Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Shoot To Kill?

The debate rages on: To give the police more fire power or not. Those in favour say: > the level of crime is so high > the number of police killed by criminals each year is unacceptable > the present laws are actually weighted in favour of the criminals: when the cops return their fire, they (the cops) often find themselves in the dock. Reasonable points. Those who are anti say: > there are large numbers of criminal cases against police personnel, suggesting that the service has been infiltrated by a dodgy element. > the spectre of a rampant gun-happy police state is just too awful. Most of us have seen footage on TV about other countries who have that situation. > where will the line be drawn? Already an innocent woman has been gunned down in her car because police thought the car had been hijacked. It hadn't And she was shot to death.
Also reasonable points.
So what is the answer for our country, I wonder?

7 comments:

Laura said...

I am dead against. I am VERY anti guns and dont beleive people have the right to decide who lives and dies.

Having said that I do agree that a firmer approach is needed in SA with criminals - maybe not THIS firm BUT maybe the intention is not to really shoot to kill but merely to imply they WOULD.

Shayne said...

What worries me is the 'trigger happy' cops we have out there who are not quite right in the head, who think it fair to take the law into their own hands when they don't need to.

There are a fair amount of crazies in our police force, this has been proven time and time again - and they are the personnel i worry about.

But we do need a more safer environment for our children to grow up in.

I'm so tired of hearing about death/shootings/murders etc on the news.

allie. said...

I hear ya both -
Its enough to scramble our brains hey?

Lynette Jacobs said...

Whenever one of my loved ones are touched by crime or violence my heart tells me that "zero tolerance" is what it is going to take. But then my mind tells me that there is so much corruption and criminal activity within the police force...that an option like that becomes very scary indeed.

Terry said...

I don't live in South Africa, but we have more than our fair share of crime here in the USA. I can't speak for your country, but I can speak for ours. I believe that everyone has the right to bear arms and protect their family and themselves. Just because you disarm the public, doesn't mean the criminal forces won't have guns. Yes, sometimes innocent people get killed by the police force, but way more innocent people get killed by criminals. I'm not speaking for anyone else, just my personal take on the subject.

allie. said...

@ Terry - thanks for your input.
I think the situations in the USA and SA are rather different.
This is not about people's right to have arms but about proposed new laws to allow the police to shoot to kill criminals.
Up to now, because of the Human Rights excesses, police who fired on criminals often landed up in the dock themselves.
On the other hand, we seem to have far too many case of criminality inside the police service so the thought of giving them "licence to kill" more easily is frightening

Terry said...

Thanks Allie
I see, just a different problem than what we face here. Have a great day!