Lately, many innocent people have been shot and killed by the police all over the world. These victims are not the only people that are affected. Using examples as proof from ten newspaper articles about police officers in different situations, this essay will explain how and why it is never acceptable for police officers to shoot and kill. There are many other ways to solve a problem other than killing somebody. Killing somebody always affects their friends and family harshly and when a police officer unnecessarily shoots somebody, they lose the trust of the citizens. Police officers should always try everything possible to de-escalate a situation. Shooting a gun should not be an option, but if it is necessary, police officers should only …show more content…
When it comes to police officers, it is even worse to kill others. It is necessary to at the very least, attempt to de-escalate situations before shooting a gun. Police officers usually risk their lives for people, so why not continue to in special situations? In an article by City News Toronto, an eight-teen-year-old named Sammy Yatim is shot nine times and is also tasered all because he was holding a knife. Andre Mann says: "Yatim's shooting raises the question of whether it's time for Ontario to have consistent and uniform guidelines on how police should de-escalate situations before they lead to the use of force." (City News Toronto) The use of force by police officers leads to people questioning if they are being trained properly for certain situations that may occur. In this situation, Yatim is still innocent. He did not kill anybody, but the police officer did. He should have shot to wound instead. Since they were not far away from each other, this would not have been difficult to do. In another article by Wendy Gillis, she writes about the same situation; about Sammy Yatim's death. She quotes: "Forcillo did not have to shoot Sammy Yatim; there were so many other tools at his disposal he did not try to use, according to the Crown's expert in use of force." (Wendy Gillis) Clearly, it is believed that there were so many opportunities to de-escalate the situation, but Forcillo used his gun immediately. Police officers are trained for …show more content…
They are usually portrayed as brave individuals who save lives, not take them. By taking lives of innocent people, in particular, the community loses trust in the police. Police officers have a great reputation with the people: "Day in, day out, police officers go about their duty, go into dangerous situations, unexpected situations, and show great bravery, great courage and are with people at the very worst moments in their lives," (BBC News England) but this reputation will eventually change into a bad one if police officers continue to shoot and kill. Not only will the officers be with people at the very worst moments of their lives, but they will be the reason for these moments if they continue acting like Forcillo did. Clearly, an officer surrounded by many members of his team who is still threatened by one teenager does not show great bravery or great courage. If one is not brave enough, they should choose a different career: "Over 20 uniformed police officers were present and no one stepped forward to stop the gun shots or offer any mediation." (City News Toronto) Ultimately, it is hard to deal with scenarios like this, but it is better to have a few decent police officers than many police officers who are not completely qualified for the job. Police officers should be protecting and helping all of the citizens, not killing them. Police officers are not trained to kill: