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Barack Obama says police often scapegoated for society's failings

The president also called for greater gun regulation

Andrew Buncombe
New York
Tuesday 27 October 2015 20:48 GMT
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President Barack Obama has called for tougher gun control - both to reduce the number of shootings of both police officers and members of public. Yet he also said there was need for a debate about bias in the criminal justice system that discriminated against minority communities.

“I reject any narrative that seeks to divide police and communities they serve, that frames any discussion of public safety around 'us' and 'them' — a narrative that too often gets served up to us by cable news seeking ratings, tweets seeking retweets, or political candidates seeking some attention," Mr Obama told the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago.

He went on to say that just because violent crime was down, that did not meant things were perfect.

“We tend to lurk from shock to complacency,” he said. “At the same time, too often law enforcement gets scapegoated for the broader failures of society and the criminal justice system."

James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Mr Obama spoke against a backdrop ongoing tension between the police and some minority communities, following a series of incident where black suspects died at the hands of officers. Among these were Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York and Freddie Gray.

This week, there has been fresh attention on police behavior after a school police officer was caught on video slamming a black student onto the floor and dragging her in the classroom. The FBI has launched an investigation.

Attacks on police officers - especially those that are fatal - received widespread coverage i the US media. But data shows that 2015 is likely to see the second lowest number of fatalities in years, with a total of less than 40. By contrast, the number of fatalities at the hands of officers is more than 800.

A dozen police officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter this year resulting from shootings. That is an unusually high number, up from an average of about five a year from 2005 to 2014, according to academic research.

At the same time, FBI Director James Comey has said in recent days that fear of being accused of brutal tactics has sent a "chill wind" through law enforcement in the past year, making police less effective at cracking down on violent crime.

Mr Obama said if there were fewer guns in society there word be fewer fatalities

“It’s time to be honest: fewer gun safety laws don’t mean more freedom, they mean more fallen officers,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

“They mean more grieving families, and more Americans terrified that they or their loved ones could be next.”

He said that he refused to accept the notion that “we couldn’t have prevented some of those murders, and suicides, and kept more families whole”.

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