In the UK we have the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which investigates every death in which the police are involved. Is there an equivalent body in the US? The 223 figure is certainly concerning on the face of it, but it's simply a number with no background to what the circumstances in each case were or what was done about each death. No doubt some people will say they were shot essentially just for being black and others will argue that blacks are more likely to be involved in crime. I'm saying neither of those things, I'm just asking whether there is any independent explanation for the disparity.
https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/who-we-are
There is no real oversight for police in America. There's barely hard data on their uses of deadly force. Police are rarely charged with any crime, convictions are a pipe dream. And because taxpayers instead of their pensions fund the inevitable civil suits there's no real incentive for them to obey the laws they enforce.
The people who argue "black people are a bunch of criminals" are called racists. We don't give them time on the mic cuz they have two narratives. "Should've known better" and "13% of the population, 50% of the crime." It's long been established that the judicial system shows favoritism to whites, this means in the same circumstances a black person goes to jail where a white person would get off with a warning or citation. This, like all byproducts of racism, is potrayed as a myth but is a tangible phenomenon.
American police have "qualified immunity" which means it's virtually impossible to hold them accountable for their crimes whic regularly include sexual violence, domestic violence (40% of cops are guilty of this), planting evidence, falsifying reports, harassment, drug trafficking, pretty much anything that puts normal people in jail. And lots and lots of evidence and confiscated drugs money and weapons magically vanish from evidence lockers.
Americans are (supposed to be) entitled to due process, meaning a fair chance in a courtroom, far too often black people do not survive arrest to make it to court. We're given death sentences for minor infractions. The police in baltimore are so corrupt they've practically got their own pod in the state prison.
But state-sanctioned racist violence is a tradition going back to 1776 so it feels normal to a lot of people who will perform all sorts of olympic-worthy mental gymnastics to justify black people being shot in front of their kids during minor traffic stops.
Speaking of shootings, sometimes they shoot each other accidentally. Oops! I can think of no other job where accidental killings are routinely dismissed as par the course.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washin...ested-library-officer-killed-during-training/
A retired police lieutenant has been arrested after police say he fatally shot a fellow law enforcement officer Thursday during a training exercise at a Washington D.C. library.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/us/st-louis-race-police.html
Mr. Green had been a police officer for more than a decade. And while he had bonded with colleagues across the department, he also had come to see distinct differences between black officers like himself and white officers like those involved in the pursuit that night. He had heard his share of racially insensitive remarks at work, but on that balmy evening in 2017, Mr. Green’s outlook on the differences between black and white officers would be damaged beyond repair.
He heard a bang. He felt a sting in his right forearm. A white colleague had shot him.
https://www.newsweek.com/police-officer-accidentally-shoots-cop-dog-attack-video-1727160
Body camera footage shows a police officer in Tennessee accidentally shooting a deputy who was fending off a dog attack.
Unfortunately, sometimes these shootings claim the lives of children.
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2022/07/brett-rosenau-police-swat-raid-flashbang-granade/
Early in the morning on July 7, after a SWAT team bombarded a home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with chemical irritants and a flashbang device, detectives went inside and found the corpse of a teenage boy. Brett Rosenau, 15, was not suspected of any crime.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation...t-by-police-remembered-at-los-angeles-funeral
A 14-year-old girl who died after a Los Angeles police officer fired at a suspect at a clothing store and the bullet pierced a wall was remembered Monday as a happy teen with many friends who loved sports, adored animals and excelled in school.
To draw a damning parallel, in the state of Texas it requires more hours of training to become a licensed hair dresser than to become a cop.
](/images/smilies/bang.gif "Brick wall ](*,)")
