Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 10,554,985 arrests in 2017. Of these arrests, 518,617 were for violent crimes, and 1,249,757 were for property crimes. (Note: the UCR Program does not collect data on citations for traffic violations.) (these were the latest figures I could find)
How do those wanting police reform and those who make charges of systemic racism believe police should handle arrest in violent situations and how should they deal with suspects who resist arrest or fail to comply with police commands?
Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 10,554,985 arrests in 2017. Of these arrests, 518,617 were for violent crimes, and 1,249,757 were for property crimes. (Note: the UCR Program does not collect data on citations for traffic violations.) (these were the latest figures I could find)
How do those wanting police reform and those who make charges of systemic racism believe police should handle arrest in violent situations and how should they deal with suspects who resist arrest or fail to comply with police commands?
What this data reveals is that nationwide, law enforcement made 8,786,611 arrests for situations that were neither violent nor involved damage to property. More than 1.5 million of those arrests are for drug law violations, so if we're speaking more broadly about systemic racism in the criminal justice system, that's a major component. Some of Nixon's own aides have admitted that the war on drugs was instituted specifically to criminalize activity associated in the popular consciousness with black Americans (as well as members of the radical antiwar left). The findings are conclusive that black Americans, specifically black men, are arrested at a massively disproportionate rate for marijuana possession compared with their white counterparts, despite similar rates of usage (the difference in rates varies by area, but the gap persists in every region of the country, as high as 9 times more likely in some places, around 3.5x more likely on average). This can be ameliorated by treating drug 'crime' like the health crisis it is, rather than continuing to lock up users, but one other major factor influencing that disparity is the overpolicing of black and brown communities due to "broken windows" style police work. I realize that none of this answers the question, but it seemed like you might not be sold on the idea of systemic racism, so it seemed like a good start.
I believe that the duties of the police are far too wide reaching as things currently stand: many of the needs of the community for which police are currently responsible are not best served by law enforcement, and the police are overworked in that they're asked to do far more than they're trained for. I think that 911 calls should be dispatched to the most relevant department, whether that be detectives to respond to a crime scene or a separately run state organizations for traffic patrol, handling of mental illnesses, handling of drug abuse, or civil disputes. I also don't think any of these aforementioned actors should be armed, and I think more serious situations that require armed intervention should be handled by specialists who are called in, sorta like SWAT. These officers are only justified in using lethal force if it prevents further deaths: I mention this to differentiate between an active shooter refusing to comply and somebody running away, since the idea of "resisting arrest" could include a lot of different situations, and thus would require a wide range of approaches.
