In 2015, statistics show that 1,138 people were killed by police officers, 212 were unarmed. Of the 1,138 victims, 302 were white, 194 were Hispanic and 578 were black. The number of police officers convicted of murder or manslaughter for fatally shooting a civilian was zero.  The Huffington Post recently published an article titled “How many officers were convicted of murder in the past year for on-duty shootings” The title should have read “How many officers were not convicted of murder over the past year for on-duty shootings.” The article discusses the sense of injustice served for these officers and continues an in-depth discussion revealing the average number of fatal shootings that occurred in the past 10 years compared to how often justice is served to those officers. The facts presented are appalling, as previously stated not one cop was convicted of murder or manslaughter in 2015. That pattern follows suit back to 2014, in fact, the last time an officer was convicted of murder while on-duty was nearly four years ago. Furthermore, there has only been 13 successful convictions since 2005 while the number of deaths has reached an average of 1,000 fatal shootings each year. 

National reporter, Matt Ferner then follows that up by trying to explain why certain justifications are being made for these officers. He presents the outcome of the landmark case from 1989 “Graham vs Connor” which ruled the standards on convicting a police officer in these cases. The case “[specified] against judging [police] to harshly…in tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving situations” which therefore gives officers plenty of breathing room to justify as to how their actions could be considered “legal”. In 2014, 117 officers were killed in the line of duty, that number raised 4% in 2015, bringing the number to nearly 130 officers killed in the line of duty. The fact was declared that a majority of those deaths were caused by traffic-related events. This topic of discussion is so controversial because the average person hasn’t experienced either ends of these scenarios. Picture yourself in the officer’s shoes, you’re faced with a “heat-of-themoment” situation, It’s all unknown, and it’s easy to be quick to react when you don’t know what your suspect is capable of. The fact is, if a man or woman is standing in front of you with their hands up, they may be armed or unarmed but has done nothing make you fear your life, why is it acceptable for you to make them fear theirs and then take that life in an instant? To further that notion, if protection for your own life is needed why has the gun become the primary source of protection, when every officer carries pepper spray and/or a Taser gun which offers enough force without taking the life of a civilian. This is where the unjust actions of police officers are being questioned and action needs to be taken or this fateful problem will never cease.  
 

Every life lost in these cases is a tragedy, no matter what race, gender or age. Several landmark cases have taken place over the last few years and have sparked this wide spread controversy. Cases such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and Tamir Rice have formed movements such as Black Lives Matter which is an “ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise”. This program strives to give justice to those who have lost their lives and support the individual’s families. Their most recent attribute was published in honor of 12-year old Tamir Rice who was shot by officer Tim Loehmann, at a park in Cleveland for waving around a toy gun. Tamir’s sister, Tajai Rice, who was present at the scene of her younger brother’s death, describes the unnecessary force inflicted on her and her brother. She describes how she had come outside of the Cudell recreation center, after hearing a gunshot to see her brother laying, shot on the ground with neither officer offering any aid to the bleeding young child. As soon as she attempted to run to her brother’s side an officer attacked her to the ground, put her in handcuffs and placed her in the back of the cop car. Aid was not given to the boy until 14 minutes after the officer shot him when paramedics finally arrived, he was pronounced dead 9 hours later at a nearby hospital. 

In an interview on the Today show with American journalist, Lester Holt, Rice’s mother Samaria Rice & sister Tajai Rice reveal their hopes in receiving justice for the son and brother of the two. Holt asks Rice’s mother the question, “with so many cases like Michael Brown and Eric Garner swarming, racial tension is at a high and speculations are being made, do you think the officer shot your son because he’s black?” Rice’s lawyer, who was also present at the interview, answered by saying “we don’t know what was in his heart, so we don’t want to make speculations, but we do think the matter could have been handled differently” meaning that rash, extreme force wouldn’t have been used “[if] it was a different community and the officer had been trained better” which made the point that it’s not to say that Loehmann went to work that day with the intention to go kill a 12-year old black kid but it has been proven that a different level of force is shown between certain races and training for officers should inflict that a gun should not be a primary source of force. Looking back on the topic of how difficult it may be for an officer to make decisions in uncertain, rapidly evolving situations such as this, Holt then asks “is it possible that this was racially motivated or was this a panicked, fearful cop who made a mistake?” in controvert of this question, the video shown displaying the entire layout of Tamir’s death, does show rice with his hands near his side, but he does not show any sign of threat towards the officers with the toy gun. The video then shows Loehmann step out of the vehicle and shoot within two seconds of doing so, if Loehmann had enough time to shoot Rice he had enough time to pull out a Taser gun and bring the 12-year old to the ground, instead of fatally shooting him. After a thorough investigation, the grand jury has declined to charge either officer for death of 12-year old Tamir Rice, leaving the Rice family in despair, and America with another case on injustice. 

As previously stated, large controversy over this topic is currently swarming in the US, causing racial tensions to climb. Both American officers and American citizens are fearful of the damage this could cause. Possibly sparking another uprising, as we saw in the 60’s with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Although our country has made immense progress since the severe segregation which took place over 50 years ago, and African Americans are not the only victims in these situations. Many are fearful that if this pattern continues and justice is not served, a large divide in our country will occur, Leaving this nation’s government with a bigger issue at hand. Justice needs to be served, meaning our justice system needs to pass a more equal conviction standard for officers, comparable to the standards civilians are held to. Also a more sufficient training needs to be put in place. Which explains a major key, in that the gun should not be an officers primary source of protection, because no life should be taken over an accusation.