The Jacob Blake shooting is one of those rare circumstances where the "We need better police training!" people may be right...in a way.

There is a video used in some police training/orientations that shows an officer being shot and killed during a traffic stop. 1/

The video is real footage taken from the officer& #39;s dashcam. I don& #39;t recall the jurisdiction but it& #39;s a small town/rural area and the officer knows the guy he& #39;s pulling over.

The officer doesn& #39;t take control of the situation, at his peril. 2/

The officer orders the man to put his hands up--at gunpoint, if memory serves--but the man doesn& #39;t listen. He& #39;s ignoring all commands and reaches into his pickup truck.

From the view, you can& #39;t tell what he& #39;s doing but the officer is panicking and staying near his cruiser. 3/

Suddenly, the man pulls out an AR-15 and points it at the officer, who screams as he is shot to death. It& #39;s traumatic as hell to watch.

I thought about that video during every traffic stop I witnessed during ridealongs. 4/

When trying to teach cops to be vigilant, they& #39;e being taught to be scared.

On top of this, current law & doctrine for police shootings has been summarized by @ScottGreenfield as the "reasonably scared cop rule." The law *incentivizes* officer fear. 5/ https://blog.simplejustice.us/2016/07/07/the-first-rule-of-policing-and-alton-sterling/">https://blog.simplejustice.us/2016/07/0...

So, yes, in a very real sense we need better training for police officers. But it& #39;s not as simple as harping on "de-escalation" or providing alternatives to lethal force.

The fearful mindset of police officers is literally killing Americans. /fin