US- Discussing the police culture of killing people as a routine practice

By SJ Otto

While this site is not for the Democratic Socialists of America faction, I thought this part of their recent meeting was important. The police in the US are routinely taught to kill people rather than arresting them. It is safer for the police, but shows no respect for the rights of a suspect. Here is the notes to their meeting last Sunday evening.

Teaching cops to kill people was among the discussion held at this months DSA meeting, Sunday evening. Less than 20 people were there. A film clip of Dave Grossman, encouraging police to learn to kill people instinctively, as a part of routine training, was shown at the meeting.

A person in attendance explained that police are trained to be part of a culture of killing people. It is similar to being in the military were Grossman explained that killing a suspected criminal, is necessary to save the live of both the police and the other law abiding citizens who he said are at risk if such lives are not taken. Grossman spans the country, giving lectures on how police can kill a suspect rather than taking a chance that trying to arrest that suspect might end in a violent retaliation.

Several film clips were shown from a sight called PoliceOne.com. There were several examples of Grossman giving lectures in which he encourages police to kill a suspect rather than taking him in. He tells cops to consider every encounter life and death—as in the military.

 It was all about eliminating dangers to the policeman. What was missing was any respect for the rights of the accused. In one film they show two policemen pulling over a car for running a red light. When the officers approach the car, one of the policemen notices that he had a past run in with the passenger in the car. There was a gun in the glove box. He screams at the suspect to put up his hands and not to move. The officer takes the gun out of the glove box and puts it on the ground. For some reason the suspect tries to open the car door and both police shoot the unarmed man. The narrator explains that the passenger had been arrested and sent to 13 years in prison for aiming a gun at some cops. It was for that reason that this policeman felt justified in firing on the suspect even though he was unarmed at the time. The narrator explains that this is a justified killing because of what this suspect did 13 years ago.

Captain Higgins targets suspected gang members

This video was discussed at the meeting. This Higgins person seems to think he is like Dirty Harry. He taunts suspected gang members, inviting them to get killed by him. His attitude is vulgar and he seems lack any respect for human life.