From: [r--s] at [cbnewsc.cb.att.com] (Morris the Cat)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Anti-Gun Police Chiefs Cause Brutality
Date: 8 Jun 93 18:06:02 GMT
Organization: Blue Moon BBS ((614) 868-998[0245])
Release Date: February 12, 1993
TRIGGER-HAPPY POLICE CHIEFS
By James W. Crawford
It would be comforting to think that the infamous
encounter between Rodney King and four Los Angeles police
officers was just an aberration rather than a sign of a
trend. Unfortunately, there is evidence that the nation's
cops are being pushed by their bosses to become more
violent.
While there is no national reporting system on cases of
police brutality, the FBI attempts to track the number of
people who are killed by the police through its
Supplementary Homicide Reports program. The number of
killings has risen by 20% in the last five years (from 299
in 1986 to 366 in 1991). A disproportionate number of the
people who are killed by police officers are minorities,
particularly black males. Over 40% of the people who died
at the hands of police in 1991 were black.
The FBI does not attempt to estimate how many of these
killings by the police might have been unjustified. Private
researchers who studied 1,500 incidents concluded that the
use of deadly force was not justified in 40% of the cases
and very questionable in another 20%.
While simple racism is often blamed for police
misconduct, paranoia may be the real culprit. Portland,
Oregon recently witnessed a dramatic increase in shootings
by the police. In one incident, a 46 year-old grandfather
was shot at least 28 times during a drug raid by narcotics
officers wielding German MP-5 submachine guns. While the
officers claimed the suspect pointed a gun at them, the
physical evidence suggests that he was actually holding a
cigarette lighter and had his hands raised when they opened
fire. The autopsy revealed that the man had been shot sev-
eral times in the front and side of the chest while he was
standing, and over twenty times in the back after he
collapsed face down over a chair. The police chief warned
"the shooting was a sign of things to come as criminals
become better armed and police try to match their fire-
power."
The ideas that the police are losing an arms race to
criminals has recently become pervasive in police culture.
Numerous articles that make this claim can be found in law
enforcement trade publications. One article on gang
violence reports that the traditional hispanic gangs armed
with knives, clubs and "Saturday Night Specials" have been
replaced by black gangs armed with semi- and fully automatic
"assault rifles." One of the authors of this article was
none other than former Los Angeles Chief Daryl Gates. It
was published in the November 1990 issue of The Police Chief
magazine, just a few months before the beating of Rodney
King.
Fortunately, however, the image of police officers
being mowed down by gangsters is not an accurate reflection
of reality. The number of cops murdered in the line of duty
has been on a steep decline for the last two decades,
falling 30% in the last decade. (104 officers were murdered
in 1980 compared to 71 in 1991.) The FBI reports that 1990
saw the fewest number of cops slain since they started
compiling statistics in 1961. The number of assaults
against police officers did not increase during the 1980s.
It is also clear from the statistics that criminals are
not trading in their "Saturday Night Specials" for military
style assault weapons. The use of these types of firearms by
criminals actually decreased during the Eighties, according
to reports from police firearms experts in Florida.
Seventeen of the policemen slain in the 1980's were shot
with so-called "semiautomatic assault rifles." Seven were
killed with semiautomatic "assault pistols" such as the TEC-
9. An officer is more likely to be murdered with his own
gun than with the attacker's weapon. The .38 caliber
revolver continues to be the weapon of choice for cop
killers.
While the number of police officers being slain by
criminals has fallen, incidents in which officers are shot
and killed by their colleagues in cases of crossfire and
mistaken identity have increased. Twenty-seven officers
lost their lives in these types of situations in the last
six years compared to only 19 in the previous six years.
Police firearms training experts agree that excessive fear
can warp an officer's judgment so that he does not recognize
a fellow officer. The same kind of paranoia can cause him
to shoot an innocent civilian when he sees an imaginary
weapon.
The nation's police officers have been victimized by a
myth. The idea that there is a drug dealer armed with an
Uzi or AK-47 hiding under every bed has been carefully
nurtured and exploited by the gun control lobby to advance
its agenda. The message is reinforced by movies such as
Lethal Weapon III and television programs like Miami Vice.
Unfortunately, some of the nation's top ranking law
enforcement officials, including former L.A. Chief Daryl
Gates, have endorsed this myth, since it furthers their gun-
banning agenda. It is time to put a stop to this
dishonesty, which is getting police officers and innocent
citizens killed.
James Crawford, a gun researcher living in Oregon, wrote
this article for the Denver-based Independence Institute.
This opinion piece was sent to 250 US newspaper editorial
boards as part of the Independence Institute's Firearms
Research Project. The project also publishes longer research
papers, including:
* Why Gun Waiting Periods Threaten Public Safety (62pp,
stabled). $8.00
* Do Federal Gun Traces Accurately Reflect Street Crime?
(11pp). $6.00
* Children and Guns: Sensible Solutions (90pp, GBC bound).
$12.00
* The "Assault Weapon" Panic: Political Correctness Takes
Aim at the Constitution (94 pp, GBC bound). $12.00.
* The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America
Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?
$28.95 + $4.00 ship
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