For Cops, There's Usually No Chance To Second Guess
So the U.S. Justice Department faults Police in Portland for using too much force on folks with mental problems? Let me deconstruct this.
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When the police are
dealing with dangerous, sometimes armed, sometimes drugged or drunk folks that
present a hazard to public safety, they don’t have time to diagnose mental
illness. Nor should they make special
exceptions.
Every threat to public
safety should be treated the same: Stop
it as quickly as possible. Of course
they should use the least force they can. But I figure we’re going to get deadly policy decisions out of city hall, and I mean that literally.
They’ll tell
police to second guess decisions, to hesitate, to use less force than officers
have been trained to use. And sometime
soon, a citizen or a cop will die as a result.
The civil libertarians have insisted that you have a right to be as
crazy as you wanna be till you present a danger to others.
That standard and the widespread use of
illegal drugs means society will be presented with these threats on a regular
and growing basis. And the lawyers will
make lots of money convincing juries to Monday morning quarterback the cops...
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