Do We Need Police?

Ongoing police brutality is systemic and requires action at the most fundamental levels. The basic premise that police must be aggressive and dominate every situation is wrong. Immediate domination increases tension and tense situations need to be defused, not escalated.

Police in the United States are allowed to fire at will and shoot to kill. Their rules of engagement need to change. The concept of terminating a life based upon a perceived threat must stop.

Police need what our military has always had— clearly defined rules of engagement for the use of force. The National Guard in Ferguson adhered to them and every branch of the military has clearly defined rules of engagement prior to deployment. The police should have even stricter rules for using deadly force than our military. Lets put it in perspective, in some countries the police don’t even carry guns.

We’d Be Safer with the National Guard

So, why don’t we just eliminate the police forces in the US? They could be replaced by the National Guard. The National Guard know how to follow rules, and in situations where they use force, they have well defined rules of engagement. They do NOT fire at will and shoot to kill.

Yeah, I know, the military isn’t supposed to patrol our own people, but what do we have today? I’m not the first to call it a Police State. Until the police forces are retrained, they could do the paperwork for the National Guard. Three 8-hour police shifts would eliminate the overtime that often doubles an officer’s pay. Honest. Click here to see the City of Oakland, California’s police overtime pay. If we relegated the police to only doing the paperwork, we could cut the costs of police protection in half and probably give the National Guard a raise.

Fire Only When Fired Upon

But, just defining their rules of engagement isn’t enough. The police should have even stricter rules than our military for using deadly force. A policeman should only fire his weapon after being fired upon. This simple rule of engagement will eliminate deaths of unarmed civilians, children carrying toy guns, and any other action mistaken by police to be aggressive.

Police, with all their professional training, typically only hit their targets about 28% of the time. Civilians are undoubtedly less accurate than that — so that gives an officer all the buffer he needs before firing his weapon — because even if he’s fired upon he’ll likely not be hit. It also guarantees that the officer will try every other non lethal action prior to reaching for a terminal conclusion, just like in countries where the police don’t carry guns.

Yes, it’s a dangerous job, but the only acceptable goal as a society is zero mistaken deaths. Not less deaths. Not a few deaths. Zero deaths.

National Guard’s Rules of Engagement

As I mentioned, the National Guard’s use of force involves six levels before using deadly force (taken directly from the National Guard regulations, link at bottom). Here they are:

(1) Level One — Officer Presence. The mere presence of uniformed law enforcement or National Guard personnel is often enough to stop or prevent most situations from escalating. At this level gestures by National Guard members should be non-threatening and professional. This level of force is always the best way to resolve any situation if possible.

(2) Level Two — Verbal Persuasion. Used in combination with a visible presence, the use of the voice can usually achieve the desired results. The right combination of words in combination with presence can de-escalate a tense situation and prevent the need for a physical altercation.

(3) Level Three — Empty Hand Control (unarmed defense techniques). Certain situations will arise where words alone will not reduce the aggression. At this point, National Guard personnel will need to get involved physically.

(4) Level Four — Chemical Agents. When the suspect is violent or threatening, more extreme, but nonlethal measures must be used to bring the suspect under control, or affect an arrest. Before moving to this level of force, less physical measures should have been tried or deemed inappropriate.

(5) Level Five — Temporary Incapacitation. To use force at this level means that the situation was so extreme, violent, and immediate that it was necessary to temporarily incapacitate a suspect prior to arrival of the police. Temporary incapacitation is used to stop a suspect from injuring you or others long enough to restrain and handcuff them.

(6) Level Six — Deadly Force. National Guard forces may use deadly force when it can be justified by extreme necessity.

There are four requirements for the use of deadly force: (a) Lesser means of force have been exhausted or are unavailable. (b) The subject must have the ability to cause you or another serious bodily harm or death. (c) You or another must be in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death. (d) Its use should not significantly increase the risk of death or serious bodily harm to innocent bystanders.