Dallas Cop Shootings

July 7, 2016 was already an unusual day and night for the officers of the Dallas Police Department in Texas. Dallas, like more than a dozen other major cities in the U.S., was home to a massive Black Lives Matter protest to denounce the shooting of two unarmed black men by police. Officers were having to deal with enormous crowds, heckling, and mid-summer heat. They had no way of knowing what was to come next. A lone wolf, with an extreme hatred of police officers, was about to inflict the worst casualty rate on a police force since the September 11th terrorist

Support/Evidence/Elaboration ; nypd officer was killed by a gunman in an ambush attack while patrolling a bronx neighborhood. On the other sides of the country a ups employee entered his san francisco workplace armed with two guns and opened fire, killing three of his co workers and injuring two others before turning the gun on himself.

9 shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old who had scuffled with Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, came just a few weeks after Eric Garner — an unarmed black man accused of illegally selling cigarettes — died in a struggle with white New York City officers. Garner’s death was captured by an onlooker’s video. Brown’s was not, and word quickly spread that he had been shot while surrendering with his hands up — an assertion uncorroborated by state and federal investigations.

The effects of the police actions have brought on fear for me and every African American in the city of Dallas. When being pulled over by a police the fear of being killed or antagonized by the police weighs heavy on the hearts of thousands in the city. Being pulled over and feeling guilty of a crime not committed by yourself is the worst feeling because you know in the eyes of Dallas police department officers your guilty just because of the color of your skin. Things should change because living in fear isn’t living at

In August of 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, an 18-year-old African American boy by the name of Michael Brown, was shot and killed by an on-duty police officer during the investigation of an alleged, strong-arm robbery (Clarke & Lefte, 2014). The incident ignited protests and violent riots that continued for several weeks throughout the United States. Similar high profile deaths of Eric Garner in New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, and Freddy Gray in Baltimore, have resulted in mass protests against law enforcement. For many, a deep divide was forged in the relations between law enforcement and the public; trust was lost on both sides. “Normally, official accounts of police fatally shooting black teenagers rest largely on the words of

Week three I wrote about a shooting that took place in Dallas, Texas when gunshots were fired killing five police officers. It concluded with the gunman, 25 year-old Micah Xavier Johnson of Mesquite, Texas, being shot dead by the Dallas police after attempted negotiations failed. Videos showing two men shot by police in both Louisiana and Minnesota created protests in Dallas and lead to erupting fire. The gunman's house was warranted to search; bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition, and a personal journal of combat tactics were all found. The amount of shooters were unknown, but when the shooting started twenty protesters that had been carrying rifles scattered the area. It was a very well thought-out attack that took

12 shots fired in mid day August 9, 2014 in Ferguson Missouri where 18 year old unarmed African American male Michael Brown was shot and killed brutally by a white police officer also known as Darrell Wilson. Headlines for this case were very dramatic as this was a popular topic throughout the United States in 2014 and also 2015 mainly because of the interracial conflict between law enforcement and Black America. Headlines for this case were very dramatic, the media abused his racial defense drawing the attention of all black American across the country. This case sparked a lot of negative attention resulting in riots, protest and many passionate debates throughout the majority of African American communities. These riots led to numerous interracial wars between the law enforcement and predominately black communities all over the U.S, protest went on for months. Social media channels and news broadcast stations continued discussing the racial relations between African-Americans and law-enforcement while waiting on trail. This case was a tragedy to the Ferguson community, family, friends and supporters. “hands up” was publicized immediately advocating to stop killing unarmed BLACK men, also hoping to seek justice.

That changed in February, however, when police attacks against nonviolent demonstrators increased. On the night of 18 February, Alabama state troopers joined local police breaking up an evening march in Marion. In the ensuing melee, a state trooper shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old church deacon from Marion, as he attempted to protect his mother from the trooper’s nightstick. Jackson died eight days later in a Selma

On August 9, 2014, a young, unarmed, 18 year old, black man named Michael Brown was shot to death six times by 28 year old, white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a town just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. Some say Officer Wilson was protecting his life, I call it police brutality. The brutality has led to an uproar of all day protesting and looting, and cops and even the National Guard are working double time to keep everything under control. There are many things that led up to the shooting.

Yes I do feel that our police departments generally do a good job of screening applicants. The Knoxville Police Department employees 397 police officers to protect the city of Knoxville, which had a population of 185,638 in 2015 (UCR, n.d.). According to the statistics on officer involved shootings from the Knoxville Police Department there showed to be no shootings in 2015 but in 2014 there were five officer involved shootings, three of which were fatal for the suspect (knoxvilletn.gov, n.d.). In each of these cases the officers were exonerated from liability as their actions were found to be within departmental policy (knoxvilletn.gov, n.d.). I feel that the psychological testing of incoming officers is an important aspect to ensure we hire the most professional officers for our police forces but sometimes individuals with behavioral or mental issues can be missed and any individual who exhibits such traits or bias should be dealt with or dismissed from the force to avoid issues that could impact the entire

Within the past decade there have been several accounts of fatal police shootings. Law enforcement deems deadly force as a justifiable homicide. Not all cases are investigated in its entirety. Stricter laws on police officers should be forced to prevent riots, senseless killings and promote equality.

Ferguson, Missouri the town where 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, was killed by Officer Wilson, a white police officer on August 9, 2014. Protest had begun in Ferguson, but many of the protester were nonviolent and felt the police were racially profiling black men. Three months later, the Grand Jury released its verdict to not indict Officer Wilson. The verdict led to protests that became violent quickly. The protester began to loot local business such as a McDonalds where they flat screen TV’s. People also broke into the liquor store that Michael brown stole the cigarillos from. The protesters that broken into the liquor store stole sodas, chips, and other snack food items. Not only was there looting, but there was many gunshots that rang in the town. According to Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County Police Chief, “… personally heard about 150 shots fired.” Belmar claims that none of his police officers fired shots at protesters leading to people’s conclusions that it must have been protesters shooting.

We are deeply saddened by the tragic shootings last night in downtown Dallas, the loss of life of so many police officers, and injury to officers and citizens. It is a horrific reminder of the brokenness of our world and its need for prayer and healing.

While the Tri-State is more than 1,000 miles from Sutherland springs area pastors are responding to the tragedy. Church leaders say the Texas shooting is sparking a conversation amongst their members about what unfolded and what can be done.

When the shootings were questioned as “…civil rights violations…” the investigation known as the “DOJ Resolution” was put into motion (Mckay and Proctor A1). Supporters that are against the shootings voice their own ways of fixing this problem. One supporter suggests that APD should change their use of deadly ballistics and commit to the use of “bean bag” guns because they are less than lethal and that they have great stopping power. Another supporter thinks all APD officers should be trained in “CIT” (crisis intervention training), which would support a passive and non-deadly approach to de-escalating a problem before it gets out of hand (Heinz C2). I personally think these suggestions may be the best way to come to a mutual agreement between those against police shootings and the police department.