protectionist
Diamond Member
- Oct 20, 2013
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News reports on the shooting of Justine Damond by police officer Mohammed Noor, have lots of people baffled. They can’t seem to figure out why the cop would shoot this nice, law-abiding lady.
I think I may have the reason. News reports with a re-creation, show the woman walking toward the police car with her hands down at her sides. It shows her hands below the level of the top of the car’s door, and thus, out of the line of sight of the 2 officers. The cop, fearing for his life, has to think if the approaching stranger were to suddenly show a gun and fire, it would take a split second for that to occur (not enough time to react defensively). For Officer Noor to not shoot, would in essence, be gambling with his life.
So is there any blame in this ? Yes. I think there might be. It might be “our” educational system (or Australia), which is dominated by liberals, who simply don’t know much about police, guns, or criminal law. I went through 17 years of formal education in public schools. Not one minute of it, taught me anything about how to interact with police. Nothing about guns. Zero about criminal law.
I asked my sister (a public school teacher) >> “What is the most important thing to do when confronted by a cop ?” She asked 7 of her fellow teachers. I heard answers like >> “Be polite”….Follow instructions”…etc. While these may be important, they are not the MOST important. None of these 8 was able to come up with the right answer, which is >> Always have the cop able to see your hands.
If you allow your hands to disappear from the cops view, you could be (and probably will be) shot.
If all these teachers didn’t know this, then obviously their students wouldn’t come to know it either
I think I may have the reason. News reports with a re-creation, show the woman walking toward the police car with her hands down at her sides. It shows her hands below the level of the top of the car’s door, and thus, out of the line of sight of the 2 officers. The cop, fearing for his life, has to think if the approaching stranger were to suddenly show a gun and fire, it would take a split second for that to occur (not enough time to react defensively). For Officer Noor to not shoot, would in essence, be gambling with his life.
So is there any blame in this ? Yes. I think there might be. It might be “our” educational system (or Australia), which is dominated by liberals, who simply don’t know much about police, guns, or criminal law. I went through 17 years of formal education in public schools. Not one minute of it, taught me anything about how to interact with police. Nothing about guns. Zero about criminal law.
I asked my sister (a public school teacher) >> “What is the most important thing to do when confronted by a cop ?” She asked 7 of her fellow teachers. I heard answers like >> “Be polite”….Follow instructions”…etc. While these may be important, they are not the MOST important. None of these 8 was able to come up with the right answer, which is >> Always have the cop able to see your hands.
If you allow your hands to disappear from the cops view, you could be (and probably will be) shot.
If all these teachers didn’t know this, then obviously their students wouldn’t come to know it either