It's funny, though, I actually don't think it's misleading, precisely for the reason you say! Black men are far more likely than White men to be victims -- because "any individual black man is more likely than any individual white man to be a victim." I wasn't trying to obscure this fact (that more White people are killed by police every year), but I agree that maybe there could have been some more precise language. Regardless, I tried to link to every claim I made in the story, that way anyone looking for additional context could find it. I appreciate the critical eye!
From the FBI report of 2014, latest available, and quoting from memory (so go check it if you wish to), among all homicide victims, 10% of the black ones were killed by whites. The other 90% were killed by blacks. 15% of white homicides were killed by blacks. Spin that however you wish to.
Thanks for the thoughtful write-up. I don't believe comparisons of police killings between different countries is useful unless the threat facing those police (e.g. how well armed are the citizens) is provided for context.
Hey Chris! Thanks for the note. I absolutely agree that we can't glean *too* much from country-to-country comparisons, and I try not to squeeze too much out of those comparisons here. Like I say, I am just making note of it to compel people to some introspection about the very good odds that what we are experiencing is the U.S. is both abnormal and worth fixing, because it can be a lot better.
I just don't have your optimism on this one. Without a paradigm shift wherein there aren't more guns than people in this country, it can't be a lot better. Can there be some improvements at the margin? Certainly. But I think people need to understand that the unique threat American law enforcement faces, even if it is only once in a career, creates a police force that is on edge so to speak. This is one of the many costs of a heavily armed citizenry.
I really enjoyed this and agree with all of it. One of my frustrations is the politicians who claim "that won't fix the problem so we just shouldn't do it" instead of understanding that this is about incremental gains through a number of different policy changes. Of course there is no single fix for this problem.
We also need to deal with the issue of those who believe that there is no problem, or that the problem is the citizens and the police bear no blame, or that the police must become more violent in order to stop criminals. This is also misguided, and unfortunately, quite a few of these people are the ones in charge of police departments and/or police unions.
Truly outstanding coverage of a complex, multi-layered problem that is bad now and will only get worse. This Tangle deserves to be read more than once. There is keen insight and spot-on analysis in almost every paragraph. With links! I can't believe you wrote it in just 24 hours.
PS: Think for a moment about Officer Kim. 28 years a cop. Past president of the union. An exemplary career and with only two years left until full retirement. She resigned yesterday.
Can you think for a second that she for some reason actually wanted to shoot a young black man? The evidence shows that she was appalled at her blunder. Forget her career, her whole life is now ruined. She might as well go into witness protection.
As a Member of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) I recently watched the 3rd of a 4-Part Webinar Series entitled "HELP Not Handcuffs" which focuses on addressing Mental Health Crises with Comprehensive Community Response.
This is, without doubt, an issue faced by police officers daily. This is well worth your time and very ENCOURAGING. If you watch (or even if you don't) please share this link with those who might be interested or in need of this information and resource. The interviews with key players in this program started in Miami Dade County, Florida was truly ENLIGHTENING and HOPEFUL.
I was so glad I took the time to watch and hear what a difference can be made in dealing appropriately with Mental Health Issues as opposed to incarcerating those needing this specialized help.
https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-s-Ask-the-Expert/2021/NAMI-Ask-the-Expert-Help-Not-Handcuffs
"Black men are far more likely than White men to be victims, and Hispanic men are only slightly less likely to be victims than are Black men."
This statement is misleading. More than twice as many white men are victims of police shootings than blacks. Proportionately the rate of blacks being shot is higher so any individual black man is more likely than any individual white man to be a victim but white men are victims twice as often. This does not lessen the issue you are addressing but facts are important.
Your suggestions for improving policing in the US are all on the mark. The only addition that I would suggest it finding a way to break the blue wall of silence. Cops who witness criminal actions by other cops and don't report it should be charged as accomplices or co-conspirators. Unions should protect and reward those officers who help weed out the bad apples rather then drive them out of the force. Until your other initiatives take hold, the only remedy is for good cops to get rid of the racist, corrupt or imcompetent cops. Good luck with that.
Thank you, Dan, for sharing this info.
As I read, with great interest, Isaac's perspective, I found myself questioning the same statement which you site. I recalled hearing something about those numbers, and what Isaac shared was a bit confusing to me.
Your distinction of "proportionality" might be the key to what I remember hearing about this issue, making Isaac's statement missing that particular element.
As you also pointed out, numbers are mere statistics, while what really matters is each individual life affected with deadly or life-threatening results. All human life and its potential are priceless and can never be replaced. The dignity of each person in a police encounter should be of importance to all involved.
I also greatly appreciate Isaac's reminder of just how difficult such a job as policing can be, physically, mentally and spiritually.
My Mom and Dad always taught us that "you have to walk a mile in a man's shoes before you earn the right to judge him."
Another way of expressing that same sentiment and one of my favorites is, "I don't know what I don't know."
Both of these are important reminders that it is always easier to be an observer than a participant.
Without ignoring the reality that there definitely exists bad cops, a situation that needs to be addressed and no longer tolerated going forward, I want to thank those hard working officers who have devoted, and also sacrificed, their lives out of a genuine love of their fellow man and their desire to protect communities from criminally harmful behavior.
I also very much appreciate, and agree with, the need for a close look at what constitutes "criminal" behavior and how lesser offenses should be dealt with with more insight and wisdom.
Hey Dan! I appreciate the note. It's funny, though, I actually don't think it's misleading, precisely for the reason you say! Black men are far more likely than White men to be victims -- because "any individual black man is more likely than any individual white man to be a victim." I wasn't trying to obscure this fact (that more White people are killed by police every year), but I agree that maybe there could have been some more precise language. Regardless, I tried to link to every claim I made in the story, that way anyone looking for additional context could find it. I appreciate the critical eye!
From the FBI report of 2014, latest available, and quoting from memory (so go check it if you wish to), among all homicide victims, 10% of the black ones were killed by whites. The other 90% were killed by blacks. 15% of white homicides were killed by blacks. Spin that however you wish to.
Thanks for the thoughtful write-up. I don't believe comparisons of police killings between different countries is useful unless the threat facing those police (e.g. how well armed are the citizens) is provided for context.
Hey Chris! Thanks for the note. I absolutely agree that we can't glean *too* much from country-to-country comparisons, and I try not to squeeze too much out of those comparisons here. Like I say, I am just making note of it to compel people to some introspection about the very good odds that what we are experiencing is the U.S. is both abnormal and worth fixing, because it can be a lot better.
I just don't have your optimism on this one. Without a paradigm shift wherein there aren't more guns than people in this country, it can't be a lot better. Can there be some improvements at the margin? Certainly. But I think people need to understand that the unique threat American law enforcement faces, even if it is only once in a career, creates a police force that is on edge so to speak. This is one of the many costs of a heavily armed citizenry.
I also found myself thinking that the comparisons between countries (which also includes cultural differences) wasn't a like-to-like comparison.
I really enjoyed this and agree with all of it. One of my frustrations is the politicians who claim "that won't fix the problem so we just shouldn't do it" instead of understanding that this is about incremental gains through a number of different policy changes. Of course there is no single fix for this problem.
We also need to deal with the issue of those who believe that there is no problem, or that the problem is the citizens and the police bear no blame, or that the police must become more violent in order to stop criminals. This is also misguided, and unfortunately, quite a few of these people are the ones in charge of police departments and/or police unions.
Great piece. Well thought out. I just became a paying subscriber. Thank you for sharing. I hope that one day you do get approval for a ride-along :)