It’s hard not to think that violence has escalated beyond reason. With more and more reports of white police officers killing innocent black men – this latest in L.A. – just hours ago.
Witnesses say the man was waving a Swiss army knife and the police officer panicked, it’s a story we are hearing far too often — and it is due to a lack of proper police training.
North American police forces need to take a lesson from their Japanese counterparts who are trained in taiho-jutsu, which translates to “arrest technique.” Using a gun has incredible consequences for police officers in Japan and it should here too. Why shouldn’t each and every police officer be required to have extensive training in martial arts so that they know how to disarm and find calm in a hostile situation? What is stopping us?
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While many in the media are defining this a “racial tension,” the issue has much more to do with a lack of training, with a lack of respect for human life, and with a culture that puts the police above those they have sworn to protect. There are serious changes needed in our system of policing and to blame the police for their lack of training, or the victims (many with severe psychotic issues) is the wrong approach. Let’s fix the problem before it gives rise to more riots and unrest. The same conditions that create civil unrest are growing and it’s time to address the fact that North America has a very poor record when it comes to policing.
In August of this year in Ferguson, Missouri, a white policeman killed an unarmed black teenager and a grand jury refused to indict the police officer.
On Wednesday a New York grand jury cleared a white police officer for his July choke-hold of 43 year old black father of six.
Tonight another man was shot by police in L.A. why am I numb?
