Are plane crashes are only caused by gravity, or is that engine that caught fire somehow related?
Please, don't be pedantic. Police make mistakes, and have their own biases, to boot. If you call them on some random non-white person in your neighborhood, and disaster ensues, you're partly culpable.
It's not pedantry. Gravity has no will and no choice, thus blaming gravity is useless. Police does have will and choice - it's not a law of nature that if you call the police they'll kill somebody, police is not a gun or any other mechanism that you just fire. These are people, who have free will, minds and responsibility for their actions. That's the whole point, only humans can take blame, and when their choices result in bad results, they should take blame for their choices, not redirect it to others.
> Police make mistakes, and have their own biases, to boot.
You say it as if it's some kind of excuse. It's funny that for reporter have biases is a culpable offense, but for the police it comes out as a defense instead. It doesn't work this way. In fact, random civilians have full right to be wrong, police are (or supposed to be) trained professionals that are paid to be better than civilians at this. So for them to behave worse than a random civilian should be a firing offense, not an excuse.
> If you call them on some random non-white person in your neighborhood, and disaster ensues, you're partly culpable.
Nope. The police function is to protect people. If they instead hurt innocent people, this is their fault, not somebody's that called on their direct and proper function. Their refusal to perform the function is their fault. Just as if you walk on the street and get mugged, you are not "partly culpable", because you could've walked on other street or stayed home - people who mugged you are fully culpable, because it was their choice to do it.
If you assign blame at the wrong place, they only result would be that people that need to change won't change, and you get more of the same problem. Which we are amply witnessing right now.
But the sad reality is whether it's a mistake or prejudice, police wield deadly force, so calling them always has the possibility of someone dying.
Should they be held to a higher standard? Yes. But many aren't, and until that happens, thinking otherwise is wishful or naive. If you call the police, and it spirals out of control, you DO bear some measure of responsibility. Not as much as the actual police, but it's not zero, either, especially if your call is racially motivated.
Mugging isn't a counterexample, because the mugger and the muggee have completely opposite desires in the situation. Nobody calls up a mugger and invites them to their neighborhood. Whereas, when you call the cops, you're somewhat in alignment.
Please, don't be pedantic. Police make mistakes, and have their own biases, to boot. If you call them on some random non-white person in your neighborhood, and disaster ensues, you're partly culpable.