04-26-2021, 09:52 PM
Lemon Drop wrote:
No drugs found in his car or home.
7 deputies on leave, 3 others resigned at the same time.
Good article about the conservative court decision that framed today's policing methods. Prior to this 1980s case, they killed fewer people. It does not have to be this way.
Split-Second Decisions: How a Supreme Court Case Shaped Modern Policing https://nyti.ms/32OsMdY
I would also note that protests to date in Elizabeth City, population 18k, have been well attended but peaceful. This state of emergency is al little dramatic I think.
That is an excellent article. I think the crux of the Court's decision comes down to this:
Many critics say the standard’s narrow focus on the moment an officer pulls the trigger obscures questions about the many choices that led up to the confrontation, noted Rachel Harmon, an authority on police law at the University of Virginia. For example, she said, did the officer rush recklessly into danger or take steps to defuse the situation?
An officer is allowed to use the whole context of things that lead them into an interaction with a citizen that can come to a detainment and arrest, including their own personal experiences as a law enforcement officer, yet they can act as judge and jury in a split second and we are supposed to not take into account the context around what lead to that split second decision to shoot? We allow officers extremely wide latitude in claiming they have probable cause to detain you and extremely wide latitude in how aggressive they can be with you while detaining you and extremely wide latitude in accepting an officer's personal feelings of fear for themselves or others in the moment they choose to shoot someone. Too damn much latitude!
As for prospects of constricting the latitude officers get, this is depressing (from the article):
But Mr. James, general counsel of the Fraternal Order of Police, brushed off all the efforts at legislation and said he was not worried. Even if states or Congress pass stricter standards “that trump Graham v. Connor,” he said much would depend on whether judges continue to instruct juries, as they often have since the ruling, about the inherent risks of second-guessing an officer’s split-second decision.
Still, I'll bet there are things that can be done through legislation that can withstand the Court's muster. The most success may come from cities and states changing laws and policing practices where those changes can be made.