I am
heartbroken. We have another police shooting that ended with a 20-year old
young man dead. It happened in a Minneapolis suburb-Brooklyn Center. In the
past year, police in the US killed 901 civilians. At the same time, 48 police
officers were killed by suspects.
Anytime there is a wrongful police shooting,
a family is devastated by the loss of a loved family member. The officer who
did the shooting sees his/her career end. A criminal trial on charges ranging
from manslaughter to murder could follow. Communities are torn apart by civil
unrest.
What also follows is a payment by the town
or city to the family that lost its loved one needlessly. In the George Floyd
case, his family was paid some $27 million US by the city of Minneapolis.
Average awards in such cases range from $1,000,000 US to $6,000,000 US.
The towns, cities, and counties paying out
these settlements are not the US government. They cannot print money. If they
had some foresight, they bought liability insurance to cover them against such
contingencies. In this case, the insurance company absorbs the loss. Other
towns, municipalities, and counties that did not buy such liability cover face
a huge loss. In the minimum services like parks, libraries, fire protection,
police protection, and health care must be cut. On the other end of the
spectrum is the possibility of a bankruptcy with a gigantic legal fee. (A town
near us went bankrupt. The legal fee was $9,000,000 US.) Sometimes a political
jurisdiction disappears. A county government has to take over all services for
a group of people.
In my personal opinion 98% of law
enforcement people are decent, competent, and professional. 1% are hopeless
incompetents. 1% have criminal tendencies. The two percent "bad eggs"
need to be identified and removed from law enforcement. The remaining 98% need
to have further intense training. The answer is not defunding or abolishing law
enforcement agencies.
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