Imagine a World Where The Police Never Kill
By: Walter Rhein
Tags: Politics, Race, BlackLivesMatter, Racism, Police

Imagine a World Where The Police Never Kill

Our citizens shouldn’t be expected to submit to physical assaults or prolonged detainment from agents of our government

Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash

I’m always surprised by the resistance I run into when I suggest the police shouldn’t kill citizens under any circumstances. But it is a philosophical position that must be given voice.

“What do you mean?” my opponents say, “Are you saying the police should just lay down and die when they’re attacked?”

No. That’s not what I’m saying at all. The police absolutely have a right to defend themselves. It’s just that the public should demand that the police always respond with non-lethal force. This isn’t the old west. Those days are gone. We live in a civilized society now and the police have to be held to a higher standard. Why is this so hard to accept?

We’re complicit

The thing is, we allow the police to kill. We defend it. The concept proliferates our society to the point where if you say “the police shouldn’t kill anyone,” people look at you funny.

But I’m saying it now. The police shouldn’t kill anyone. Ever.

Our citizens shouldn’t be expected to submit to physical assaults or prolonged detainment from agents of our government. We should be terrified of that.

This concept is not new

The ironic thing is that it’s fundamental to the Republican platform that the government represents the biggest threat to our freedoms. They pound the table and scream about this threat with spittle flying out of their mouths every time someone talks about gun restrictions. But then they turn around and spend trillions in tax payer dollars on the most world’s most advanced military and a militarized police?

How do you expect that’s going to work out?

If you’re tolerant of the idea that the police should be able to kill people, our government has certainly equipped them with the tools to do so. It’s insane.

But what about…

Yeah, I know, now you’re going to hit me with a bunch of hypothetical scenarios.

“What about when a guy is running out of a bank firing a gun? Are the police supposed to just stand there and get shot?”

Of course not, but that’s not a commonplace occurrence. You’re conflating the movie Heat with real life.

How often to people rob banks with guns these days? When people are robbed, it more often comes in the form of two trillion dollar taxpayer funded bailouts to the rich, or cuts to social security.

A much more commonplace scenario is getting pulled over in a routine traffic stop. If you spin too quickly to get your wallet to comply with the officer’s directives, there’s the chance the officer will interpret your behavior as aggression and shoot you in the face.

Police officers do have to protect their own well-being, but we can’t have innocent people getting shot during routine traffic stops.

What would it take to achieve zero police related deaths?

The real problem with the resistance to zero police related deaths is that it stops people from asking the more important question: how do we get there?

What would it take to transform our society to the point that the police never killed anyone? Sure, we’re not there yet. That’s something we need to work towards. Why is this controversial to say?

Better education

Well, one thing we could do is use the money we spend on having the most technologically advanced military and police force in the world and spend it on education instead. That would give people a chance to improve their lives based on greater access to legitimate opportunities. Crime would plummet because it would no longer be seen as the only option for personal advancement.

This isn’t a concept I invented, it’s called “defunding the police.” See how it makes sense?

Where’s the oversight?

Section 210402 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (sponsored by Joe Biden by the way and passed in 1994) mandates that the attorney general publishes an annual report on excessive police force. Here’s the text:

“SEC. 210402. DATA ON USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE. (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL TO COLLECT. — The Attorney General shall, through appropriate means, acquire data about the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers. (b) LIMITATION ON USE OF DATA. — Data acquired under this section shall be used only for research or statistical purposes and may not contain any information that may reveal the identity of the victim or any law enforcement officer. H. R. 3355–277 © ANNUAL SUMMARY. — The Attorney General shall publish an annual summary of the data acquired under this section.” — (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act)

That makes sense doesn’t it? I mean, after all, people are currently just throwing improbable hypothetical scenarios around and basing their decisions on ignorant opinions. Doesn’t it make more sense to have actual data?

Reasonable decision making

We should evaluate the statistical probability of certain scenarios instead of just making assumptions. Right? Can we all agree on that? A report that details every instance of excessive force would be very useful. It could help guide our thinking.

Trouble is, the attorney general doesn’t compile one. Despite the 1994 mandate…they just don’t do it.

Why not?

Why isn’t there a public document which lists the details of every single use of lethal police force in the nation? You can get a general sense of the numbers from pages like this, but a detailed government report that can be used as a basis for understanding the state of civilian/police interactions is lacking.

We need it.

We’re flying blind

We’re quite literally ignorant on what is going on right in our backyard. Everything everyone says from politicians to the media is just pure speculation.

That being the case, why is everyone so darned sure that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to have a society where the police don’t kill? Nobody has the data to arrive at that conclusion.

Let’s aspire to a nonviolent society

A major part of the problem in the USA is this inclination to authoritarian concepts. Instead of helping people to be prosperous and peace-loving, we try to force “appropriate” behavior on them. Violence doesn’t work. People have known that for hundreds of years.

“Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won’t fatten the dog.” — Mark Twain

People think we need a well-equipped police force to fight crime. But that’s just authoritarian propaganda. We can eliminate crime through peaceful means. Improve education, improve access to opportunities. Treat people like adults for a change.

Progress towards a better society should begin today

It’s actually quite terrifying how tolerant the average person is to the idea that the police should sometimes have to kill citizens. Other countries don’t have to deal with that. England/Wales only had 3 police related fatal shootings in the 2018/2019 financial year.

After a police related death, it’s wrong for the media to start digging into the background of the deceased to find something to justify the action. Our first impulse needs to be to stop the killing. We can’t live in a society where the penalty for a minor traffic violation can escalate into a death sentence.

We need to change our perspective. Be willing to defend the position that the police should never be allowed to kill. Let’s demand that! Let’s make zero police related deaths our goal. Shoot for perfection and you can achieve excellence. The alternative is subjugation, oppression, and death.