Within hours of the guilty verdicts against former cop Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, police in Detroit shot and killed a man who had stabbed himself and was stabbing an officer.
At roughly the same time, a cop in Columbus, Ohio, had to make a split-second decision when confronted with a teen girl who was attacking another girl with a knife. He shot and killed her.
Both those instances highlight the challenges the nation faces as it attempts to curb police shootings. It's not all about regulating the police. There are broader issues of mental health, poverty and the roots of violence that also must be addressed.
That will take much more money and a lot more work than what Congress has offered in response to police shootings. Lawmakers so far are more interested in layering on more rules and red tape than finding a true fix.
Following the conclusion of the trial in Minneapolis, new calls have emerged for final passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House on a near straight Democratic vote in March.
The act offers some common sense measures, such as safeguards against turning police departments into paramilitary operations, limiting no-knock warrants and requiring more body cameras. But it also includes elements that could compromise officer safety and place the public in greater danger.
Most concerning is the lifting of qualified immunity for officers, and de facto quotas to assure that departments aren't disproportionately arresting one demographic group over another.
These measures could serve to paralyze officers who often need to react in an instant to save their own lives or those of others.
