Small police departments struggling with high crime and low budgets tend to pay fast-food wages, may employ officers with troubled pasts and can miss out on opportunities to learn from mistakes.
Two Seattle police officers shot and killed Charleena Lyles on Sunday. Her family is accusing the officers of not doing enough to de-escalate an encounter with a person known to have mental problems.
Three officers were killed and three others injured in a shooting in Baton Rouge, La., on Sunday. The three slain officers and the suspect have been identified. The motive, however, is still unclear.
Politicians, police officers, and media personalities have all gotten blow-back for inflammatory social media posts about the shooting of officers in Dallas.