Just heard a Chicago police officer has been shot, his weapon taken and 3 suspects loose on the public now with nothing to lose. Please God don't let them run into a mother and her kids on the way home from daycare or the grocery store! We don't know the officer's condition - whether it's a flesh wound, head wound or he's going to be paralyzed as swelling and nerve damage sets in and can never work again.
In a world where seemingly one-third the teenagers usually carry a weapon of some kind - mainly probably to try to keep themselves safe from compatriots who are also armed and at least some to fight off cops - and with little judgement at their young age, it's got to be so hard for a cop to know whether or not he's dealing with a kid with little judgment or an adult and either could be strung out on drugs. Today many teens look like full-grown adults, already 5' 10" and over in height and often already filled out and muscular by the age of 15 or 16! How can a cop tell he's dealing with a teen, an adult or whether he's unarmed in a split second of panic when at a huge portion of the male teens seem to be carrying some kind of deadly weapon on his person.
I wonder how long are best cops will even bother to stay on the force with the many pressures foisted on them by politics, some of their own city governments and media hype today. If I were a cop, I think I'd seriously considering quitting and go into private security or some other line of work rather than lay my life on the line knowing not only are so many thoughtless teens out there for me to possibly face down but a whole genre of cop-hating anarchist types who don't like that their brothers, husbands and sons keep getting shot while involved in some type of fight with an officer on what seems like a routine encounter on the face of it.
High School Students Carrying Weapons | Child Trends
Bear in mind, the third carrying weapons are teens in school! In some communities, few of the teens attend school and one can rationally assume that an even larger percentage of those teens carry deadly weapons, as at least a portion of them likely trade in drugs and robbery to make money they can't otherwise come by!
P. S. Update: Just heard on CNN, the officer shot in Chicigo is dead at the scene while his killers are still on the loose WITH HIS WEAPON plus any of their own weapons and the public at their mercy!
End of watch 9-1-2015 and R.I.P., Officer. Prayer to your family, friends and brothers in arms.