The Shrine

A 19 year old unarmed black teenager named Tony Robinson was shot and killed by a white police officer only a couple of miles from my home. It seems that the young man was experiencing some sort of temporary psychosis and was running in the street attacking people. His friends (and others) called the police. When the first officer showed up, Tony, had gone back into his apartment. The officer said he heard signs of a struggle in the apartment and forced entry. Tony attacked him in the narrow hallway and the officer shot him. Tony died later in the hospital after the officer tried to resuscitate him.

This ties in with the string of recent shootings of unarmed young black men nationally. This also echoes a recent 2012 shooting of a young unarmed drunk white male, Paul Heenan, just a few blocks away who the officer said lunged at him. That event and others prompted changes to Wisconsin law to have independent reviews of deaths that occur in police custody.

I believe this shooting should prompt different changes. Police procedure should be changed so that lethal force is only used as a last resort. While I believe officers have the right to shoot, they should only do so if their lives are in direct danger, i.e.: someone has a gun or other lethal weapon pointed at them. For all other situations, non-lethal defenses should be tried first: pepper spray, billy clubs, tasers, etc. Officers should attempt to fall back first. People aren't always in 100% control of their facilities (whether drunk, or temporarily detached from reality) and it shouldn't be a death sentence if they get overly aggressive with a police officer during this time. Also, I believe that this will reduce the # of deaths of black males--a group disproportionally represented among those killed by police.

I'm conflicted on police shootings, I had a classmate from HS that became a police officer and responded to a call about a mentally unwell individual who then overpowered him took his gun and shot him to death. Things can go from 0 to 100 real quick. There are certainly times when lethal force isn't neccesary, I wish law enforcement in this country was trusted more to make the right call.

This isn't an especially complicated topic, for me.

#1) The police should not police the police. It varies from place to place, but the majority of the time, its an internal department that reviews incidents. The rest of the time, it is an "independent" commission that either is not independent or is very understaffed. This would force the police to be accountable and by being accountable, use proper and justifiable methods.

#2) Mental illness remains ignored in the western world. It's a pervasive issue...hell, we see it on this board and I am willing to bet more here have struggled at one point, albeit in a less obvious manner. Police should have specialists trained to deal specifically with the mentally ill. Police should be trained for non-lethal containment of mentally unstable people (and more importantly, facilities [hospitals] should exist...they are almost extinct now).

#1 is all the solution needed to deal with the issue. #2 is a more broad, but sorely needed, supplementary fix. Both require money that probably won't come anytime soon.

We have a culture that sponsors brutality, top to bottom.

Our police reflect our country and our culture. Police are improperly trained, underpaid as rookies, overpaid and lavishly pensioned in retirement to the point of starving active department personnel, inexperienced in dealing with mental illness or simply domestic trouble, are facing mortal threats to their lives every day due to the drug war and other factors, and are rarely psychologically equipped to handle it in the first place.

And who loves the police? If you are a soldier everyone likes you, but if you are an officer you are feared and hated by most of the people you protect.

It is a tough job that few people are qualified for and there are no easy answers.

Sorry to hear that's gone down so close to where you live. I heard about this story a few days ago, and found it extremely disturbing. The guy was very clearly unarmed.

Police officers are paid to serve and protect. It's a dangerous line of work. It is not a position to take if the officers aren't willing to put their lives on the line to serve and protect in a just manner. In this case, the officer opted to shoot the guy rather than to do the right thing in using all other means at his disposal to neutralize the situation using force only appropriate to the situation; and in a way that is a service to the community, not by shooting one of its citizens to death.