What went down with Michael Brown?
One of my favorite scenes in the film "A Few Good Men" is when Kevin Bacon (as Captain Jack Ross) stands up to give his opening statement. He begins by saying "the facts of the case are this" and he later says "these are the facts of the case. And they are not in dispute."
What are the facts we know of the case where a police officer in Ferguson, MO shot Michael Brown. We know that Brown was shot multiple times and was killed. We know that he was unarmed. We know there was a robbery at a convenience store where Brown and Dorian Johnson were suspect. We know that Darren Wilson, the officer who fired at and killed Michael Brown, was not aware he was a suspect in the robbery.
There are eyewitness statements, video footage of the alleged robbery in the store and lots of conjecture, but those are the only undisputed facts of this incident to date. As far as assessing whether or not the police officer involved in this case is guilty of a crime, that should wait until a full and complete investigation is conducted. Even though it seems clear the weight of evidence available to this point indicates that this is not a "good shoot," that same presumption of innocence we are all entitled to is in effect. The officer should be suspended from duty involving the carrying of a weapon.
The larger question is what will it take to stop these tragedies from taking place. Even one is too many, but the list of officer-involved deaths of civilians grows at an alarming rate. What we need is a two-pronged approach generated by the federal government, that doesn't abrogate state's rights.
First prong must be legislation whereby the federal government will reimburse states for all or part of the cost of having the state's attorney general's office investigate all officer-involved civilian deaths. States who refuse to set up an investigative division within the AG's office will not receive federal funding for such investigations. No agency should be able to investigate a death caused by one of its officers.
The second prong involves using advanced technology. Every single sworn law enforcement officer that is not working an undercover assignment must be equipped with a camera. The excellent movie "End of Watch" illustrates how "button cameras" could be used to easily record the Point Of View (POV) of the officer. With an audio and video record of every action the officer takes while on duty, it becomes much easier to examine what actually happened.
As someone who wore a badge and carried a gun, even though it was the much safer job of military cop, I'm well aware of what every officer faces when he or she hits the streets every shift. You know that every single action you take during that shift, even those done in a split second, are subject to very detailed scrutiny after the fact. I'll give you an example. My partner for that evening and I responded to a report of a disturbance at the transient barracks. We found a guy tearing up the pool room next to the dayroom. We tried to talk him into settling down, but he swung the pool cue at me. I was forced to defend myself and subdue him. Even though he was swinging a pool cue, I couldn't just shoot the idiot. He was very drunk and no one's life was in danger. I had Mace but I knew that if I used that, I'd have to take him to the Emergency Room and sit there with him while they treated him. So I restrained him the old fashioned way, with my hands. Eventually he was "cuffed and stuffed" that that was that.
My supervisor and his supervisor both questioned me about my choices that evening at length. They had issues with my refusal to use Mace, mostly because they were concerned that my young partner wouldn't stand by and wait as I ordered him to do. If I'd bitten off more than I could chew, they were concerned either he or the suspect could have been seriously injured. Eventually, they had to accept the fact that my choices had worked out, no one had been hurt and that was that.
All I did was physically subdue a man, without injuring him, and I was still looked at under a microscope. When a cop has to pull their weapon and fire it, they do so in a miniscule amount of time, while those who will determine if he or she did the right thing have weeks to investigate what they did. So if it seems like I want the investigation to be allowed to run its course before convicting this cop of a bad shoot, forgive me.
One last thought. When we hear about a white cop doing something to a minority civilian (without regard to any specific race), we need to remember that as far as most cops are concerned, there are only three races. White, minorities, and blue. The blue is the race of cops. The majority of cops will give other cops the benefit of the doubt in almost situation where there isn't clear evidence of wrongdoing; or they will be pressured to do so by some of their peers. And while some can choose to deny it, there is no question that in the 50 years and one month since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, racism exists in the U. S. There are some (clearly not all, or even the majority) cops who automatically assume that African-Americans are a problem just waiting to happen. That young black men are criminals. They are wrong, but racism is hard to eradicate. It isn't instinctual. It is learned behavior and usually requires something drastic to break the long chain of inculcation.
