Law Enforcement Officers Are Criminals with a Badge. It’s legal in US.

It is beyond embarrassment when news of law enforcement officers gunning down an unarmed civilian comes to the wire. It is a tragedy that should have been just an accident. And yet, it is a situation that’s repeated over and over and over, across the country. Law enforcement officers are turning into “criminals with a badge”, thus a license to kill without any accountability and with impunity. It gets worse. Their partners usually turn a blind eye, and even lie for them at times; the precincts they belong to stand by them, thus providing legitimacy to their heinous crimes, and making it legitimate for other law enforcement officers to continue on the same path. That is unacceptable in a civilized society.

There should be ZERO excuse for any law enforcement officer to shoot an unarmed civilian. The mistake argument should be completely ruled out. We expect a trained law enforcement officer to exercise restraint, even in the face of danger. There should be no ambiguity as to when a law enforcement officer is allowed to draw his weapon; under one and only one circumstance, if the assailant has his weapon drawn and shooting or attempting to shoot, and the law enforcement officer cannot safely take cover.

There should be no other circumstance under which a law enforcement officer is given a pass for shooting an unarmed civilian.  We cannot continue to make excuses for law enforcement officers when they commit the murderous act of gunning down unarmed civilians. More often than not, their first reaction when responding to an incident is to reach for their gun.  That is unacceptable in a civilized society.

While no one suggests that a law enforcement officer puts his life in jeopardy, neither can we go along with the rationale that he makes a mistake by gunning down an unarmed civilian.  That is unacceptable in a civilized society.

The primary duty of a law enforcement officer is to protect the citizens of his community; everyone in the community should feel comfortable seeing, interacting with law enforcement officers. Just the opposite is true today, almost everywhere. There is a palpable distrust and disdain for law enforcement officers; and it’s justified most of the time.

The trigger happy law enforcement officers should be taken off the streets, retrained, re-assigned or relieved off their duty, for anything less is unacceptable in a civilized society.