Sadly, the police, at times, have to kill. A decision has to be made in a split second as to if someone poses a threat to life, or if they do not. This post is made over the death of Chris Kaba and the decision to charge the police officer who killed him with murder. I am making it based on information which is in the public arena and this may change after any investigation and/or trial.
I do not like the way people have defended the killing of an unarmed man based on his past. The police officer who made the decision to shoot to kill was probably not aware of his past. What the police officer was asked to do was to make a decision to act in a situation when other police officers were at risk. Unarmed men have been shot before by the police. Examples include Mark Duggan, Jermaine Baker, Jean Charles de Menezes and Usman Khan. Some of these are considered my many to be justified, others may disagree.
Mark Duggan was transporting a firearm that had been used in crime. He was unarmed when he was stopped, and from what I understand of the events, was shot when he was probably trying to get rid of the gun. The police officer who made the decision to kill him, had to make it before any other officers were taken down. If he had not been stopped, that gun would probably have been used in other crimes.
Jermaine Baker had an imitation firearm. The police officer who shot him had not been told that it was not a real gun and when the decision was made to kill him, it was based on the threat that he was felt to pose. Failures here rest with not telling the officer that there was no threat, not with the officer who killed him.
Jean Charles de Menezes is a much more complicated case. London was braced for another terror attack after the July 7th attacks which murdered so many. The police had to cover lots of suspects and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some attempted to justify his killing, saying that he should not have run but the officer who shot him was under the assumption that he was a terrorist and was to repeat the attacks earlier that month. The fault is not with the officer who killed an innocent man, but with the whole system leading up to his death.
Last of all, Usman Khan. When he was killed, he was unarmed. He had murdered by then and was wearing a fake suicide vest. The police officer who killed him again did what was felt to be appropriate at the time, though in hindsight, with full knowledge of the facts which were not known at the time, he could have been captured instead.
Many have spoken out against the deaths of unarmed black men. I think that the deaths of the men I have included here were justified in the moment of the decision to kill them, though in hindsight, with knowledge of the facts which where not known to the officer at the time, the wrong decision had been made. It is ironic, though also appalling, that a woman who spoke out against the deaths of unarmed black men is herself the victim of gun crime.
I am not going to defend the deaths of people like Joy Gardener because that was not a split second decision. That was a stupid and fatal decision which should not have happened, and once made, could have been reversed before the horrific consequences occurred.
I am not going to defend the way that Black people are disproportionally searched when white people, who are eight times less likely to be searched, are more likely to be carrying drugs.
What we need to do is accept that individuals are entrusted by us to make literal life and death decisions to protect us. Too many police officers have been killed. I do not want more to die.