Just my random ramblings on this situation.
What are the facts we know of the case where a police officer in Ferguson, MO shot Michael Brown. We know that Brown was shot multiple times and was killed. We know that he was unarmed. We know there was a robbery at a convenience store where Brown and Dorian Johnson were suspect. We know that Darren Wilson, the officer who fired at and killed Michael Brown, was not aware he was a suspect in the robbery.
There are eyewitness statements, video footage of the alleged robbery in the store and lots of conjecture, but those are the only undisputed facts of this incident to date. As far as assessing whether or not the police officer involved in this case is guilty of a crime, that should wait until a full and complete investigation is conducted. Even though it seems clear the weight of evidence available to this point indicates that this is not a "good shoot," that same presumption of innocence we are all entitled to is in effect. The officer should be suspended from duty involving the carrying of a weapon.
The larger question is what will it take to stop these tragedies from taking place. Even one is too many, but the list of officer-involved deaths of civilians grows at an alarming rate. What we need is a two-pronged approach generated by the federal government, that doesn't abrogate state's rights.
First prong must be legislation whereby the federal government will reimburse states for all or part of the cost of having the state's attorney general's office investigate all officer-involved civilian deaths. States who refuse to set up an investigative division within the AG's office will not receive federal funding for such investigations. No agency should be able to investigate a death caused by one of its officers.
The second prong involves using advanced technology. Every single sworn law enforcement officer that is not working an undercover assignment must be equipped with a camera. The excellent movie "End of Watch" illustrates how "button cameras" could be used to easily record the Point Of View (POV) of the officer. With an audio and video record of every action the officer takes while on duty, it becomes much easier to examine what actually happened.
As someone who wore a badge and carried a gun, even though it was the much safer job of military cop, I'm well aware of what every officer faces when he or she hits the streets every shift. You know that every single action you take during that shift, even those done in a split second, are subject to very detailed scrutiny after the fact. I'll give you an example. My partner for that evening and I responded to a report of a disturbance at the transient barracks. We found a guy tearing up the pool room next to the dayroom. We tried to talk him into settling down, but he swung the pool cue at me. I was forced to defend myself and subdue him. Even though he was swinging a pool cue, I couldn't just shoot the idiot. He was very drunk and no one's life was in danger. I had Mace but I knew that if I used that, I'd have to take him to the Emergency Room and sit there with him while they treated him. So I restrained him the old fashioned way, with my hands. Eventually he was "cuffed and stuffed" that that was that.
My supervisor and his supervisor both questioned me about my choices that evening at length. They had issues with my refusal to use Mace, mostly because they were concerned that my young partner wouldn't stand by and wait as I ordered him to do. If I'd bitten off more than I could chew, they were concerned either he or the suspect could have been seriously injured. Eventually, they had to accept the fact that my choices had worked out, no one had been hurt and that was that.
All I did was physically subdue a man, without injuring him, and I was still looked at under a microscope. When a cop has to pull their weapon and fire it, they do so in a miniscule amount of time, while those who will determine if he or she did the right thing have weeks to investigate what they did. So if it seems like I want the investigation to be allowed to run its course before convicting this cop of a bad shoot, forgive me.
One last thought. When we hear about a white cop doing something to a minority civilian (without regard to any specific race), we need to remember that as far as most cops are concerned, there are only three races. White, minorities, and blue. The blue is the race of cops. The majority of cops will give other cops the benefit of the doubt in almost situation where there isn't clear evidence of wrongdoing; or they will be pressured to do so by some of their peers. And while some can choose to deny it, there is no question that in the 50 years and one month since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, racism exists in the U. S. There are some (clearly not all, or even the majority) cops who automatically assume that African-Americans are a problem just waiting to happen. That young black men are criminals. They are wrong, but racism is hard to eradicate. It isn't instinctual. It is learned behavior and usually requires something drastic to break the long chain of inculcation.
Just my random ramblings on this situation.
posted by me at 8:13 PM
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