Duplicity on police policy

Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. said yesterday that Rayshard Brooks shooting a taser at a police officer was not a threat.  Except two weeks ago he said the police shooting a taser at Brooks was use of a deadly weapon.

Duplicity plus stupidity without accountability = Paul L. Howard, Jr.

This was an unfortunate situation that escalated unexpectedly and quickly.  Police are in a difficult situation wherein they are called to deal with an issue.  The situation is never entirely one they can control.  Manage, yes.  Deescalate, possibly. Resolve, yes.  But how they resolve it depends on the cooperation of others involved.

The police are called upon to be everything from social workers to rescuers.  They often have to go well beyond what they have been trained to do.  They are human, and mistakes are possible.  Add in the fact that there are untold thousands of police in America and it becomes inevitable that mistakes will be made.  But while most of the time mistakes are not made, when they are made to casually attribute it to racism is also a self-serving lie. 

Obviously more training, more screening, more pay will make a difference and reduce errors.  No matter what, errors will never reach 0%.  Unless there are no police.  But calls to defund the police is also an example of duplicity, because that is the exact opposite of what is needed.  No police is an error of epic proportion because those in need of police assistance would then never receive it.  Often those most in need and who will suffer are the poor, including people of every race.

Criminals would be the ones to flourish without police.  Or more consequentially, criminal organizations.  So why are so many Democrats in favor of defunding the police?  Maybe they are in the group that stands to benefit.

Defund the police should be replaced by defend the police.  They need more support, more training  and deserve more pay given what they are required to deal with on a daily basis.