To Torture and to Murder

That's what cops do now.  Catching bad guys is way down on the priority list but not as low as actually preventing crime. Serving the public got deleted long ago.

 

Carimah Townes at Think Progress:

In March alone, 111 people died during police encounters — 36 more than the previous month. As in the past, numerous incidents were spurred by violent threats from suspects, and two officers were shot in Ferguson during a peaceful protest. However, the deaths follow a national pattern: suspects were mostly people of color, mentally ill, or both.

Digby explains:

This is what tasers were supposed to be used for --- as substitutes for lethal force when dealing with potentially dangerous situations that should not call for gunfire. But most police believe tasers are there to punish people who are already in custody for being non-compliant or to shut people up who are asking too many questions. They believe that lethal force is perfectly justified in all situations where they could conceivably claim they felt afraid. So basically the taser has done nothing to prevent gun deaths and basically just serves as a legal torture device.

Studies show that it's likely half the people killed by police are mentally ill. And it's not as if police aren't aware of better strategies out there to deal with the mentally ill.  Apparently, they just couldn't be bothered.