Homework Responses Wk 8

Good Afternoon Class,

 

Currently, in the area I grew up in, there are numerous riots across the city of Philadelphia and spilling into the surrounding suburbs. The events began due to a police officer-involved shooting. The suspect was wielding a knife and was refusing the verbal orders from the authorities. Due to the suspect refusing to cooperate, two of the officers opened fire, hitting the subject multiple times.  As a result of this incident, hundreds of bystanders began to form and assume a mob-like mentality. Looting soon began from the unruly mob, leading to roughly 76 individuals being arrested and 30 Officers injured as of Monday night.

Lessons learned from this event are as follows. The first thing that comes to mind and it was also stated in the news story, why did the Officers not use tasers? Having the ability to subdue a subject without using deadly force, should be an option for all law enforcement responding to a call. I am not saying the Officers were in the wrong or it was not a clean shoot, but not carrying a taser seems irresponsible. The mother of the shooting victim stated her son had mental illnesses; therefore, he might not have been in the right state of mind to respond to the Officer’s orders. I believe an EMT unit should have also been on the scene, they are better prepared to handle a mental illness situation. As long as the scene was controlled, as meaning people cleared away from the suspect, I think calling for a medical professional would be warranted.

Angry mob mentality was the result of this incident. Philadelphia is a big city, the law enforcement has resources at their disposal, unlike a smaller city. Once it was understood that a mob was forming, and the initial responders would not be able to handle the situation riot protocol should be initiated. The use of barricades and roadblocks can assist in directing the movements of the crowd to make it more manageable. Counter rioters may be involved to protect businesses or buildings and can distract the rioters from their task at hand. Utilizing vehicles or other barriers to channel the direction of the mob away from store properties.

 

Regards,

Riley

 

Looters ransack Philadelphia businesses during 2nd night of unrest. ABC News. Retrieved from https://6abc.com/looters-ransack-businesses-during-2nd-night-of-unrest/7394645/