Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

The killing of black men and women by police in the U.S. has been making news all over the world.  Racism is obviously a big concern.  But I read that U.S. cops kill citizens of all colors at a higher rate than the cops in other countries.  So yes, we need to figure out a way that blacks and other minorities are treated the same as whites by the police.  But if we don't decrease the overall killings by the police, then an equal death by cop rate among all citizens still mean a lot of people who should not have been killed.

One reason I think that cops in this country kill more is the gun culture.  In the UK, Germany, Japan etc., the police are less likely to be confronting someone with a gun and so they are less likely to get into a shootout.  Not only that, the thought that the person you are confronting is more likely to have a gun will make you more likely to pull the trigger yourself.  A Japanese cop facing a drunk guy reaching for his pocket is not likely to believe the guy is reaching for a gun.  So less likely the cop himself will pull his gun and shoot.  Cops shot a kid in Ohio who was holding a toy gun.  I am not excusing this carelessness but in what country would a cop think that a 10 year old is holding a real gun?

The so called Blue Line of Silence and the powerful police unions contribute to the problem by protecting rogue cops.  I am not sure if these two problems exist in other countries but I suspect that it is more so in this country.  It seems a lot of people in this country consider snitching on someone is worse than the crime that the person committed in the first place.  The guy who killed Floyd had many complaints against him by the public.  If that is the case, shouldn't his partners also have complained about him?  There are many people who are hired into police departments who should not be cops.  But the screening process is far from perfect.  Without on the job evaluations by fellow cops, the dangerous cops will stay on the force and commit crimes.

So I believe that we have to change the culture about snitching.  We should applaud those who come forward with legitimate concerns in all walks of life.  Cops are not the only ones protected by the culture on silence.  Priests and doctors are other examples of powerful people who in the past have not been reported for doing something wrong.  The player who squealed on the Astros for their cheating in the world series have been shunned by some players.  That is not right.  We should be more concern about calling out wrongs and not more concern about supporting those who did wrong.

Back to the problem of racism in police forces.  While it is important that we have better training to combat racism, I think there are people in the forces who are racists to begin with and no matter the training, they are not going to change.  These are probably a small minority.  But to get rid of them, other officers have to speak out.  We need to change the culture.  I saw on tv last night that a cop actually went against another cop's testimony regarding a shooting.  The cop was shunned and had to retire from the force.  This needs to change.