"The nation was in shock. This does not happen in our country," said Thora Arnorsdottir, news editor at RUV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.
She was referring to a 59-year old man who was shot by police on Monday. The man, who started shooting at police when they entered his building, had a history of mental illness.
It's the first time someone has been killed by armed police in Iceland since it became an independent republic in 1944. Police don't even carry weapons, usually. Violent crime in Iceland is almost non-existent.
"The nation does not want its police force to carry weapons because it's dangerous, it's threatening," Arnorsdottir says. "It's a part of the culture. Guns are used to go hunting as a sport, but you never see a gun."
In fact, Iceland isn't anti-gun. In terms of per-capita gun ownership, Iceland ranks 15th in the world. Still, this incident was so rare that neighbors of the man shot were comparing the shooting to a scene from an American film.
The Icelandic police department said officers involved will go through grief counseling. And the police department has already apologized to the family of the man who died — though not necessarily because they did anything wrong.
"I think it's respectful," Arnorsdottir says, "because no one wants to take another person's life. "
There are still a number of questions to be answered, including why police didn't first try to negotiate with man before entering his building.
"A part of the great thing of living in this country is that you can enter parliament and the only thing they ask you to do is to turn off your cellphone, so you don't disturb the parliamentarians while they're talking. We do not have armed guards following our prime minister or president. That's a part of the great thing of living in a peaceful society. We do not want to change that. "
Update, August 20, 2014: We checked back in with the Icelandic Police to get an update on this shooting in December. The superintendent says the police have not used firearms since.
In some instances, people don't respect the authority, in others, they can't respect what authority is.
Basically my only comment on what is going so far, and also that people shouldn't use race as an excuse out of an arrest, or out of something they did. Secondly, Police shouldn't use an excuse that it was legal, the word in law sometimes isn't perfect, and actions abiding by the law sometimes isn't morally right. That's why we prefer human intellect over artificial intelligence, because we can decide through instinct and moral reasoning.
Although the Icelandic police were well within their right to use force, they still were quite respectful and overly professional about the incident, unlike police force here in the U.S., yes?
How about this one?
"Seaside, CA — A 20 year veteran of the CSU Monterey Bay police force, was given a notice of termination this week for choosing NOT to immediately resort to violent escalation during a confrontation with a suicidal student.
The unidentified officer was the first one on the scene when responding to an incident involving a suicidal college student in his CSUMB dorm room in February of this year. The officer showed a heartening level of restraint when dealing with a student, who was in his room with a knife and hammer, and was also threatening to light himself on fire.
“He was clearly a danger to himself and he was in crisis,” Marina Police Chief Edmundo Rodriguez said. “We were trying to keep him from accessing the weapons or leave, to get him medical attention.”
Instead of immediately resorting to violence, this officer was talking the student down and de-escalating the situation. The officer was successful in calming the student down and was going to get him a glass of water when the Marina police department showed up, and immediately began tasering the student.
The campus officer refused to taser the student, as he did not perceive a threat. Subsequently Rodriguez’s department later issued a “failure to act” complaint against the campus officer, accusing him of not engaging in a “highly agitated situation.”
“It defies logic and is extremely disappointing that, at a time when law enforcement is under fire for using more force than necessary, an officer is being terminated for attempting to use civilized methods to resolve a situation,” the student’s father said.
“Our officer did not believe he was any threat at all,” said Jeff Solomon, the union’s president.
“The other officers started yelling and screaming to get down, Tased him multiple times, and from what we understand (told the university officer) to Tase him again,” Solomon said.
The officer has been on paid leave since April according to his attorney who said she will now file a lawsuit against the university.
“We believe the officer in this case exercised restraint and good judgment in not tasing a student that was suffering from mental health issues,” said the officer’s attorney Kathleen Storm.
This incident highlights the sick and twisted state of today’s police force. Darren Wilson shot and killed an unarmed teenager, and was not fired. Officer Daniel Pantaleo of the NYPD, placed Eric Garner in a chokehold, a maneuver which has been prohibited by the department since 1993, eventually killing the man. The entire incident was caught on video and Pantaleo was not fired.
This campus officer chose to use non-violence to try and resolve a situation, instead of killing or maiming a person, and he is being fired for it."
This campus officer chose to use non-violence to try and resolve a situation, instead of killing or maiming a person, and he is being fired for it.
Being fired for doing his job. Props to him for saving the students life.
On the other hand, the police's first instinct shouldnt be to tase the kid when the situation is clearly under control. Its sad.
“It defies logic and is extremely disappointing that, at a time when law enforcement is under fire for using more force than necessary, an officer is being terminated for attempting to use civilized methods to resolve a situation,” the student’s father said.
Being fired for doing his job. Props to him for saving the students life.
He acted better than his job guidelines apparently prescribe in such situations. I could argue that it is important for a policeman to follow guidelines if lives are at stake; which was likely the reason he got fired. What I cannot understand is that apparently those guidelines leave absolutely no room for the policeman to personally evaluate the situation and consider a different approach, rather than indiscriminate violence . It is nothing new that some policemen vent the pressure they experience by harsh actions, but that such a procedure is given as the way to act is highly questionable.
