"2016 'has been an especially dangerous year for police officers, with a significant increase in the number of officers killed in the line of duty since Jan. 1.'"
This article discusses multiple recent shootings in which police were targeted, one of them while standing outside writing a parking ticket, the others while sitting in their cars. These shootings occured just hours apart, and relatively close to one another. Authorities are currently debating whether or not these incidents were at all linked, or if the shooter had any motive for his targets, besides their being police officers. However,the title of the article comes from one of the targeted officers, McManus, who remarked, “I think the uniform was the target, and anyone, the first person who happened along, was the person that he targeted." The he in this case was "a black man in his 20s".
I believe that the current state of affairs between police and citizens is awful. Reflect on this. First, do you think it was simply the "uniform" that was targeted, or do you think it was something more? Additionally, you may choose to respond to the idea that "The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said that the shootings illustrated a need for stronger background checks to “to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them” as a way to keep officers safe." Personally, I agree that we need stronger background checks, but for more than just keeping our officers safe. Whether or not you agree with this campaign's sentiment, suggest what reforms you think our law enforcemnt should adopt in an attempt to end this citizen/police struggle. Do you think its necessary that our law enforcement changes its ways before we, the citizens, change ours?
Given that the murder of Detective Marconi was "calculated," I do not believe that it was simply the "uniform" that was targeted. It is possible that McKane had previous experiences with particular officers. I agree with the Brady Campaign that we need stronger background checks. A strong majority of the America people agree that background checks ought to be strengthened. I think that current programs to record interactions with the public ought to be adopted by more areas. Additionally, the police force should be more representative of the community it serves. I do not believe that either the citizens or the officers should have to change first, we both must. It is up to officers to be reasonable when interacting with citizens, and it is up to citizens to treat officers with respect.
ReplyDeleteWith the evidence presented, I can't really tell if McKane planned to specifically kill Marconi or just the first police officer associated with his department that he saw. This obviously was a planned action simply by the course of events that occurred, but if that was the case, then the focus should shift towards how McKane ever was able to acquire a gun in whatever mental state he might have been in. As a whole, I would strongly recommend increasing regulations and strengthening background checks to know who we exactly are giving weapons to, as what we have in place right seems extremely lenient for the types of people who are committing these kinds of crimes. As for the struggle between police and citizens, I think that significant reform is required on both sides. In terms of the police officers, they should all receive more dedicated training and everyone (new and current) should have to pass through a tougher background check to catch any possible threats within the police themselves. There could be a case to be made for improving the protective equipment that each officer is given as to try and reduce casualties without increasing deaths on the other side, but that alone won't do anything without the reforms above. As for us citizens, again, we need to have stricter gun laws to discourage this kind of behavior. But as a whole, the whole matter can only be resolved by both sides mutually accepting each other and resolving to push through the conflict instead of stimulating it further. It's terrible that such a divide has formed in our society, but I still think there is time to bridge that gap and restore a healthy relationship. The key to this whole situation is restoring a sense of trust and faith in both sides, which for every incident like this, gets harder and harder to do every day.
ReplyDeleteToday the relationship between police and many American citizens is dangerous. Time and time again, an unarmed African American man is fatally shot by a police officer which leads to greater hatred of our armed forces. Recently movements aiming to change laws, mindsets, and precedents have taken over social media and new sites. It is undeniably wrong to shoot an officer. From what it seems, this officer was simply doing his job. Events like this lead to greater divides on this issue.
ReplyDeleteShifting from this article to the broader topic at hand, the article said the uniform is a target, but this could be seen the other way as well. In many cases a person’s skin color is a target. It is known that men of other minorities are targeted by police more often than people that are white. This idea shows the systematic inequalities still occur in this country. In addition to implicit bias, the police forces in America could improve the way they train their officers. In my opinion, too little time is spent in the police academy. Officers often use force too frequently, which causes problems. The public’s trust for the police is low, which is unsettling for obvious reasons. If people continue to believe the police are above the law and no longer trust the police, they police are the ones that need to change.
I think (perhaps incorrectly) that the uniform was being targeted. While I would like to (there really isn't any good way of phrasing that) believe that McKane had some ulterior motive to killing Marconi, the likelihood of this is slim. Simply put, people are afraid and angry and confused towards the way some (but certainly not the majority) of the police officers in this country are acting towards African Americans, and the community is retaliating with movements such as BLM and in some cases violence such as was (or at least what I believe was) seen in this article. People are confused and scared and that is a terrible combination. It causes people to lash out because they just want to feel safe, but they don't know how to. I believe given the recent (almost constant at this point) tensions between the police and the civilians, the uniform was therefore the target.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I completely agree that stronger background checks should be in place for buying guns. I think it is a little too easy for people to get a gun, and I feel stronger background checks will likely help improve this, and perhaps help protect everyone (not just officers).
I do, however, also believe additional evidence is required before trial of McKane, as I am a firm believer of "innocent until proven guilty," and I do not believe they (as of now) have sufficient evidence to properly convict him.
