Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
Not sure if you are referring to me or not but I think I have been idealogicaly consistent in that one of the main issues is the polices choice to escalate. My issue is what happens in this event is the exact same series of events that leads to dead people for non-violent interactions.
Many of the excessive force videos start with encounters like this one, an officer then becomes fearful of their life, then escalates. The difference between drawing the taser and using it in this instance is very small.
The statement of “If you resist force will be applied” is a huge part of the problem currently with Police. Mentally ill people get shot on wellness visits as a result of that logic.
What if police simply contained the situation until verbal compliance was achieved and only use force to prevent escape. It might take several hours but eventually the kid would allow himself to be cuffed or he would try to escape at which point you could escalate the level of force.
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I think you're pretty caught up in the media circus surrounding police and how they deal with "wellness" checks. While mentally ill people have been shot, it is by far, not the usual outcome. Police respond to literally thousands of welfare checks or suicide complaints or general mental illness calls every week ranging from 8 year olds all the way on up. I would say that the police deal with the vast majority (like 99.99%) in a professional fashion with little to no force. I am not saying it doesn't happen, I am simply stating that your words have meaning.
Police contain situations like this all the time. You just don't hear about it because it's not newsworthy. What is newsworthy is that .01% of the time when someone with a mental illness gets shot.
Going forward, I think that's the danger of having discussions or opinions without all the facts and/or relying on a newsfeed for your facts.