Police Killings Debate

The cluster discusses police use of lethal force, particularly shootings of unarmed or non-threatening individuals, accountability for officers, comparisons to murder rates and executions, and criticisms of police impunity versus defenses citing risks to officers.

📉 Falling 0.3x Politics & Society
3,705
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#7807
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Keywords

washingtonpost.com US nbcnews.com deathpenaltyinfo.org I.e UK NOT killedbypolice.net USA www.cnn police killing gun officers shooting cop cops officer killed violence

Sample Comments

stOneskull Sep 1, 2020 View on HN

you make it sound like the police are a murder cult. they shoot because of a crime incident.

tolmasky Apr 20, 2013 View on HN

Is killing a police officer worse than killing a "normal" person?

kevin_thibedeau Sep 18, 2019 View on HN

The police aren't supposed to be shooting unarmed people.

yeetawayhn Jun 26, 2020 View on HN

Summary execution is not what is happening when a police officer kills someone who is a danger to others.

einpoklum Dec 11, 2021 View on HN

In many (most?) countries, cops often get away with killing people without actual cause which could justify a non-cop killing a person. And if the person killed is stereotypically disdained (prisoner, member of oppressed ethnic group, homeless person etc.) - then they almost always get away with it.

virmundi Nov 2, 2018 View on HN

The police in the US a) don't attack people as often as it feels like, and b) know there is a good chance that the jury won't hold them responsible due a belief that police are inherently good. The police are not a valid comparison population.

dboreham Dec 30, 2017 View on HN

I don't see anyone here asking this: how many people are police killing who are not 100% innocent bystanders like in this case, but still didn't need to be killed? I mean, we're all outraged because they shot "some dude in his PJs" but doesn't that imply they must be shooting 10, 100x as many folks where we'd be thinking "well, he shouldn't have had a knife in his hand" or "he shouldn't have been high"?Where I live, small town i

viraptor Dec 30, 2017 View on HN

Multiple policemen killing random unarmed people is not the worst?

smsm42 Aug 26, 2016 View on HN

Reports never killed anybody. You can't kill a person with a report. Police is not some mindless robots that are programmed to kill on a press of a button. They are humans, and they should bear full responsibility for their choices, not somebody who asked them to perform their direct function (for which they are paid from the same person's money, btw).

scotty79 Jul 22, 2015 View on HN

Not sure why you're getting down voted. It might be true given the number of people killed by the police in the US for whatever reason: http://killedbypolice.net/ and number of people legally executed in the US for various crimes: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/execution-list-2015Some police k