Without making any judgement myself here it seems that there is a big difference in mentalities between EU and NA. Many Americans are still stuck in the wild west "hang-the-horse-thief" mindset and are even proud of that. A criminal forfeits his life once he breaks the law - no matter the circumstances. A naked knife-wielding schizophreniac yelling on the street is gunned down there. In Germany they'd send in a maille-clad police thug armed with a baton to do the job. Proportionality has a higher importance over here. Also paper work for fired rounds is a bitch and a good beating once in a while is fun when not on the receiving end.
NAs are natural born ranged f4gs
Most American citizens do not have that mentality. Even the conservative minded folks mostly don't believe you should be killed for not complying with police officers. It's the police officer's who have that mentality you're describing. A lot of the stereotypes about police officers are true. Usually one of the following is true for police officers: They were bullied as kids, they were really terrible when it came to sports, they have a small penis, they had an abusive father. And a good portion of them are ex-military and have some severe mental problems after serving tours of duty in war zones (basically acting as law enforcement in hostile cities and villages). People in positions of power are there because they seek that power and control over others. We're only starting to see more and more of these incidents with the digital age of cameras on everyone's phones. The police are tasked with investigating their own when incidents like this happen, and they unsurprisingly side with the police officers most of the time. Other police officers are unwilling to call out their fellow officers when they see them doing something morally (or legally) wrong as well, and that only adds to the "us vs them" dichotomy that both the police officers and citizens feel towards each other.
It is ridiculous in this instance that they gunned down someone who was turning to run away from them. That is unacceptable. However it is also unacceptable to wave around a weapon near police, and not follow their commands. You are quite literally risking your life if you do that. I don't expect the police officers to put their lives on the line trying to apprehend an unstable person with a knife who has had multiple chances to comply with their commands. But there are better ways to disarm the suspect without going trigger happy and saying "BOOYAH" when you shoot a guy in the back in cold blood.
Every kid in America is taught you obey the police officers, and never brandish a weapon (or even a look-alike) weapon in front of a cop, or you could very well get shot. I don't expect a police officer to try and determine if the gun you are holding is real or fake, if you raise it up they are going to defend themselves. It's not the movies, people don't hold guns pointed at each other and scream "Drop it", if you raise a weapon towards a police officer, they will take action to make sure they go home to their kids at the end of the day.
It's sad you MUST have armed officers on the streets but yes I guess in US (and other parts of the world) you do. But that's another topic altoghether
The problem are the officers themselves and recruitment policy, imo it needs to be way more strict than it currently is not in US only but everywhere especially in my corrupt little country where police officers are mostly scum and are not here to serve and protect but to opress and take advantage the badge provides (ease of getting and dealing drugs, prostitution, extortion) not to mention they are not respected a bit in the community. Never had a cop help me, probably never will...
This post reminded, me I forgot to mention if you score too high on the IQ test, you will fail the police recruitment exam. They don't want people who are able to make informed and moral decisions. They want blind obedient drones who will follow orders without asking questions or rocking the boat. Add this to the previous statements I made about people who seek positions of authority (i.e. law enforcement) and the relatively low pay that they make, and it's really no surprise our law enforcement officers are a lot of the time, scraping the bottom of the talent pool/humanity barrel.
Our law enforcement officers in this country are not tasked with going out and protecting the public and serving the public. They are tasked with generating revenue for the cities and states they work for (by catching people speeding and hoping to find drugs or drunk drivers or warrants). They are also tasked with responding to calls for assistance from the public and fellow officers. They are a reactionary force used to generate revenue and to investigate crimes after they happen. Our whole usage of police officers is wrong in this country.
