There is no easy way to say it:America has a gun obsession, and it is becoming a serious problem. Amongst both citizens and armed police. The statistics prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that more people are shot to death in the US by cops than in any other developed nation. Canada has only had 25 people within one year. Or England and Wales combined which have a police fatality rate of 59 people over the last 20 years. Germany’s rate is 15 police fatalities in a 2-year time span, and Australian police have shot and killed 94 people in 19 years. These numbers are outrageous, and it is unbelievable to think they are so much better than American statistics.
If only we all could model our countries to be more like Iceland. Iceland stats shows that the police in that country have been successful in patrolling their lands and borders having only killed one person in 71 years.
Well, considering that the deaths in the United States average more than 1000 fatalities per year, there definitely seems to be a problem. American police still have the Cowboy mentality. It doesn’t help that the United States government does not regulate or hold police accountable for their actions. With that being said it is difficult to accurately state just how many deaths do occur and how many have been swept under the rug and are unaccounted for. Even though the US has 5 times the population compared to the UK it puts the statistics to 333% higher fatality rate.
There is no way to change this unless police officers are trained on how to engage situations without blasting people away like it’s the Alamo. Police put their lives on the line every day and are sometimes forced to make split-second decisions to use deadly force, and while this is understandably difficult I don’t think it is outrageous to ask them to be trained to make those decisions a little more rationally. Can the police survive the brutal streets of America without using deathly force and costing innocent people their lives? The answer is yes.
In Seattle, Washington they are putting that question to the test. For the past several years police recruits have been sent to Scotland to be retrained, not as warriors or defenders, but as guardians of the peace and protectors of the public. Several hundred of United States police officers from all over the country have also been flown to Scotland to learn all they can from a country that has unarmed police officers patrolling the streets. Perhaps with this new training and way of thinking, the slogan all United States police have on their vehicles will once again become true, and they will be called, “To Serve and Protect” instead of “Shoot and Inspect”…