Cops Should Be Young
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
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There seems to be no end to the incidents of black men being killed in altercations with police or security personnel.
This latest incident out of Tulsa, Okla., makes me furious! What in the bloody hell was a 73-year-old male doing involving himself in a police chase of an unarmed man (black or otherwise), and after one officer had the man on the ground, this old joker reaches for what he thinks is a Taser, only to pull the trigger on a real gun, fatally wounding the men?
This is not “Mayberry RFD 1961,” this is “America 2015.” In no way should someone over the age of 50 even be a police officer on the streets, anywhere in this nation.
Police work is dangerous! It calls for a keen, sharp mind, fast reflexes, but also the ability to assess a situation, and the ability to think fast, and bring any incident to as fast a resolution as possible. Hopefully with little to no violence.
No one in their 60s or 70s needs to be allowed in a position of police work carrying a loaded weapon.
What if I were to arm myself, go out on the street, see a police chase (on foot or in vehicle) and decide to involve myself in the chase, see an opening, and shoot a suspect dead? The press, legal community and public would be outraged and a sure prosecution would follow.
I recall speaking with a cop friend back in Warsaw in the early 1990s, and told him, “There are certain careers in which a person is good for only a certain number of years: physician, surgeon, judge, prosecutor, teacher, police officer etc.” He accused me of being an “armchair quarterback.”
That may be, but at least I haven’t killed an unarmored civilian, or sent some innocent soul to jail, and soon.
All humans make mistakes; but those in a position of authority must be held to a higher standard than the general public. We cannot allow those who are supposed to protect us (as well as preserving our God-given and Constitutional rights) to be able to just “willy-nilly” shoot any of us down in the street because he or she gets a “rush” out of the situation and, without thinking, pulls a loaded weapon and kills us, and then acts as if they did no wrong. I despise cop killers, but I also despise cops who will, or “cop wannabes” who kill; because in both instances, their mind was not focused on a situation.
William Gerald Smith
Lancaster, Pa.[[In-content Ad]]
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There seems to be no end to the incidents of black men being killed in altercations with police or security personnel.
This latest incident out of Tulsa, Okla., makes me furious! What in the bloody hell was a 73-year-old male doing involving himself in a police chase of an unarmed man (black or otherwise), and after one officer had the man on the ground, this old joker reaches for what he thinks is a Taser, only to pull the trigger on a real gun, fatally wounding the men?
This is not “Mayberry RFD 1961,” this is “America 2015.” In no way should someone over the age of 50 even be a police officer on the streets, anywhere in this nation.
Police work is dangerous! It calls for a keen, sharp mind, fast reflexes, but also the ability to assess a situation, and the ability to think fast, and bring any incident to as fast a resolution as possible. Hopefully with little to no violence.
No one in their 60s or 70s needs to be allowed in a position of police work carrying a loaded weapon.
What if I were to arm myself, go out on the street, see a police chase (on foot or in vehicle) and decide to involve myself in the chase, see an opening, and shoot a suspect dead? The press, legal community and public would be outraged and a sure prosecution would follow.
I recall speaking with a cop friend back in Warsaw in the early 1990s, and told him, “There are certain careers in which a person is good for only a certain number of years: physician, surgeon, judge, prosecutor, teacher, police officer etc.” He accused me of being an “armchair quarterback.”
That may be, but at least I haven’t killed an unarmored civilian, or sent some innocent soul to jail, and soon.
All humans make mistakes; but those in a position of authority must be held to a higher standard than the general public. We cannot allow those who are supposed to protect us (as well as preserving our God-given and Constitutional rights) to be able to just “willy-nilly” shoot any of us down in the street because he or she gets a “rush” out of the situation and, without thinking, pulls a loaded weapon and kills us, and then acts as if they did no wrong. I despise cop killers, but I also despise cops who will, or “cop wannabes” who kill; because in both instances, their mind was not focused on a situation.
William Gerald Smith
Lancaster, Pa.[[In-content Ad]]
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