Police officers do not need guns

Patrolling a neighborhood or making a routine traffic stop is not the same thing as raiding the compound of a drug smuggler accused of murder

A police officer.
(Image credit: Illustrated | richterfoto/iStock)

What would happen if American police officers carried whistles instead of guns and dressed in old-fashioned blue uniforms instead of outfits that make them look like they are about to ask us how long we've had these droids? Would the country descend instantly into a chaos of looting, arson, and mass murder? Or would we just go on with our lives, commuting to jobs, raising children, watching sports, whatever — the same routine, albeit with a little bit less of the low-key anxiety that comes with seeing cops with weapons?

The recent slaying — probably a murder, as it would not appear that the death was accidental — of Botham Shem Jean in Dallas is a tragedy. It is also a perfect illustration of what is wrong with American policing. Jean was allegedly shot in his own apartment by Amber Guyger, a Dallas cop who seems to have entered his dwelling under the mistaken assumption that it was her own. How in the world it was possible for her to persist in this delusion, having presumably ignored the number on the door, after her entrance is difficult to say. Did the man she allegedly killed, reportedly after issuing meaningless "verbal commands" with which he was under no obligation to comply, have the same furniture as her, laid out in the same pattern? Could she have been under the influence of alcohol or some other substance? It's impossible, for now, to say.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.