I read this morning about a police officer that was trying
to shoot a family dog and because of fear, poor training, or whatever, shoots a
4-year-old girl. This incident is just another in an appalling list of police
shootings, mostly, but not limited to, black males. There are those who support
police and seek all sorts of justifications for these shootings, usually
blaming the victim, but their inability to see the problem points to one of the
real problems we, as a society, face if we are to ever find a solution to this
institutionalized gun violence.
That said, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not
anti-police. I fully understand the role of law enforcement in our society. One
of my great treasures is the service weapon and badge of my Grandfather’s older
brother Bill who served as a St. Louis police officer for 44 years. I grew up
being taught, and I taught my children, to interact with police officers in a
polite and friendly manner. As a youth I learned the lesson of not doing so.
During the course of my life and during my career as a trial
lawyer I also came to know the most brutal, corrupt and dangerous human beings
alive who also carried a badge. Over the years I have made hundreds of
thousands of dollars in attorneys fees from suing police officers that violated
the Constitutional rights of citizens. Many of these officers were repeat
offenders, and thus, repeat payers.
The Thin Blue Line is a major part of the problem. Good
officers who just want to protect and serve the community get caught in between
a rock and a hard spot when faced with a senseless killing that they witness. If
they tell the truth and it negatively impacts another officer they are no
longer able to stay in the game. They are ostracized from their police society.
When given the choice between telling the truth and getting an incompetent copper
off the street and bringing justice to an aggrieved family, they must choose
between their careers and the truth. Under these circumstances everybody loses.
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