Slippery slope arguments

A police officer in Phoenix, Arizona shot and killed a 29 year old man and the dog that lived at his residence on Tuesday while responding to a domestic violence call. There were 2 officers present at the time of the shooting. The other officer reported that the man was unarmed and that the dog was barking but was not threatening either one of the officers. The officer that shot the man was arrested on aggravated assault charges Tuesday evening. Prior to the shooting, the officer had put his gun to the temple of the man that was later shot and killed.

This really hit a nerve with me and I wanted to write about it. I've already read articles that make a slippery slope argument in favor of not charging the officer with murder. Basically, they say that police officers need to be confident in the face of danger and that convicting officers for shooting suspects will cause them to hesitate and the end result will be that the hesitation will put them in danger. I think that's bullshit. I understand that cops need to be confident while on the job but we as a society don't want them to be so confident that they think they can shoot unarmed men without the risk of prosecution. The slippery slope argument works on both sides of that mountain and in my opinion the side of the mountain that allows cops to murder unarmed citizens is much more dangerous.

 This is the way I see it. We are all very lucky that the other officer didn't cover for him or else he might have gotten away without a hitch. If this situation is as bad as it looks at first glance his blatant disregard for his actions says one of two things to me. Either he went crazy, in which we can all breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that it is probably an isolated incident, or he was completely competent at the time and just thought that he could get away with it. If the later is true, we have some serious reform measures we need to take in regard to our law enforcement. He was a nine year veteran of the police force and if in those nine years he became confident enough to think he could get away with what he did, we need to take a look at what goes on in the police force to allow that to happen. If indeed he did think he could get away with it, there have most likely been numerous events in which he has gotten away with more minor offenses as a result of having no accountability or rather having other officers (the presumed accountability) turn a blind eye. The fact that he even thought another officer would cover for him for something like this raises very valid concerns about the ethics of the entire force. I'm not saying the entire force is corrupt but I am saying that the concern is valid and needs to be investigated and addressed properly.

Basically, I think we as a society need to raise the red flag here and publicly hold the system accountable during the due process that is going to ensue. We need to calmly stay informed while he is given his right to a fair and speedy trial by a jury of his peers. If he is convicted of murder I think prosecution to the full extent of the law is very warranted in this case and I think we as a society need to cry out for justice. We cannot allow people in authority to murder unarmed citizens under the color of law. This is a very important issue and should not be neglected by the public.