Unlike most Americans, I’ve followed all these cases VERY closely. To date, ONLY 2 of all the high profile cases fit the bill for “unjustified shootings.” One was that of John Crawford III, shot and killed in an Ohio Walmart because a malicious prank 911 caller phoned in Mr Crawford carrying an air rifle by the barrel as “an active shooter” scenario. The other was James Boyd a white homeless man shot and killed over “illegal camping” in New Mexico. 2 cops were convicted of murder in that case.

In EVERY other case the people shot were either attacking police (like Michael Brown), or were armed and refused to comply with police demands, or actively resisted arrest. NO American is allowed, by law, to disobey police commands, or confront police over perceived injustices in the street. Disobeying some orders, like “keep your hands where I can see them,” will often get a person (rightly) killed.

I’ve never been a cop, but I did spend some of my youth…collecting private debts. You may, or may not be surprised that many “deadbeats” tend to get belligerent with collectors. I worked for people who didn’t take no for an answer. Some of them were Hasidim from NY. They didn’t accept excuses AND they had such a strong political influence that, well, we had a pretty free hand in “collecting.”

One rule I never broke was, “NEVER give a deadbeat a fair fight.” I was fit and could fight, BUT anyone can get lucky in a fight. So, I always had associates around, blended in with the area….you’d never see them. IF a deadbeat wanted a fight, I’d pretend to engage so that he could be quickly incapacitated with a stun gun.

They were then packaged and taken to warehouse, usually in Brooklyn, stripped naked (to check for weapons, valuables, ID), then we’d pour gasoline on them, or lay out an array of sharp implements, etc. The idea was to terrorize the person, so they’d pay what they owed. YES, sometimes, some of these patrons got hurt…rarely, very badly…if they wouldn’t pay quickly enough, some might have even gotten “lost” here, or there.

One thing I KNOW is that while “victimized,” NONE of those deadbeats who got “the treatment” were victims. You know? Hell, they brought it on themselves. I considered my job in those days to be, “Helping dumb, reckless and irresponsible people understand their obligations.” I’m proud to say, I almost NEVER failed, except in those rare cases where someone may have gotten “lost.”

It’s the SAME with policing. You & I know that we WANT….even DEMAND that our streets be policed. People like us don’t break the law, so we rightly expect others to do likewise. We also seem to KNOW that Police are paid ONLY to bring suspects before the courts, NOT to hear any evidence of innocence, complaints, rants, etc. in the streets.

We KNOW that merely stepping away from an arresting officer, proclaiming, “I didn’t do anything,” constitues “Resistng Arrest.”

We NEED better, more effective non-lethal weaponry (more effective tasers, more immediate acting tranquilizers, etc) AND we need onboard computers that enable remote shutoff and locking of doors remotely (available now) to be MANDATED. Soon we’ll have an environment in which police car chases no longer happen (they’ll just remotely shut down the car and lock the occupants inside). The moment someone fails to cooperate with police, they’ll be incapacitated (rendered unconscious), packaged and transported to holding. NO fuss…no muss.

In the meantime, what I…and I hope you, as well, should support would be (1) much stiffer penalties that can’t be bargained away in any deals and must run consecutively NOT concurrently with any other sentences and (2) tether government benefits (SSI, Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, etc) to public conduct. I can envision a tech solution that would allow officers on-scene to cancel a belligerent’s government benefits. That individual would then have to go to the courts to see when they can get restored.

We must find new ways to command compliance from individuals, often reluctant to comply. Something more advanced than my own decades old low tech solutions.