I read a European editorial recently about all the recent police shootings in the U.S. of Black Americans, which said the French are speechless and that one killing of an unarmed suspect would be unthinkable in a European country because European police are trained to defuse situations calmly and only arrest as a last resort, whereas American police are “TRAINED” to arrest as the first resort and ask questions later. Case in point: Police had no reason to arrest Freddie Gray in Baltimore for simply running from them (The Irish Times) but they tackled and cuffed him anyway and he wound up dying from a ride in the back of a paddy wagon because American police are “TRAINED” to crack down hard on the slightest hint of suspicious behavior, resulting in mass incarceration of young men of color.
In fact, I googled it and turns out the U.S has the world’s highest incarceration rate with 22% of the entire world’s prisoners and we only make up 4.4% of the world’s population. But I must reiterate, American police are “TRAINED” to use excessive force if they believe they are in danger…AND…it certainly has reduced the crime rate, but at the expense of black Americans’ civil rights and to restore those rights, U.S. police will have to transform their mentality but that won’t happen unless they are “TRAINED” to do so and I can’t see that in the cards anytime soon.
It’s become so common that the American public has become used to police using excessive force, including Blacks. Police can also seize cash at a traffic stop like the IRS can confiscate bank accounts without due process. And we tell ourselves we have checks on government power when in reality we have produced a system where authority can “shoot or confiscate first and ask questions later.” Sadly enough, it’s the American way and police cannot help how they are “TRAINED.”