Saturday, April 11, 2015

111 Killings by Police in a Month, Compared to 52 Since 1900 in U.K.?

   Perhaps the most revealing news of the past two weeks was posted in the Daily Kos, in a story saying police took 111 civilian lives in March, compared to 52 in the United Kingdom since . . . 1900.
   Shocking. We find ourselves saying we need nothing more to tell us we are doing something wrong on this side of the pond. If this doesn't persuade us police killings are out of hand, we are simply choosing to look the other way.
   I don't know, for sure, that the Daily Kos story is accurate. I wish I could find a mainstream news article discussing it. CNN, Fox News, Washington Post, where are you? But, I do find an article in Business Insider showing police killings in England and Wales, in Germany, and in Australia are but a hairline compared to those in the U.S.
   So, why are we so astronomically high, compared to those countries? Do we just have more vencounters where people provoke the police?  Do we have more guns, and thus more encounters? If no gun is present, nobody is going to use one. We already know the U.S. has, by far, the highest rate of gun ownership among all first world countries.
    I learn that in the United Kingdom (except in Northern Ireland, where they do), police normally do not even carry guns. I think of the old adage that, If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. So, how does that work out in England? The guns are, to some degree, outlawed from officers, who face criminals daily, yet the officers seem to be surviving. Or, is it, in part, due to the fact fewer people in the U.K. have guns, period, so police just don't need to pack? There is no gun in the criminal's hand, so there doesn't need to be one in theirs? I wonder.
   As I study, I am advised by a Facebook friend that Iceland police last year killed a civilian for the first time in years. The entire country mourned the killing, she notes. Now, Iceland is not a country that doesn't have guns. Some say it has the 15th highest per capita ownership in the world. So, there seems there could be more to this than just who has guns and who doesn't.
   I'm of the thought that one factor might be what is taught about guns. Society's attitudes make a difference. I think of the Iceland case, where the country mourned the death. From what I read of the story, the person killed was a criminal who was firing on police. Yet, the people mourned? I find myself wondering if they value lives, even those of criminals, more than we do in the U.S.
    In the U.S., we seem more inclined to say, "He had it coming. He got what he deserved." Mybe tht attitude is a factor. Maybe. It surely seems logical to say people will be more inclined to use their guns if they think it is justified. Can we wonder if our policemen more commonly feel justified because of the perception that the criminal has it coming?

(Note: Story added to April 12, 2015.)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/01/1374908/-American-police-killed-more-people-in-March-111-than-in-the-entire-United-Kingdom-since-1900?detail=facebook_sf#

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-do-us-police-kill-so-many-people-2014-8

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