The mayor of Minneapolis Betsy Hodges accepted Police Chief Janee Harteau's resignation Friday. Both report that the Lethal Force shooting of Justine Damond in Minnesota last Saturday was the prime cause of Harteau and Hodge's decision. Justine Damond's shooting is one more disastrous outcome in a now long grave history of a police officer shooting an innocent person.

So far, this year, according to The Washington Post's data base on police shootings, 546 people have been killed by the police. The facts of each shooting are different and the exact details are hard to pin down. Nonetheless, according to statistics, two alarming trends are emerging.

First, the use of lethal force by police departments are on the rise. Second, police officers being held criminally culpable is decreasing. While, concurrently, the excellent news is police officers being killed in the line of duty is, thankfully, decreasing.

What is contributing to these alarming trends?

It is not surprising that the tone in the country is reaching a rolling boil when the public hears about a woman who called for help being shot and killed by the very people she called to help her. The citizens of the United States are beginning to feel overwrought by the wave of these lethal and tragic shootings at the hands of those who Americans look toward for protection. Especially considering that violence against the police, is unquestionably horrible for sure; nonetheless, this violence is decreasing.

Therefore, why are police shootings and killings of individuals on the increase? Is there any correlation?

Minneapolis Mayer Betsy Hodges lost confidence in police chief Janee Harteau

Other slayings by the police may well be the fuel flaming today's outrage surrounding Justine Damond's tragic killing.

In fact, the news is dripping with these horrible events. It is hard to know if these developments contributed to Minneapolis Mayer Betsy Hodges asking for police chief Janee Harteau, resignation. Hodges stated she had lost confidence in Harteau's ability to lead her city. Additionally, she talked about believing the citizens of Minneapolis have lost trust in the police.

Justine Damond's death has caused many people throughout world grief. In Minneapolis, the expressions of heartache and anger by the people of Minneapolis most likely added to police chief Harteau's resignation. In any event, the citizens of Minneapolis are left with the overwhelming task of sorting out this nightmare. As for the rest of the world, we can only hope that this will be an added incentive to come to terms with what is happening in the United States of America and her regrettable notoriety that is currently blotting headlines with the horror of a member of one the nation's police force killing an innocent citizen.