I don't think it is illogical to believe this officer was targeted for his uniform. We have seen a disturbing pattern this year of police officers being targeted just because they were cops. As the DOJ has noted, the shooting of police officers has spiked dramatically in 2016. It is no secret why this is occurring. There is deep distrust of law enforcement across the United States, particularly in communities of color, after the number of well publicized incidents of police using excessive force on unarmed black men and statistics that show officers target communities of color disproportionately. Whenever there are protests, there will be mentally disturbed individuals who will think it is appropriate to use violence to get their point across. This is unacceptable and defeats the purpose of the protest because it will turn public opinion against your cause.
ReplyDeleteTo prevent violence against police officers, a few different things should happen. First, the targeting of police officers based on the uniform should be made a hate crime and punishment should be very severe, even if the officer is not killed. Second, stronger background checks should be used to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people. If you are a sane human being, you will have no problem passing the check. Third, movements such as Black Lives Matter should make sure to emphasize that they support and appreciate police officers, but disapprove of their tactics. These groups should call out protesters who shout things like "pigs in a blanket fry em like bacon" and instruct protesters on proper tone.
I agree with Brooke in that I believe that the uniform was being targeted. Due to the strained racial relations between police officers and the black community, as well as the obvious targeting from officers to black people, some people who may be unstable could believe that killing police officers may be justified, or even incite change. It's quite clear that this will only perpetuate the problem, however, as it makes officers feel more threatened and therefore makes them more trigger-happy. The instance with McKane may not have been a targeting of the uniform based on racial relations, based on the fact that he said it was lashing out after a custody battle, but many of the other shootings discussed in the article were products of poor relations between citizens and officers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the claims of the Brady Campaign. Stronger background checks are one step to reducing causalities as a whole. However, I think there are a few other steps that need to be taken. One, as Josh said, we need to make sure that it is clear that hate crimes against police officers will not be tolerated by anyone in any circumstances. Two, we need the officers we have to make sure they are not committing their own hate crimes, or else people can get their fuel for killing officers. Three, we need a strong initiative to remind people that officers are there to help us, but that will not work without a change from the officers first and foremost. These changes, and the background checks, would certainly save lives on both sides of the relationship.
I believe that McKane was simply targeting the uniform. It honestly seems like a stretch to say that he was specifically targeting the officer writing the ticket since there are no ties linking the shooter and the victim in addition to the fact that the police department has failed to come up with any type of association or causation.
ReplyDeleteSince there doesn't seem to be any "real" or provoked relationship between the shooter and the specific officer, I think that it is fair to say that this is just another instance of the tension going on in this country between our police force and our citizens. For now I will ignore race in my argument - although this is obviously a racially charged matter - and say that there ought to be stronger background checks OR we could get rid of guns all together in this country. Since there have been 126 deaths so far this year (already 15 up from 2015), I have to wonder why any one is still allowed to possess a gun. The officers who claim that they are to protect themselves with are the ones who are also dying in abundance this year. The countless number of citizens who are killed and injured daily by guns begs the question "how can this still be legal". If we were to get rid of guns altogether, we would be protecting our police officers AND our citizens which is the ultimate goal.
I know this may sound naïve considering the fact that people could import, steal, or hide guns the same way people still got a hold of alcohol during the prohibition movement. But, I implore you to think of the positives. If this were to work we would have a decrease in hate crimes, violence, and, I believe, we would be able to diffuse racial tensions or at least take steps in the right direction. In an political and social climate like ours, it is necessary that we start igniting change. If we fail to respond, irresponsible merely with laws on background we are making the cognitive decision to continue to be blind towards the real issues. The hate will not stop and the guns will continue to be used to hurt and not to protect, no matter how many times the police tell us that is why they are there until we face these problems head on. How many more deaths will it take for us to open our eyes?
Regardless if the attacks taking place on this day were linked, to me, it's obvious that this was an attack on the police in general rather than on Detective Marconi who was unfortunately the first badge the killer saw when making his attack.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should be in favor of stronger background checks in order to purchase a weapon, I'd be surprised if you could find find a coherent counterargument to this point.
As far as other reforms, the thought of banning guns from the United States, while with good intentions, is illogical and inconceivable. I'm not an expert on the subject so just hear me out... If we want to get rid off all the firearms in America, a country in which "there are now more guns than people" (Washington Post), how exactly would you go about that? How could the government take away all of those guns? That would require extensive amounts of tax revenue to conduct such a project of tracking down and obtaining every last one. I can't conceive of any citizen just letting the government take their gun away, especially in states like Texas, where even the average citizen carries or owns a gun. And say the government somehow does collect every registered gun in America... what about the illegal ones? People will still have guns and commit crimes with them, and the average law-abiding citizen would have no firearm to protect themselves with. I've never even fired a gun, I just thought this was something to think about.
In America, it's significantly more difficult to get access to mental health care than it is to get access to a handgun.
ReplyDeleteI think that anyone who kills someone is not in a healthy mental state, so its hard to say whether the motives were just because of the uniform the victims were wearing. But the issue at hand involves more than just racial tensions between African Americans and police officers.
Background checks need to be instituted, strictly and thoroughly.
