What are your thoughts on Police Brutality?

Is police brutality an actual problem or are we just over using a few cases of unprofessionalism and making them out to be worse than they were?

Even to this day we over play cases like Mike Brown in Ferguson just to find out he was guilty?

However we don’t hear much anymore about the Daniel Shaver case.

I come from a family with deep history in the Police and military. Before my Step Father was an officer / Detective he was in the US Rangers (75th Regiment) he believes a lot of men and women with military service especially combat do extremely well as officer in intense situations and can defuse the scenario before it gets deadly.

It seems a lot of kids get out of high school and want to be officers but when it comes to a tough situation especially dealing in violence they’re more prone to using deadly force.

What are your thoughts? Discuss and be civil.

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DragonFruit · 70-79, M

Police brutality is an actual problem.....even if it’s nowhere near as prevalent as some would have you believe. There have been several police officers in my family as well, and they have little respect for those who downplay the actions of those who are acting outside the scope of their duties.
However, there are times when officers act within the scope of their duties and someone still ends up getting shot or killed.
This results in an uproar, even in cases where deadly force was justified.
Each case needs to be viewed on an individual basis, and the facts of the case must be differentiated (despite some people I know making comparisons, there is little reason to treat the Mike Brown case like the Trayvon Martin case).
I also think that lumping veterans (of which I’m one) or kids out of high school together isn’t the answer. Many veterans can do well in intense situations....but others have been scarred by their time in the service. Some high school kids are very conscientious about tricky situations....but others are more likely to use their weapons as an initial reaction.
There needs to be proper training....and this is something which also has been good in some cases and not so good in others, leaving the officers to try to figure it out on their own. Even with the best training, you will sometimes get an officer acting in ways inconsistent with that training.
The system isn’t perfect....but we need police officers to enforce the laws. However, even a few cases of unprofessionalism is still enough to be considered a serious problem.
There’s no easy answer, but there needs to be proper training and accountability....because even one incidence of police brutality is one too many.