Story Time…
We usually don’t like to do these around here, but I thought I would tell a personal story as a way of getting around to my thoughts on the Minnesota police shooting. So, please bare with me as I try to be as brief as possible.
One night in January I went to pick up my daughter from the skating rink. It was the weekend right before the freeze, so I was dressed in sweat pants and a hoodie. The officer on duty asked me whether I saw anyone looking inside of cars and attempting to open them. I told him I didn’t and proceeded to go inside to pick her up.
I walked to back of the rink looking for her and did not see her. When I turned around there was the officer. He asked me why I was looking in the back of cars. I told him I was there to pick up my daughter and had not looked in the back of cars. He then grabbed me by the arm and forced me outside. On the way out I saw her and identified her. He collected my license and made me wait outside.
As we were walking out he pulled me to back of my car and gave me a field sobriety test. It was cold and windy and he had me do the rapid eye test and walk heel/toe for several feet. Needless to say I didn’t pass his little test. I offered to take a breathalyzer as I don’t drink. He couldn’t accommodate that. So, my wife had to come up and drive my daughter home. He finally returned my license and let me go.
So, what’s the point of this story? As I told the officer’s supervisor the next week, as a teacher I have gone through extensive training on student restraint. I have never had to restrain a student in 24 years of teaching. Why? I interact with them in such a way where it hasn’t become necessary to do it. The officer never had to restrain me. I posed no threat and never refused to follow any commands or evaded any questions. The situation obviously didn’t call for that and everyone would have been better off without him being heavy handed.
We can talk about qualified immunity, choke holds, and military style weapons in the hands of police. Those are all worthwhile topics, but the question here is a more basic one. Why was it necessary to taser him in the first place? That was her goal was it not? Why? Many of these instances happen because of racism and there is no denying that. They also happen because officers often have a superiority complex that causes them to escalate situations that don’t need to be escalated. Those two explanations are also not mutually exclusive.
Police reform is obviously going to be harder than passing a few laws. Yes, we should ban choke holds. Yes, we should ban no knock warrants. Yes, we should scale back qualified immunity. Yes, police shouldn’t be outfitted as if they are taking out an Afghan terror cell. More important than all of those things we have to rethink what the goal of policing is and who should be fulfilling that goal.
The blue lives matter crowd will pounce on this victim because he had a bench warrant for a misdemeanor gun charge. It’s as if the value of life is somehow altered by the presence of a criminal record. Did he have a gun in sight in the vehicle? Was he threatening the officer in any way? Is there a way this officer could have approached the situation that would have guaranteed her safety and the safety of the victim? In most cases the answer is yes.
I was a lot happier as a teacher when I discovered that I could exercise more control over my classes when I made the educational experience more collaborative. My students trust that I won’t hurt them. So, they don’t threaten to hurt me. It’s amazing how much a little cooperation helps. As long as police hope to keep a stronghold over us they will continue to get the same results as they have been getting.
We live in a police state. About 800,000 sworn officers, not counting all the rent-a-cops, nightwatchmen and assorted busybodies.
Th cop you describe was way out of line and you did not have to show him your license or even identify yourself.
1It’s hard to believe any police department would let officers on the streets without the proper training in handling weapons (actually it’s not hard to believe). I saw an interview this morning of an experienced gun handler (ex military). He said he could tell if a gun was loaded just from the weight. He also said there is a significant weight difference between a police handgun and a police taser. This female officer had 26 years experience and was training a junior officer that day. That is very scary.
2Also, it’s bad enough anywhere, but being a police officer working within 10 miles of where George Floyd was murdered, you’d think she would exercise extreme care not to escalate a situation. Police need to understand that people of color are scared to death of being brutalized by police, so no wonder this young man tried to protect himself by getting in his car.
Expect this to happen again and again.
Boil it down, Nick. No one here wants thugs in uniform. Most people don’t. If surveyed “community policing” would be most people’s response. So the question becomes “who wants thugs in uniform, and who is it that holds the power to maintain that practice.” That would be our ‘elected’ representatives of both parties; more Cons than Dems. However, look toward the resistance to the Progressive Caucus from their own Democratic colleagues.
Most notable current impediment to progress, Joe Manchin. And others. Pete Buttigieg. Observe how he loves to spar with Fox Not the News and ‘control’ the conversation. Same guy who as mayor could not reform his own police department.
Not buying Pete’s excuse(s) or any other politician’s regarding gun violence and/or police reform. The national “divide” is split approximately 70 million who supports the Cons, and nearly 85 million who want these changes. The wild card(s) are the nearly 150 million who mostly do not participate in elections.
Surveys (fwiw) have that plus or minus accuracy problem. But based on the 70-80% who want reforms to health care, education, etc., that pool of 150 or so million wild cards is available. Probably easier said than done, but the goal for the next two elections at least would be to engage the non-participants in the issues that interest them. Convince them that their votes do matter. Thoughts? Suggestions?
