April 9, 2015
Do Police Use Deadly Force Too Often?
Introduction
Patrolman Michael Thomas Slager, of the North Charleston, S.C. police department, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Walter Scott. Some have called a South Carolina police officer’s fatal shooting of an unarmed black man an aberration. Others call it a too typical act of police racism. But it is undoubtedly one of a growing number of cases in which police killings of unarmed people have drawn national attention.
Have police officers become too willing to use force or are they reacting to the dangers they face every day?
Read the Discussion »Debaters
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Don’t Ask If a Shooting Is Justified, But If It’s Avoidable
Too many officers see themselves as warriors, vigilant against enemies, not guardians, protecting the community.
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Deadly Force Is Rare, Scrutiny Has Risen
YouTube-inspired outrage only exacerbates the difficult task of balancing personal safety and public protection for cops who care.
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The Public May Finally End Its Denial
The shooting made clear that some cops lie and think they can get away with murder. And the victims are disparately black.
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No Way to Tell Without a National Database
The F.B.I. tracks justifiable homicides by police, but it only includes self-reported data from 750 agencies.
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Here Junior, Play With This
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