America continues to misdiagnose the source of gun violence: "It's not the gun, it's the people."
Well, when a fourteen year old can walk into a gun store in south-side Chicago at ten in the morning and purchase a Glock G29 in a total of five minutes, do we blame the systematic creation of fourteen year-old boys, or do we blame the system that handed him the gun? Furthermore, which part do we have the ability to reform?
I think the uniform was the target, and that's a scary thing. The fact that people have such hatred for all law enforcement officers that they actually hunt and kill them is crazy. While I understand the excessive use of force by police lately, especially against those of color, is what causes the tension and hatred, fighting fire with fire will make the whole world burn. I think we can start fixing this relationship by starting at the simplest of levels, and making background checks much more intensive. On the other side, the police academy should surely be revamped, and the use of force as the last option should be one of the biggest points to new officers. Obviously these wounds will take lots of time to heal, but hopefully Trump sees the domestic issue at hand and takes steps to help fix it.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Detective Marconi, it seems that the uniform is what caused him to be targeted. There is no question that stronger gun laws are needed, especially laws that are effective and get to the point. We need to know that people carrying guns are law abiding citizens and of sound mind. As awful as these murders are, the increase in police shootings might finally the legislators that we need to realize that something needs to be done. It could keep them from avoiding the issue. It would be an incredible help if law enforcement changed first to ease tensions with concerned Amercians.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that the uniform was being targeted for attacks because of the tensions between police officers and blacks. While these tensions have been fueled by both sides' mistakes, it has led to some to believe that retaliating against police officers is a way of raising their voice against "police brutality." These attacks against the uniform have both gotten even more people injured. An officer would feel one of two ways. Either overly scared and threatened by the threat, making it more likely the attacker would be shot at. Or scared of public backlash and not shooting at someone who is clearly dangerous, thus receiving serious injury. The first step to fixing this problem would be with having stronger background checks for purchasing guns and having better access to mental help. Furthermore, I think better training and background checks for officer is also needed to make sure that racist, hateful individuals are not put in a position where they can harm others in the name of the police.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to me to be a question of the uniform and not one person (as many before me have already said). This kind of shooting is always bad for everyone, because loss of human life is never acceptable, especially when by murder. Unfortunately, both sides like to use these kind of shootings as a political prop. Right Anti-BLM people argue that this proves BLM is dangerous and bad. Leftists use this as an example of why gun control is so necessary. While I agree in stricter gun control, that debate is over (in many ways) since Sandy Hook. Once we, as a country, stomached the murdering of children, nothing would make guns unbearable. And yes, though BLM has lead to some outlier extremists; it in itself is not a dangerous movement. So what are we left with? Racial strains and a populace that doesn't trust the police. So people target the uniform out of fear and anger with the guns they're allowed to get easily and the uniform out of fear responds with more violence and people target the uniform out of fear...
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I do think that more restrictions on guns is a great idea, and would mitigate the frequency of events like these. That being said, I don't see any way that guns will ever be banned in this country because of the second amendment, and the fact that many rural areas do actually use guns for practical things like hunting, rather than murdering other human beings. I think the shooting of Marconi was more person rather than just uniform because it was apparently "calculated." That being said, there are a lot of police shootings that are just because of the uniform. This is absolutely we can't have multitudes of people that are in mistrust of the police who vow to serve and protect the American people. It's even more ridiculous that police have historically given people reasons to mistrust them. Police need to stop racial profiling, and people need to stop shooting police. Obviously that's easy to say and tremendously hard to execute, but our country in many ways including the civilian-police relation needs to stand together unified.
ReplyDeleteI certainly believe that the shooter didn't have any idea who Officer Marconi was and attacked him purely off of the reason that he was a police officer. It is sad to see the relationship between people and police deteriorate to the point at which it's at now. But it is not surprising. The police is meant to serve and protect it's community, not scare and punish them. Sadly these days the police tends to scare and punish citizens before protecting them. This can be seen in many instances, such as the college students being pepper sprayed in the face or the Ferguson riots. The police were acting more as a military rather than as police. I believe in order to improve the relationship between police and the community the police have to be demilitarized. People do not want a military encroaching on their community.
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe that officers and their vehicles should be monitored via video, or at the very least audio, for the sake of both the public and the officers themselves. There is definitely an issue with law enforcement if the public feels uncomfortable about those who are supposed to protect them from harm. However, blanket statements shouldn't apply to police, just as they shouldn't to anyone else. Not all officers are malicious, and, should this officer have been attacked for his uniform, I feel as though this should be treated as a hate crime.
ReplyDeleteBack on topic, however, yes, I think we should work on law enforcement before the citizens. Not only would it be easier to monitor law enforcement, but by regulating them, more of the general public will feel at ease. Perhaps stricter requirements and continuous background checks on officers. What might really help is more public knowledge about law enforcement, what they can and can't do, and what to do should we encounter a corrupt member of law enforcement. Instead of playing the blame game, we should work towards educating ourselves on how to handle the situation and take more actions to solve the problem besides sharing a post "for our boys in blue".