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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. Police Have Shot Dead 385 People In Five Months: REPORT
WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - U.S. police have shot and killed 385 people during the first five months of this year, a rate of more than two a day, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.
The death rate is more than twice that tallied by the federal government over the past decade, a count that officials concede is incomplete, the newspaper said.
The analysis is based on data the Post is compiling on every fatal shooting by police in 2015, as well as of every officer killed by gunfire in the line of duty.
snip
Federal Bureau of Investigation records over the past decade show about 400 fatal police shootings a year, or an average of 1.1 deaths a day. Reporting of shootings by police agencies is voluntary.
But the Post's analysis indicates the daily death toll for 2015 is close to 2.6 as of Friday. At that pace, police will have shot and killed nearly 1,000 people by the end of the year, the paper said.
Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/31/police-fatal-shootings-20_n_7477658.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&ir=Black%20Voices&utm_hp_ref=black-voices
Number23
(24,544 posts)Sweet Jesus:
The Post's analysis showed that about half the victims were white, half minority. Among unarmed victims, two-thirds were black or Hispanic.
Half the victims were minority in a country where blacks and Hispanics each make up about 13-15% of the population???
And 2/3 the unarmed victims were black or Hispanic. I am going to be sick to my fucking stomach.
Bonobo
(29,257 posts)This country's men and boys face an unacceptable chance of being the victim of violent attacks by the police.
that is the intended victim of this modern genocide.
Bonobo
(29,257 posts)Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)You didn't know this about all of the police shootings already?
The fact that Black men and Hispanic men don't have to be armed in order to be killed by the police?
It's been that way for about 50 years.
Maybe even longer, 60 years.
uponit7771
(90,193 posts)sheshe2
(83,128 posts)Number23 knows, she is black and she knows.
The shock of the numbers, damn they are staggering. They say we get better with age, sadly this Country does not. Just when we crawl out of one ugly hole for a short time, we drop back into the chasm. I have to believe in the end we will see some light shining on us, I want us all to feel some of the sunlight. I have to believe this.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)I didn't know Number 23 was a female.
Shit.
I always thought Number 23 was a he, not a she, ya know what I mean, sheshe?
I wonder how many of those Hispanics that were killed were immigrants that came to the U.S. in the last few years.
Number23
(24,544 posts)sheshe2
(83,128 posts)Last edited Mon Jun 1, 2015, 09:34 AM - Edit history (2)
I have guessed wrong more than once. Me, pretty easy to figure, yet I have been called a guy here.
The dead. Yes. Immigrants too. PoC shot and killed, some may be legitimate shoots. The rest? The police with their guns feared for their lives. How fucking pathetic is that. Unarmed people were the threat. I think not. The police are the threat.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)But, it seemed hard for me for awhile.
Number23
(24,544 posts)But for the life of me, I have no idea what that reason could be.
sheshe2
(83,128 posts)The numbers are staggering.
There needs to be a stricter vetting process for law enforcement. We need extensive philological evaluations when they are hired and then yearly evaluations.
I don't know the answers, yet in the end the courts need to HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE!
Number23
(24,544 posts)I keep forgetting that folks aren't allowed to say anything now without it becoming a tremendously stupid DU bruha. No matter what's said or who's saying it or what it's about.
sheshe2
(83,128 posts)The numbers slammed me on my lily white ass. Not sure if I will be alerted on for saying that I have one. I seem to have, hmmm, how should I say this...guess I have ticked off the wrong peeps. Sigh~
^ Boom^
Enough from me for now. I could say more, yet~
giftedgirl77
(4,713 posts)I say that I fear for my teenage son's lives every time they leave the house. I tell them I love them, reiterate the rules & guidelines when dealing with the police & tell them to be careful, all of this just so they can go to the baseball field with their friends.
democrank
(11,032 posts)Really disturbing
kristopher
(29,798 posts)avebury
(10,941 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,532 posts)"among unarmed victims, two-thirds were black".
So sorry. I am so very sorry.
Chicago1980
(1,968 posts)I posted the same story last night and some moron locked the thread.
sheshe2
(83,128 posts)Host block? Please send me the link. I want to see the reason for the block.
Thanks, Chicago.
greyl
(22,990 posts)sheshe2
(83,128 posts)I never post in LBN. I am never sure of the rules, so I do GD!
mountain grammy
(26,552 posts)It's shining a light on life in American and it is happening more than twice a fucking day. What is more breaking news?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)sheshe2
(83,128 posts)Thanks for your response.
Yet I believe it is a war. I really do. They are being murdered on our streets.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)...if that doesn't qualify for war I don't know what does.
(And it was probably worse since we don't have statistics for this so 10 years ago I suspect that it was as many as the worst years in Iraq.)
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)We have to change this. We have to do something about it.
I don't know what we can do, but we have to do something good.
I worry for my grandson. He is still very young, but very vulnerable.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)There is a long standing tradition of only letting people with average intelligence apply to be a police officer, because more intelligent people with a much broader intellectual background have a high turnaround (they are more likely to quit the job).
Second would be to stop police officers from being able to willfully lie in an investigation. Police officers are liars, that's their job description. Dishonest cops means dishonestly enforced laws which leads to resentment by the population. All of those people stopped and questioned in NYC are not going to have a good positive experience with officers.
Third would be to end the war on drugs, which is actually part of the other issues, if you end the war on drugs, then you have the money to spend on those high turnaround officers, and officers won't need to lie in the process of an investigation to suss out whether someone has drugs on their person or in their car.
Two of these are relatively easy. The third, ending the war on drugs, is a tiny bit harder to implement, but it can be done, and probably will be done eventually.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Cocaine, for example causes severe brain damage from overdoses. That's just one example. I had to deal with people on meth in my work. The problem was just awful. That drug dehumanized its victims. And then there is heroin. Also a potential killer.
What would you do instead of the war on drugs to protect our children from drug use? I'm seriously asking. I have no suggestions. The war on drugs is not working. What would? Or is the problem insurmountable?
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)The long term solution to drug abuse is a better society, ala Rat Park. Basic income, stuff like that. But in the meantime you can spend that money letting people get drugged up in treatment centers if they are so inclined and help them ween themselves off of it.
Meth of course is a really really bad drug, you're not going to find any upsides to it, but with proper treatment of the addiction you can get people off of it, and if that treatment happens in facilities that help them ween off (with legal pharma-grade drugs) then we'd be better off in the long run.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)Criminalization only serves to make profits for drug cartels, pharmaceutical giants, the prison industry, and the military-industrial complex. It fixes a societal problem by attacking the most vulnerable members of our society. Criminalization results in millions of people in and out of jail their entire live, if not shot and killed outright (not to mention the other victims of wars in the surrounding communities). If you must, target only the major suppliers and manufacturers, and leave the low level people alone completely.
Take all the money currently funding drug prohibitions and place it into state-run addiction programs, community structures and support (like needle exchanges, etc.), and economic initiatives designed to invest in the poor. I would even go so far as to suggest the state provide clean drugs to addicts while their dosage is slowly stepped down. If I remember correctly, it is the most effective way we have found so far, over 50% (though don't quote me on that). Invest in education in poor areas, begin state-provided early life child care and support programs, provide medical treatment and health care to all. Do that, and I'd bet you'd see addiction rates plunge.
I would also submit that full decriminalization of things like cannabis and the various psychedelics would actually have an enormously positive effect on the country's health. Cannabis treats huge numbers of ailments, and decriminalization and rescheduling drugs would allow for research that is just now beginning to appreciate the real medical potential of these substances.
The problem with all of this is that these issues are interwoven with huge numbers of other issues in our society. Fixing one requires fixing most, if not almost all, of the others. To fix these problems, we need to radically change our society to one that puts the health of people first.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)peecoolyour
(336 posts)There's just way too many power-hungry cops in the force who kills first, ask questions later. We don't need more killings on top of killings from gangs and criminals.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)no one seems to talk about them, why is that?
http://americamagazine.org/content/dispatches/summer-2015-starts-staggering-gun-violence-chicago-ny-baltimore
jwirr
(39,215 posts)department takes over a police department and reorganizes it. But I wonder if there is any success when they are done?
Hekate
(89,974 posts)Cha
(295,516 posts)to kill!
Of course, not all police are murderers but they sure give their sisters and brothers in Blue.. a bad name.