Something different I suddenly wonder about is, why was the student tasered, but the 12 year old kid with the imitation gun shot? What's the logic?
I think there needs to be reform with what the police do- but we always must try to see past media hype first. Police brutality sure does exist, but its important to realize the media's influence.
What I cannot understand is that apparently those guidelines leave absolutely no room for the policeman to personally evaluate the situation and consider a different approach, rather than indiscriminate violence.
That would be the joys of the U.S. legal system. If a cop tries to talk someone down from suicide when they aren't trained to do so and instead says something that pushes them over the edge then the department (or in this case the campus since he was a campus officer) is potentially liable in a lawsuit. As a precautionary measure police protocols demand quick non-lethal action to physically stop a suicidal individual from killing themselves or others. It's the same bs system that will cause a school to punish a student more for trying to scare away a group of bullies with a weapon than the bullies who outnumbered the student and instigated the conflict.
Something different I suddenly wonder about is, why was the student tasered, but the 12 year old kid with the imitation gun shot? What's the logic?
Electrical currents can cause involuntary muscle spasms like finger twitches that could cause a gun to go off. If the cops think you're going to shoot them they'll shoot first. This also prevents collateral damage since the hollow point rounds standard for police are less likely to penetrate something or ricochet and kill a bystander than the standard rounds used by civilians.
I would like my original comment to be ignored as I wish to add to it.
How can you call them barbaric? There are hundreds of cases where American police have shot and killed civilians for less. There was one case where the man was shot because he refused to remove his hands from his pockets, they were there because of a domestic disturbance call. He didn't have a gun, he wasn't threatening the police or anything, he simply didn't remove his hands from his pockets. and so they shot and killed him. There are so many of these cases in the US that calling this barbaric is simply hypocritical. Also
It's the first time someone has been killed by armed police in Iceland since it became an independent republic in 1944. Police don't even carry weapons, usually. Violent crime in Iceland is almost non-existent.
The First time in 70 years, 70 whole years without a single person being killed by the police, Yet last year, over 750 people were shot and killed in america. ( http://www.killedbypolice.net/kbp2013.html ). What's recorded is about 400 police killings per year, even though it's much higher as some agencies aren't even sending reports.
A former FBI agent and criminal justice professor, Jim Fisher, actually took a whole year to see what he could find, so he trawled the internet few times a day, everyday for a year. He came up with 1,146 shootings by police officers, 607 of them fatal shootings. ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/09/08/how-many-police-shootings-a-year-no-one-knows/ ).
Another specific case is an officer that killed a known schizophrenic boy. ( http://www.wect.com/story/24367610/officer-involved-shooting-reported-in-boiling-spring-lakes )
There are so many more stories that I could link to but you get the picture at this stage.
There was one case where the man was shot because he refused to remove his hands from his pockets, they were there because of a domestic disturbance call. He didn't have a gun, he wasn't threatening the police or anything, he simply didn't remove his hands from his pockets. and so they shot and killed him.
I think some people just aren't cut out to be a member of the police. Understand that psychologically it is a super stressful job- not that this is justifying shooting a unarmed citizen who called in for domestic violence. Heck, in this case, youre a freaking cop, cuff him temporarily if he isnt cooperating- The gun should be the last resort and I feel in many cases cops are trying to be television stars and whip it out when they see anything possibly suspicious.
But is America as bad as these countries??
http://www.wonderslist.com/10-most-corrupt-police-forces-in-the-world/
I never said it was the worst, or most corrupted, just that it is a long way off from the Icelandic police force in dealing with criminals in a non-violent way, ultimately saying that calling them barbaric whilst holding the american police force as an idol means you have quite the skewed mental picture of barbarianism.
Also I would like @DSM 's opinion on all these responses.
ultimately saying that calling them barbaric whilst holding the american police force as an idol means you have quite the skewed mental picture of barbarianism.
Right. Although keep in mind this
Iceland Population: 323,000 people
America Populatin: 316,000,000 people
In addition, comparing just about any country to Iceland as far as violent police would make that country look bad hahaha. Iceland is a nation of 323,000 people and 90,000 guns, yet somehow their homicidal rate per 100,000 people is something like 1.2 people..... thats insane.
Correct me if my stats are wrong.
A cop was fired a few days ago for an incident in February in which a suicidal college student was talked out of it. The cop didn't perceive a threat, and had successfully deescalated the situation through negotiation. Other officers arrived and immediately tased the student multiple times. Link.
Wait wait wait...
Granted, I've only quickly skimmed through the comments here, but I don't see anything that addresses this.
I also don't have any more information that that which was posted here, I didn't further research the case. However, if the following information is accurate...
She was referring to a 59-year old man who was shot by police on Monday. The man, who started shooting at police when they entered his building, had a history of mental illness.
There are still a number of questions to be answered, including why police didn't first try to negotiate with man before entering his building.
So the police enter this guy's building (for reasons unmentioned) and he starts shooting at them. The police were wrong in shooting this man and bringing "olice brutality" to Ireland?
Oh, wait, I get it.
The police should have talked with the man and seen if they could get him to stop shooting before they were all dead. Instead they said "no thanks," proceeding to gun down the innocent man.
And that's why this is a perfect example of police brutality.
