The numbers tell the tale clearly:

Slightly more than half of these 249 fatalities listed an initial cause associated with law enforcement’s use of force. A dozen originated from traffic stops and 16 involved a mental health situation or “welfare check.” Twenty-seven people were killed in situations stemming from a nonviolent crime, including drug offenses and warrant service.

For the deaths involving firearms, the majority of victims were not fleeing at the time of the shooting, data originally tallied by the Washington Post shows.

Bolding mine, because even if they were fleeing, that's not a Capital offense. Here is just one of these unnecessary homicides by hyped-up deputies:

But a judge will have to approve the release to the general public:

As community leaders ask for the release of body camera footage to the public, Wayne Kendall, attorney for the family of Andrew Brown, Jr., says the family will be able to view the footage on Monday.

"Family members are allowed to see bodycam recording if the image of a deceased person that is related to that person is on the recording," Kendall explained. "And their attorneys are allowed to see it. That's codified within the statute, so there's no issue there."

Apparently there is an issue, since Brown was shot Wednesday morning and the family has yet to see it. I can see waiting 24 hours to give the department time to analyze the footage, but not six days. As expected, this story went national pretty quickly: Note: the image above shows a stray bullet that struck a neighbor's home. When SWAT shows up, it's time to duck and cover.

They always get the sharp end of the stick:

“The answer ought to be to sort of pause. Because the instinct to do something is something I’m really quite afraid of,” said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, one of more than 130 civil and human rights organizations that say the FBI already has the tools it needs.

“White violence is consistently perpetuated and then used as justification for increased surveillance or increased state power against communities of color,” said 26-year-old Iranian American activist Hoda Katebi, who is Muslim, wears a headscarf and grew up defending herself against harassment and being called a terrorist in the years after Sept. 11, 2001.

I consider myself a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, but our current gun laws are a big mess. And "Open Carry" is one of the worst ideas that has emerged from the gun culture, and the lawmakers who embrace this trend have no business holding elected office. It has only served two main purposes; to intimidate other citizens, and to "normalize" dangerous and misanthropic behavior in the public square. Law enforcement has become inured to the inherent danger of open carry in our society, which is (of course) one of the main goals of these groups. Back to the potential statutory backlash of the failed coup:

Giving police chiefs sole discretion on what gets released:

Meanwhile, a state House bill filed by a High Point Republican, John Faircloth, would make police footage less available, and would give power to decide whether to release the footage to a police chief or sheriff. This is so wrongheaded, it’s hard to know where to begin.

It presumes that an entity that supposedly is accountable to the public should be accountable only to itself. It presumes that a chief will place the public interest over the interests of the department — or of the chief. It presumes every chief — hence, now and forevermore — will be beyond reproach. And it presumes that the chief’s say is the final word on law enforcement. It isn’t. That belongs to the council and, by extension, to the people.

Not only is this just one more in a series of moves by the NC GOP to remove power from municipal governments, it's also a slap in the face to citizens. You don't need to know what happened. The bottom line: Police chiefs and Sheriffs are directly responsible for the behavior of their officers, and misbehavior on the part of the latter could end the careers of the former. In other words, glaring conflict of interest. But this bill does more than that, it (attempts to) radically alter NC's open records laws:

It sure looks like it:

Officer Kerrick admitted that he had not fired any warning shots and had not ordered Mr. Ferrell to show his hands. He also acknowledged that he intentionally turned off his cruiser’s dashboard camera when he arrived.

“This was not just any call,” Officer Kerrick said. “This was a priority breaking-and-entering call at 2:30 in the morning with the homeowner inside the house.”

“It wasn’t an important enough call to you to leave your D.M.V.R. on, right?” Ms. Postell asked, referring to his dashboard-mounted video recorder.

“No.”

Enough said. When you take a step like this to knowingly conceal your future actions, for fear they will be deemed illegal, that is (or should be) classified as "intent," if not premeditation. And once again, one of the most important witnesses of this incident cannot take the stand.