3Police in Houston are supposed to go see a psychologist on a regular basis (annually I believe) but a couple years ago, the psych’s office was fired because they were only collecting the money and not evaluating the officers. Our officers need training but also continuing evaluation to be sure they are in their right mind. Also, some need to receive mental health help due to the horrible crimes they do have to be involved in, without worry that they’ll lose their job. That might help PDs from being wound so tight.
4Thank you Nick. I never mind an occasional personal experience or humorous anecdotal lambaste of fatuous politicritters.
5I wrecked a submit yesterday to EL Jefe’s thread having spotted the article and its update of Duante Wright’s needless death by a 20+ years female veteran’s inability to forget / ignore basic procedurals of the job. On desk duty now but given a glowing alibi by the head of the department. Its an unforgiveable career ending law enforcement death.
UPDATES … Officer Kim and the police chief in Brooklyn Heights MN submitted resignation letters. Have not yet seen if anyone in authority has actually “accepted” those resignations yet.
Elsewhere, experts are opining on the taser/gun comparison. CNN had one who said the standard tactic is to wear them on opposite sides. One experienced user on Daily Kos says Taser = 0.5 pounds, standard police sidearm 2.5 pounds.
No explanation yet of how an expired license tag or an object hanging off a rearview mirror is significant enough to pull EITHER weapon (or any other one). No explanation of a tactical process NOT including pulling keys out of the ignition and in a less accessible location.
6Outstanding commentary. Thank you.
7In my opinion, the “accident” happened when the officers felt the need to be armed when dealing with a dangling air freshener. Why not give a verbal warning, rather than escalating to (deadly) violence…
8Even if the young man were guilty (which of course now we’ll never know because that case is moot) the Constitution is quite clear that a police officer is not empowered to be judge, jury, and executioner. Seems to me (IANAL) that all of these cases are a violation of the 4th amendment. The army officer in WVa is testing that theory. Qualified immunity should not be the (a)moral equivalent of a Get Out of Jail Free card.
9I wonder who smashed that car into a tree?
Did the gun infraction/warrant make the cops jumpy?
Are you willing to pay cops what the job is worth?
10Hey Ormond Otvos @ 10
Should cops be pulling people over for having an air freshener hanging on their mirror or because they failed to see the trip papers in the window of a brand new car?
Should cops be shooting guns or tasers into cars when no physical threat is evident?
Should cops be shooting unarmed runners in the back?
Should people who are constantly in fear for their lives from unarmed POC be qualified to be police officers in the first place?
11I was pulled over for expired tags many years ago by some very nervous cops. Turns out they were looking for a murderer driving the same make, model and color car as the one I was driving. Being a white guy, they never even drew their weapons. How many news stories do we see where unarmed white guys pulled over for minor traffic violations end up dead? None you say?
12Halster.
Exactly. Racist cops roust brown and black people.
13Jane & PKM, thanks for those numbers. I’ve always known that there were lots of folks who just weren’t engaged, but I’d never looked up the stats. That’s hard to imagine for me, and probably others here as well. But you’re right. Finding ways to get them to see elections as personal is what has to happen. Repugnantcans have done it revoltingly efficiently. I believe a big part of that was through social media. I still believe that the mort blackwells out there have whole departments of people who coordinate that kinda crap. Because they can afford to. It’s not respectable, honorable and ferdamnsure not honest.
14But it’s working.
IMHO, social media has become the equivalent of the cliques in high school, writ large. Disengaged people listen to that crap because staying informed and thinking for themselves seems like eating their vegetables, when junk food is right there in their face.
The thing is that voting numbers haven’t really changed much over the intervening decades. So, blaming social media only goes so far. I just think there are people who either purposely disengaged or who have learned helplessness when it comes to their politics. The general sentiment is that “they are all liars and cheats” and they end up cementing in both sides into that equation. There might be a concerted effort to blow that up, but that’s also not new. You can hear people saying that going back generations.
15Nick, I don’t blame social media. It’s a method of communication. Just like you pointed out, the messageing pushed by political operatives has been similar for generations. But social media (in all it’s platforms) has become how we communicate to a large degree. How many news organizations don’t have Twitter accounts?
16Businesses? How much does our society as a whole rely on twitter, Facebook, etc, for everyday announcements?
That’s a fairly recent development. You mentioned people’s distrust in politicians. The distrust in mainstream journalism has never been higher. And like it or not, social media has been the weapon of choice by the repugs. To the point where so many people get their news from twitter and Facebook.
I don’t like it, but that’s where we’re at.
Am I the only one who couldn’t wait for trump to flame out during his first campaign just as much because I just knew that tweets would go back to being about some crap that serious people paid no attention to?
Now Twitter’s unofficially the official medium for major policy initiatives.
It’s here, and repugs are using it to terrible effect.
We don’t have to use it dishonestly like they do, but IMHO
we’ve got to start using it a helluva lot more effectively.
It may not be the noblest course of action, but we’re getting our asses handed to us.
Kim Potter was a 26-year veteran and a training officer. Despite a personnel file stuffed with brutality complaints Derek Chauvin was also a training officer (the three rookies he was training that day will be tried after him). I think I see the problem with American policing. Apologists for the police always talk about “a few bad apples” but it’s clear the bad apples are rotting the whole barrel.
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