“To protect life and property through the enforcement of laws & regulations”
According to the University of North Carolina, this is one of the many duties of what it means to be a police officer. The profession of a police officer is where one is lawfully committed to defending the innocent and apprehending criminals.
Less than a week ago, a 13-year old, Adam Toledo, passed away after being shot by police officers in Chicago. Adam was allegedly running from the police, armed with a gun, when the officers shot him in the chest and he was declared dead on-site. When people heard the news of this incident, many protested that the Chicago department had not yet released the footage of the encounter that “left a seventh-grader dead”. The descriptions of the incident, such as Adam being armed, are purely based on police allegations. The body-cam video will be released soon, but the general public is wondering why the police department was delayed in telling the Toledo family what happened to Adam.
The Toledo family was informed by the police a mere two days after their son’s death. “They had a lot of options, but not kill him! They could have shot at his leg, his arm, up in the air -- I don't know, but not kill my baby," said Adam’s mother. The police department reports that officers are not trained to shoot in the arms and legs, and shooting in the chest would best immobilise the fleeing criminals. The inability of officers to shoot in non-vital areas caused the death of the 13-year-old Adam Toledo and many others.
So, how is it possible for innocent citizens to be shot by the very law enforces that serve to protect them? As we all know, the Black Lives Matter movement is more than combating racism. It is also a movement to combat the systematic racism and prejudice in the police force. George Floyd, a 46-year old African-American man, was caught by the police after having a counterfeit $20 note. He was pinned and suffocated by officers, and died shortly after. This police encounter was one of the many events that caused an uproar against racism and police brutality.
Adam Toledo’s mother said he wanted to become a police officer when he grew up. The same people he wanted to grow up to be in the future were the same ones who took that future away from him. The inability of police officers to protect innocent bystanders, and instead use their power to harm them, has been an ongoing issue of injustice around the world. The careless acts of police officers have affected countless families who deserve justice for what the police have done to the people they love. The number of innocent people taken wrongfully by the hands of the police is astonishing, and there have been no appropriate consequences for the officers who do this. The officers involved in Adam’s death have not been charged with criminal offences, and the officers who killed Floyd were only put on trial after public sentiment and protests. Not only did these police officers wrongfully kill these innocent people, but they also managed to get away with it. If a person, without a blue uniform and badge, committed the same actions these officers did, what would have happened?
Police officers have the privilege of being protected by the law, but they should hold equal responsibility for their actions as much as anyone else. The lives of these people, Adam Toledo, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor and countless others, have all been taken by the hands of racist, miscreant officers. Being a police officer cannot be a privilege in which one can wilfully kill innocent people and get away with it. Being a police officer is a role in which one is devoted to protect others and save lives, regardless of ethnicity, age, and personal bias.
Written by Rumaisa