Fellow students and teachers
I am really sad and angry about the tragic death of a fifteen year old boy Tyler Cassidy on December 11, 2008 at 9.40 pm, when he was shot by a member of the police force. It is one of the most horrific events that has occurred in an Australian history, mainly because it has made us question the capability of police to protect Australian citizens. Tyler was an educated teenager who had family and many friends to share his life however he was grieving from his dad’s death, which happened two years ago. Tyler was said to be a normal teenager with a normal lifestyle who spent some time with his family and friends and some time in MySpace talking about his love for Australia with his MySpace friends whom he called skinheads. The actions of the police involved in the shooting of this normal, average teenager are questionable. Media and the general public were right to ask - ’did the police act appropriately?’ Some say the police did not appear to pursue all options available as they could have called in a number of specialist groups who deal in that sort of situation; some say police are human so they should have full right to defend themselves; some say he was just a kid, not a Nazi and some say he was just in need of serious help. These are important questions, but it is clear to me that the actions imposed by the police were unnecessary.
Tyler Cassidy was just a minor who was too young and small to pose a real threat to fourarmed police officers. Victorian police already had the bad reputation of having twice as many shootings as other states and territories in Australia, as well as using maximum lethal force in threatening situations. By shooting a fifteen year boy dead did they realise Victoria would be known as having the worst security within the system? Did they want people to lose their faith in the system? Tyler Cassidy did not have a history of violence and was not generally regarded as violent. He was an outgoing person...