About American police officers...

[peacetraveler22]

Over the weekend, my local community experienced horror and shock after three police officers were gunned down when they responded to a domestic violence call. An active Army Sergeant named Ronald Hamilton decided to slap his wife around yet again, with their young son in the home. The boy fled when the violence started, and escaped the bloody scene that followed. As soon as the three police officers arrived at the scene, Sergeant Hamilton began spraying bullets at them. Two remain in the hospital and one was fatally wounded. It's a tragic tale, and every officers worst nightmare. The victim was one of several female officers who had just graduated from the Prince William County Police Academy on Friday. She was killed on her very first night on the job. Only 28 years old. No, this was not a response call to some ghetto area, but to a nice, suburban neighborhood, where the average house costs around $500,000. The wife was already dead on the floor when police officers arrived.

The young police officer had a bright future, and previously worked in forensics. She's pictured here with the killer beside her. The local prosecutor promises to seek the death penalty in this case.



The other officers remain hospitalized.



My community rallied together last night  to hold a vigil for the fallen police officer, but I couldn't attend. The photos were pulled from various news sources.





I see a lot of idiotic comments about U.S. police officers here on LiveJournal, with the assumption that they are all running around shooting ordinary citizens. Yet people fail to remember that America is the most heavily armed civilian population on the planet, so of course the response by American officers is different and more reactive. Statistics vary depending on the site you visit, but in 2015 American police fatally shot around 1,000 people. About 564 of the people shot were armed with a gun, 281 had some other type of weapon, and 90 were unarmed. This Chart attempts to summarize the police killings based on gender, race and other factors.



I'm very liberal on most social issues, but I don't like the anti-cop agenda that is now prevalent in some cross-sections of America, and I especially hate the slogan that accompanies this movement - "Black Lives Matter." Please tell me your impressions of the American police, based on what you know and have read. Perhaps it's time to write a report on this topic, as I have friends who serve on the local police force in Arlington, Virginia. Have you had any positive or negative experiences with police officers in Russia or the USA?

Meanwhile, I hope the scum who murdered his wife and this female police officer is executed, and quickly...

Comments

[10-4.livejournal.com]

Being police officer and all, I can't help not noticing the fact, that our guys and gals are seriously undertrained. Especially, given the fact, that any single day in any single DD they can walk into a deadly standoff.

However, did you really have to mention the "most heavily armed population"? Really? Criminals here are armed as heavily as criminals in russia or germany, and law abiding gun owners are definitely not the ones, that I worry about.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

You're a police officer in the USA, or in Russia? Yes, I think it makes a difference that the American population is so heavily armed. This warrants more aggressive self-defense action from a police officer's standpoint. The threshold of when to use deadly force should be lower here. And, in general, if you do not want to be shot be a police officer in the U.S., obey their orders and commands, and don't behave as a thug or punk. This will spare your life in almost all instances.

[10-4.livejournal.com]

I'm a sworn officer in one of the Philly burbs. And also used to be a cop overseas, back in the days, so I do have a point of reference to compare.

And as I stated, criminals are armed and agressive in exactly the same way here and overseas, which requires the same vigilance efforts. While law abiding citizens are not a concern, when it comes to that.

Least to say, I never got shot or stabbed by a person, without previous run ins with the law, while I was in fact ran over by an otherwise law abiding motorists several times.

[south-of-broad.livejournal.com]

Stay safe! And thank you!