BlackPerspective.net
Discussing the Diaspora as seen through an internal Black lens
Do Police Have A License To Kill
November 21st, 2007
Police shooting-down black folk and claiming they thought they saw a weapon, only to find no weapon; has practically become common place in the country as a whole and especially in New York city.
Last week’s shooting of Khiel Coppin for holding a hair brush brings it back to the fore of our consciousness.
Most times the police are barely punished internally; much less prosecuted. It appears to me that the message has been sent, you have the right to assume someone may be dangerous and if that is your arbitrary determination, you have the right to summarily execute them. No actual evidence of imminent danger or cause is needed.
And it seems that this policy is only applied to Blacks. Think about it, how many times have you heard of an unarmed white person being killed by the police?
This MSNBC article starts saying”
“NEW YORK - A candy bar, a wallet, even a pair of baggy pants can draw deadly police gunfire.
The killing of a hairbrush-brandishing teenager last week was the latest instance of police shootings in which officers reacted to what they erroneously feared was a weapon. It has revived debate over the use of force, perceptions of threats and police training.
“We have cases like that all over the country where it can be a wallet, a cell phone, a can of Coca-Cola and officers have fired the weapon,” said Scott Greenwood, a Cincinnati attorney who has worked on police use-of-force cases across the country and who is a general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.”
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21871122/
According to this Black Press USA article
“Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron charged, “Calling the cops for help is like dialing M for murder…How dare they say this was suicide by cops, like this young man wanted them to kill him. This was not suicide by cops – this was murder by cop. This was similar to what happened to Louis Baez in 1979. His wife called the police for help because she was having problems and they came and shot him 24 times. Rev. Daughtry and I told them then that in these domestic situations they need to send a psychologist, a social worker and someone to diffuse the conflict with the police so that they can talk the people down. You don’t just go send in John Wayne and turn a situation into the O.K. Coral.”…
“Nobody is buying that ‘we thought he had a gun crap,’ that the cops say every time they kill an unarmed Black man. They should just be honest and say ‘we shot because we could – now what?” said Divine Allah, youth minister of the New Black Panther Party… And is suicide by cop just a convenient cover-all they’re going to use every time they kill a Black person?”
Watch a video report: d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20071113/vidlthumb.9e42a98fecf015fe8760136654b47ff6.jpg
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posted in Social Commentary, News & Events, Racial Injustice | | | View blog reactions | Print This Post
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5 Responses to “Do Police Have A License To Kill”
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Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.
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seems like parts are missing.. I have read and heard the 911 transcript where his mother is saying that he has a gun (and you can hear him saying it in the background as well) and is threatening her. and he also barricaded himself and when he came out told the cops he had a gun. i’m not justifying cops killing innocent blacks and lying about it, but in this case I believe they really were lead to believe that he had a weapon…
Well I heard it straight from a cops mouth, they have the right to draw their weapons, anytime they feel threatened. This is why it’s so hard to prosecute cops, as long as they can prove they felt threaten or endangered their actions are justified. Now if the cop has a record of doing this then internal affairs will investigate the matter and apply precautions as seen fit.
Honestly, I am not for police brutality, but it’s certainly hard to figure if a person has a gun or not in crisis. If the suspect cooperates and does what the cop says by keeping his hands in plain view, then 9 times out of 10 the situation will end peacefully. Simply resisting arrest is cause for a weapon to be drawn and excessive force to be used. If you are ever in a situation do as the cop says rather it’s just or not, keep your mouth shut, and the only think you need to say is lawyer…lawyer…lawyer.
Until these laws are changed internally, cops will beat and kill and get away with it, for the, most part.
You have to ask yourself what can happen if the cop presumes that the culprit is not armed. Either way someone can end up dead. Hopefully it’s the lesser of two evils: cop vs citizen.
Police have the right to pull and use their firearms if they perceive they are in imminent danger. However, just as you have stated, it appears that police officers only feel in imminent danger when they are dealing with Black folk. I have seen many situations where police have approached Whites with weapons and have talked these people down. What I think that we are not realizing is that police officers on the whole around this country do not come into our communities to protect and serve. They come in our communities to dispel problems by any means necessary. We need to take these shootings seriously. Too many Blacks are being killed by law enforcement and we seem to want to justify these killings. Police officers do have a certain amount of training to deal with people, especially when they are confronting angry people. What we need to realize is that if these shootings were being committed across all races, that would be one thing, however everytime we look at another news article about these particular types of shootings, it is most likely a Black person whom is killed. Police are not trained adequately to handle disputes in the Black neighborhoods. They have never had to be trained to deal with our people. If we studied the statistics, we would find that police officers are more likely to be killed by Whites than Blacks. If they came into the communities not pre-ladened with the idea of force, some of these shootings could be prevented. Until we, as a community say it loud and clear that these killings must stop and that we want officers to be held responsible when they commit such acts, these shootings will continue. Our history itself with law enforcement has never been to settle problems without force. While all of us can sit back and say what this kid did, how many of us would feel the same way if it was our father, son, or brother? We also need police officers to be trained more thoroughly in matters of the Black community. They certainly have been trained on how to profile Blacks. And, as long as they are not held responsible when they take a Black life, they will feel no need to try to diffuse a difficult situation without force.
Sincere, at first I started to think the same thing, as far as the police might have rightfully shot, but the more I follow it, the less right it seems.
Plus I don’t trust the police or their word. Again, why are they always shooting unarmed Black people. They’re too quick with the trigger, and too short on human empathy anytime it’s one of us. And they never admit to being wrong. If you go by what they say, the’ve never unjustly killed anybody.
Mrs. Grapevine, I understand what the police policy is, my contention is that it is wrong. Police should not be able to execute people on mere unsubstantiated feelings.
By that token racism becomes justifiable homicide because a racist cop can feel threatened simply on the basis of the suspect being black.
“You have to ask yourself what can happen if the cop presumes that the culprit is not armed. Either way someone can end up dead. Hopefully it’s the lesser of two evils: cop vs citizen.”
The thing is, they clearly give that benefit of the doubt to white people regularly.