Police Shootings

The Black Lives Matter movement is a well-intentioned idea that's been largely highjacked by extremists who use it as a Trojan horse to cause mischief not anticipated by its founders.  Or perhaps they considered it but rejected it.  I find it hard to believe that a group having the words lives matter in its title wopld espouse such violent means to accomplish its goals.

That being said, there are elements of truth -- some would say more than a few -- in the underlying motivation for the creation of the group.  There has been a rash of police shootings of black men that are hard to justify, hard to explain.  Although I'm not in the club that says the Michael Brown shooting was murder -- I think it was a righteous shoot -- there are far too many extreme examples of shootings (and in the case of Eric Garner, suffocation by strangulation) by police of black men to justify them on any grounds.  The South Carolina shooting, the Chicago shooting, the St. Paul shooting, and now, in Florida, the shooting of a man lying on the ground with his hands raised.  Fortunately, the last example did not result in death.  What in heavens name possessed the cops to shoot these people.

Some will notice I didn't include every example of recent memory.  For one, the Baton Rouge shooting that preceded the St. Paul shooting by a couple of days may in fact turn out to be legally justified.  The death of the Baltimore man in the back of the police van is proving to be an unfortunate accident or a result of pre-existing injuries.  I'll be blogging on Baltimore in the days to come.

Still, those exclusions in no way justify the shootings I did cite.  The man in South Carolina was running away from the police; he was shot eight times in the back.  The kid in Chicago was shot sixteen times as he backed -- skipped -- away from the police cruisers.  The St. Paul shooting was equally unjustified, and the shooting today in Florida is mind-boggling.

I do not think most police are racists.  I'm sure that within the ranks there are some racists, and I think that having to deal with the public had coarsened some police so badly that they see justification where there is none.  In some instances, the training was insufficient or non-existent, or the cop just didn't pass muster.  Whatever the reason, the ranks of the police, as with any other profession, include people who are just bad or incompetent.

A larger problem is the closing of ranks.  That may sound callous and indifferent, but when good police allow bad police to operate under cover of the shield and refuse to turn them in or voice their concerns to superiors, the public trust is violated.  Sure, people lose their lives as well.  But we as citizens can no longer rely on the notion of serve and protect.  This is no surprise to blacks in this country, who suffer indignities ranging from being pulled over for driving while black to being shot in the back.  But for all citizens irrespective of race or gender, this is a burgeoning problem.

I spoke with someone who theorized that it's because the police have veterans who, having returned from the wars, suffer from PTSD.  Perhaps.  And although there are therapists available for all police, I question how many police avail themselves of the benefit; it's probably not seen as virile. 

But we as citizens have a right to feel protected by the people whom we're paying to protect us.  We also have a right to expect that they will do the right thing and report those fellow officers whom they suspect of harboring racist or murderous tendencies.  The police are to serve and protect us -- not just from criminals not wearing a badge, but from those who do, as well.  It's a sad truth but it's something that needs to be said:  Within the ranks of the police there are criminals or criminals waiting for their opportunity.

Blacks should have the same expectation of justice that whites or any other races do.  They shouldn't have to worry about being gunned down for no good reason.  The police need to weed out the bad cops and not worry about being labeled as turncoats.  Most police are excellent and do a great job, handling stresses we can't comprehend.  They shouldn't allow the closing of ranks to tarnish this reputation.  That doesn't mean it should be open season on cops.  But the cops need to do a better job of policing not only in the communities in which they serve, but also the precinct stations in which they work.  Closing ranks does no one any good.

(c) 2016 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles