QPP 31: Interview with Peter’s Mom

For about a year, we’ve tried to bring you interviews with people at the leading edge of law enforcement who speak with us about issues we think are important. It’s been our hope that in doing so, and in discussing issues we think are of keen interest to our listeners. But our listeners are criminal justice professionals. What do regular human beings think about these issues?

Episode:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/15519896

Everyone? Meet Peter’s mom, Ilca Moskos. She’s a bright, charming, opinionated human being, and Peter and she decided to sit down and talk about some of the issues of policing, to hear her thoughts on the things we talk about here all the time – mainly, actually, issues around officers use of force.

And even more specifically: Why do we always read in the newspaper that the cops shot someone 15 times?  Remember, this is the mother of a former police officer, and someone who has taken the Citizens Academy class at her local PD. She is pro-police, anti-gun….Do you guys have to shoot so much?

It sounds cruel.

From Nick: Listening to Mrs. Moskos, it’s hard not to empathize. I know what she means, and I understand how she feels. I think that my mother would say many of the same things. Questions like why police shoot so many times, or aim in certain places – I think law enforcement has continued to do a poor job of explaining these things, allowing movies and television to do it for us. And I’ve noticed that, when we do that, the movie and television writes, directors, producers, and actors do a really bad job of explaining it. I really enjoyed listening to this interview.