Police Shooting in America

Yiting Zhang

Mrs. Ren

ESL 015 Section 014

04/19/2015

Police Shooting in America

        American police officers use military weapons for decades from now during their enforcements. They protect people’s properties and life. However sometimes innocent people die from the shootings and these situations occur more frequently. In August, 2014, A black teenage Michael Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson with undefined reasons(Mueller, B., & Baker, A. 2014). When Darren Wilson gave his testimony, he shot Michael Brown because Brown tried to attack on him and escape. On the other hand,  the witnesses said that Wilson shot Brown while Brown had his hands up(McLaughlin, E. 2014). Police shootings and overuse of violences become the hot topic again in America and it is necessary to find some ways to reduce the tragedies.

        After the judgment that the police officer was released, American citizens, especially black people had protested more than once to resist the violent behavior of the police officer and the unfair judgment by racism. In December, 2014, as a revenge, two New York Police officers were killed in Brooklyn while the suspect commits suicide. The case was related to the Brown’s shooting while the suspect claimed on social medial previously. New York police officers even turned away from the mayor when he had a speech as a protest(Mueller, B., & Baker, A. 2014). The increase tensions between enforcement system, administrative system and citizens make the situation intractable. This cause people do not trust the government and they need the police reform urgently.

        In most of the controversial shooting cases when police officers shot a victim by their own judgments, the victims usually do not have the potential intention to use a gun, like the black teenage. Since they do not really have the direct threaten to the police officers, the polices are suppose to limit their movements and prevent them from potential crime instead of killing them. As a result it is  inappropriate to use the real bullets directly. Stun guns or taser can actually achieve the goal easily while those guns disrupt body's ability to communicate with its muscles, and it only works on pain compliance. As a result, the stun guns can limit suspects’ any movements and actions but not to hurt their life. According the statistic, after increasing the level of resistance of taser by new policy in Orlando, the crime rate decreased by 29 percent during the 2003-2004 but no suspects died during the enforcements(Michael E. Miller. 2010).

        On the other hand, Police officers can also use the bullets with round head, or replace the bullets with steel balls instead of sharp bullets, due to reduce the lethality of the guns. What’s more, polices are supposed to protect themselves from these accidents, it is still necessary for them to bring real weapons with them. They can actually use their guns to achieve the both ways of warning and self-defense. The government can come up with a new type of guns with multiple ways of using. For Example, police can let the first shot become a stun gun or taser shot as a warning, then the police can shoot the second shot with a bullet if necessary, or they can place a switch button on the gun so police can choose which bullets to use. As a result, police officers will have more than one option to choose for different situations. By improving the guns, it is easier for polices to enforce but not to hurt innocent people.