See, here's the core of the problem. You recognize that if the fleeing teenager jumps in a car and a high speed chase ensues that endangers the public it is a bad outcome. This is obvious because catching the shoplifter right this second isn't that important. Get enough information, look for a better opportunity, enforce the law. The shoplifter isn't going to slip out of the country with his ill gotten gains. He isn't going to go home and let admiration for his criminal exploits turn him into a mass murderer. There's really no rush here.
For the most part I see the sense of what you are saying. However you are ignoring something very important which Liberals (on my side of the political fence) seem prone to ignore: Justice. Sure this is not typically of mass importance when dealing with shoplifters and stores (as they usually won't see their entire business collapse under the weight of shoplifting). But what about when something invaluable is stolen by someone? What about when a woman is raped and killed and the worthless sociopath is allowed to get away with it because of Liberal sensibilities? What good is opposing capital punishment when we have a case like this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_Massacre ? That Wikipedia page does not even begin to really capture the horror of what those two men did to those people. It was acts too sick to depict in any legal movie.
I know you were not talking about capital punishment here but I think this is all relevant because when we start down the path of ignoring justice (for thieves, speeding drivers, etc.) and end up denying justice for the victims of crimes (and their families/friends) so sick and violent that G.G. Allin would have vomited a little in his mouth hearing about them, we have real problems. Overpopulation and an inability to put the Hitlers/Bundys, Carrs and Dahmers to death results in bad things.
But you don't seem to recognize that confronting the teenager in a threatening manner and triggering a fight or flight response and ending up shooting them dead is just as bad an outcome, if not worse.
False. There were definitely times when I should have ended up dead because of my own decisions when I was young and I am very glad I am not dead yet but I also got smart about these things. Part of that 'smartness' is not prejudging cops irrationally and then treating them as if they are like the jackbooted thugs I imagined when I was younger. Similarly I do not walk into biker bars and start jabbering "Old rock and roll sucks!" or "Trump and his supporters are morons!" because why try to provoke likely armed men to violence?
Things like this are what cops should be trained to make decisions on.
They ARE trained to make decisions on these matters, far better than you or I ever could be. They just do not get credit for such because 'MAH CONSPURAHSEES!'
Things like this are what
everyone should demand something be done to prevent. Instead half the public just shrugs and says "well, he probably had it coming" or "well, that only happens to black kids not my kids so it's okay I guess."
True situation and outcome:
Guy crashes his car and is disoriented. Cops help him out of his car and put him in the back of a patrol car, suspecting he's a DUI. Cops find a gun in his wrecked car and run his info finding he has a felony record. Now he is a felon in possession of a firearm. They want to get him out of the car, cuff him, and arrest him. They open the door and he refuses to get out. A cop "goes in to pull him out" and in the struggle he "grabs for the cops gun" and gets "justifiably" shot dead by multiple cops.
Do you say "well a felon in possession of a firearm was surely about to commit some heinous crime so great." Or do you recognize that the guy was locked in the back of a squad car. This wasn't exactly a hostage situation requiring an immediate 'breach and kill' response.
I cannot believe YOU went with that?! Of course the guy deserved to be shot dead three times over! He tried to grab a cops gun!! Of course he intended to use it on those cops because what other possible reason could there be?!