The fatal shooting of Walter Scott in North Charleston in April, 2015
I ran across a most interesting podcast from Prof. David A. Harris on his site, “Criminal (In)justice” concerning where we are today in struggling with the reasonable use of force by police. In this podcast, Harris has recently interviewed George Washington University law profess Cynthia Lee who updates us on bills in the California and Maryland legislatures addressing this problem.
During the last five years, case after case of “questionable” uses of police killing unarmed citizens – even people running away (as in North Charleston).
More often than not, police officers who use deadly force do not face charges and when they do, juries often acquit them.
Listen to this excellent discussion on this current topic — where we seem to be headed after Graham v. Connor (1989)
Professor Cynthia Lee, is one of the leading thinkers on use of force law, and she’ll discuss proposed changes.
I served over 20 years as the chief of police in Madison (WI), four years as chief of the Burnsville (MN) Police Department, and before that as a police officer in Edina (MN) and the City of Minneapolis. I hold graduate degrees from the University of Minnesota and Edgewood College in Madison. I have written many articles over my years as a police leader calling for police improvement (for example, How To Rate Your Local Police, and with my wife, Sabine, Quality Policing: The Madison Experience). After retiring from the police department, I answered a call to ministry, attended seminary, and was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. After 25 years leading two Episcopal Churches in Portage and North Lake, Wisconsin, I now serve as Associate Pastor in a growing, dynamic, and Spirit-filled Lutheran congregation in nearby Black Earth. After losing Sabine, my wife of 40 years to cancer, I met Christine, a retired nurse and widow. We were blessed to find love again and married in 2021.
View all posts by David Couper
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 