by Joseph Levendusky
To anyone who has seen the video of a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer firing seven shots into the back of Jacob Blake, it is impossible to make the case that this was the work of a well-trained law enforcement professional who was in control of his actions. Beyond excessive, this is conduct clearly unacceptable for a police officer, no matter the circumstances that might have been in play.
Kenosha came so shortly after the George Floyd murder jolted the public consciousness with a similarly chilling cellphone video showing fellow officers failing to intervene while officer Derek Chauvin dispassionately snuffs out Mr. Floyd’s life. Now many Americans need no further convincing that there are problems with the manner in which we police our communities.
. . .there are deformities in the culture of policing that permit, excuse and cover up uncontrolled, and often violent, behavior toward the general public. . .
That such incidents have come to our attention with dreadful regularity makes plain that there are deformities in the culture of policing that permit, excuse and cover up uncontrolled, and often violent, behavior toward the general public. The “few bad apples” defense has by now completely broken down. The culture of policing is the responsibility of all police officers. The “Blue Wall of Silence” amounts to little more than criminally negligent behavior.
That widespread and largely peaceful protests demanding reform have broken out across the nation is heartening. At the same time, increasing violence associated with some protests imperils a national consensus that had been forming around the issue of systematic, embedded racism.
Most dispiriting is the vigilante behavior that has become prevalent and appears to be condoned by some federal, state and local authorities. In a nation so thoroughly saturated with a vast arsenal of private firearms, these circumstances should alarm sensible citizens. The prospect of armed conflict in our streets is one that can no longer be discounted.
The Trump administration has done nothing to calm the waters. It proffers no solutions. Rather it seems intent on bolstering its authoritarian bona fides. It has used violence against peaceful protestors. It has sent, with questionable authority and equally questionable tactics, federal forces into localities where they have been unwanted. The President himself regularly pounds the drums of tribalism, hatred and fear.
Structural racism has been embedded in American society from the time African slaves were first forcibly brought to our shores. Despite halting progress toward justice, often won at the cost of bloodshed, the problem has festered ever since. In recent decades the insecurities of white Americans have been enflamed by the Republican Party in a shameless and reckless pursuit of power no matter the social cost.
The nation currently experiences a level of economic and political inequality that undermines social stability. Widespread mental health and substance abuse issues have been ineffectively addressed. Too many Americans are homeless. In many locales there exists a de facto apartheid between Americans of color and white Americans.
. . .in practice, the police have been made guardians of a fortress state where a select few live in opulent privilege while unmitigated social problems rage everywhere else. . .
In practice, the police have been made guardians of a fortress state where a select few live in opulent privilege while unmitigated social problems rage everywhere else. To expect police, and by extension the justice system, to effectively cope with traumas resulting from societal and political negligence is patently unfair. This mission creep likely stokes the alienation of police from communities they police.
Then there is the burgeoning militarization of police work. Police and the military have distinct and mutually exclusive missions. The military fights enemies. Killing is integral to their work. The police protect communities. Public safety is the core mission of their job.
Too many police forces have acquired substantial quantities of surplus military equipment and have veered alarmingly toward becoming quasi-military forces. Once rare, SWAT missions and military tactics have become quotidian. Though well meaning, preferences for veterans in recruitment can give priority to individuals who have service-related trauma and who misunderstand the very nature of policing.
Communities give police an enormous amount of authority and power—indeed, the power to take life, if necessary—and in return they have a right to expect police duties to be fulfilled with discipline, humanity and accountability. The public expects training and protocol, and bit of acquired wisdom, to guide day to day police work. The American myth of Dirty Harry, the badass cop who does whatever he himself deems necessary to protect an innocent citizenry, is just that—pure myth.
The gold standard of policing remains the beat cop of yore. Those cops lived in the communities that they policed. They knew individuals as human beings. Deeply familiar with group dynamics within their communities, they were able to distinguish individuals who were genuine trouble from those who were redeemable and had simply made mistakes. They did not view each citizen they encountered as a potential perp or a mortal threat.
. . .the first step is for police to acknowledge that they serve the citizenry that employs them and that civilian oversight is a critical requisite of their profession. . .
Community policing initiatives, while valuable, have not yet fully succeeded in producing the kinds of relations that make for truly humane policing. The present moment demands a unfettered national dialogue about the nature of policing. But the first step is for police to acknowledge that they serve the citizenry that employs them and that civilian oversight is a critical requisite of their profession. This includes police unions that have historically made themselves impediments to meaningful reform.
We must sort out what can be reasonably expected of police and devolve the remaining tasks of mitigating social problems to other professionals better trained to handle them. The mission of policing needs to be substantially adjusted and police need the support of specialists who are trained in areas that they are not.
Finally, methods of recruiting and training police must be thoroughly reconsidered. True, it can require a tough person to deal with the worst behavior of human beings. At the same time, police must be mindful of the larger social context in which they operate. Officers need more education and deeper training. They must be possessed of a more extensive and sophisticated kit of policing skills. And they must be chosen for their ability to respect and take seriously their education and training.
Until human beings reach a state of perfection, policing will be a necessary function of a civilized society. While it is not feasible to eliminate police entirely, reassessing how we as a nation deal with social problems that result in anti-social behavior is a timely necessity.