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Police Officers In Texas

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I have had many encounters with the police here in Texas, and around the country. I have experienced encounters with police in other countries as well. Some positive, and some negative. Even in situations where I thought I was right, every encounter ended with a positive outcome because I took control of the situation. I disarmed the officer with the utmost respect, therefore by putting the officer at ease. From the initial contact, I showed I was no threat. I’ve worked in corrections for over 7 years in another state, and I know the level of commitment officers have with one another. My point here is that I have experienced this issue from both sides of the blue line. I have encountered law enforcement only three times in Texas to date. My …show more content…

More and more cases of Officers killing unarmed citizens and getting no punishment is setting a dangerous precedence. In cases where you have video evidence to show deadly force protocol disregarded by an officer, they still receive no conviction. This makes the citizens less trusting of the people sworn to protect them. I have always had the highest respect for law enforcement. But with recent cases of killings, even my resolve and trust is shaken. The results have been disastrous for the Dallas Police Department loosing 5 brothers in blue to a very sick individual. My surprise is that it doesn’t happen more often, I hope it doesn’t. As more and more men and women are trained to fight and kill by the military as I was, officers will have to contend with highly trained individuals with superior weapons. To those on the fringes of society, the rule of law doesn’t matter. Human life is worthless to these sick individuals, and common ground has to be reached. So what will it take to change this snowball effect with the distrust of the community of …show more content…

I taught officers how to shoot, but more importantly when to shoot. From my professional experience, the case currently in the news in South Carolina is a great point of emphasis. My training and experience is from a state other than South Carolina and Texas, but shooting an unarmed person in the back as they flee is considered murder in that state. Even if the officer is in fear of their life, there is no justification of deadly force when the threat is moving away from the officer. Now when cases like this has to be decided by the average citizen on jury duty, some level of common sense has to play a part in their decision. In too many cases in recent years, far too many officers are using the justification” I feared for my life” to kill unarmed citizens. Training and public awareness at current levels is failing. The quality of the current bread of officer is diminished for lack of no better reasoning than budget reductions. The financial crash of 2008 is showing its effects now in that police departments had to drastically cut budgets. Training is always one of the first targets for reductions. With poorly trained officers taking the streets, the citizens are the ones that pay the price. In some cases with their life. Another target is the screening process. Reductions in this area allow potential candidates to the police academy to slip through the screening process that normally would have

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