Problems in Ferguson Extend Beyond Grand Jury Decision
Cheryl Dorsey
Speaker,
Police Expert & Community Advocate
·
The problems in Ferguson, Missouri, will continue long after the
grand jury's decision is announced. The tensions in the community will
undoubtedly be exacerbated if the U.S. Justice Department declines to pursue
civil rights violations against Officer Darren Wilson. The real problem in
Ferguson is the fact that the residents are stuck with a police department that
seemingly lacks ethnic diversity, appears racially insensitive and is unwilling
to admit changes within are necessary. The problems of the Ferguson Police
Department are cultural and systemic.
As a retired, 20-year veteran police sergeant, I reject the
notion that a professional, tactically trained, gun-toting police officer would
fear an unarmed teenager. Police officers receive an inordinate amount of
training, first in the academy and then continued in-service training. Police
officers should expect, by virtue of their occupation, that interacting with
the community can at times be contentious. Police officers are expected to rely
on their training and common sense if confronted with an argumentative and
uncooperative citizen. Police officers are not expected to take it personally
when a citizen fails to follow an order given. So for Officer Wilson to
initiate a traffic stop and then immediately escalate the situation to a
deadly-force incident is, in my opinion, outrageous.
According to grand jury testimony leaks, Officer Wilson shot and
killed Mike Brown because he (Wilson) was in fear. Wilson feared unarmed Mike
Brown, 18-year-old Mike Brown, wounded and bleeding Mike Brown. Allegedly, this
was Officer Wilson's "state of mind" at the time he fired his weapon.
OK, that may be true of the first two shots, but what about shots three through
six? Police officers involved in a use-of-force incident, and especially a
deadly-force incident, must explain the need for every round fired. What about
Mike's state of mind? Well, we will never know, because Mike is not here to
tell us.
As a black woman, I believe that unless and until there are real
changes on that police department in terms of personnel, training and civilian
oversight, there could be a repeat of the senseless killing of Mike Brown.
As a
mother, I am bothered by disparaging comments made by Project 21's Joe Hicks referring
to Mike Brown as "a small-time local thug," as if "a small-time
local thug" somehow deserves to be gunned down in the middle of the
street. I am bothered that anyone who does not side with the police
department's version of events is labeled a "race-hustler" who is
"undeserving" of justice. These statements were just a few of the
comments attributed to Project 21, described as a black leadership network. I
am disappointed by an unrepentant and unapologetic police department that will
never admit to wrongdoing. I am saddened that this black life (Mike Brown's)
does not seem to matter.
As a
retired law-enforcement supervisor, I don't accept that a trained police
officer need only say "I was in fear" and everything else that
follows is somehow justified. Well, I say: Officer, if you are scared when
dealing with a (black) community that you swore to protect and serve, then
maybe you should holster your gun, remain in your car and call for backup. I
have not heard or seen white police officers articulate "fear" when
dealing with the white criminal community. Take Eric Frein: Here's a
guy who shot and killed a police officer and seriously wounded another. It was
reported that Frein left assault weapons and pipe bombs as though they were
bread crumbs for pursing officers, yet he was "taken into custody without
incident," captured with only a scratch on his nose, purportedly
self-inflicted.
If the
requirement for federal civil rights prosecution is an all-or-nothing case,
it's time to change the law. Currently, federal prosecutors must prove that race
was a motivator, that a defendant deprived the victim of a constitutional
right, that the defendant acted willfully, and that the defendant acted under
color of law and that the victim died. How does one prove that Officer Wilson
was possibly dishonest when he testified before the grand jury that he was in
fear for his safety?
Maybe it's time to require police recruit candidates to prove
they are not predisposed to being fearful before they are hired and given a
gun. Maybe it's time to require a police officer to prove fear if that's the
stated reason for firing that gun. Maybe it's time to hold officers who violate
policy and the law when they discharge that gun personally liable. Maybe it's
time to no longer allow the mere utterance of "fear" by a police
officer as a justification for what our sensibilities as a society recognize is
unreasonable and excessive.
Officer, if you were in fear, please explain why you did not
remain in the safe confines of your police car. Officer, why didn't you call
for backup, wait for backup to arrive and then tell backup that you were in
fear for your safety? Please, Officer, why did you kill Mike Brown? If it
wasn't because of his race, then what?
And finally, sir, would your please return to the police
station, turn in your badge and gun and seek employment somewhere else,
because, Officer, I am in fear for my safety.
"Those
who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution
inevitable."
--President John F. Kennedy
--President John F. Kennedy
Cheryl
Dorsey is a retired LAPD sergeant as well as a speaker and sought-after expert
on important police issues making national headlines who has appeared as a
guest expert on Dr. Phil. She writes and provides commentary on police
culture and surviving police encounters. She is the author of Black
& Blue (The Creation of a Manifesto): The True Story of an African-American
Woman on the LAPD and the Powerful Secrets She Uncovered, an autobiography
that pulls the covers off the LAPD and provides an unfiltered look into the
department's internal processes. Visit Cheryl's website, cheryldorsey.net,
and listen to her on Soundcloud.
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Note: This is an article that I can truly believe in. The sentiments, concerns and considerations of this former police officer would mirror that of my thinking. It is incredulous that local police officers would not have this point of view. Their "criminalization" of normal society is unworthy of their position in society. It is our hope that a revision of national policing policies, training, operations, and objectives will soon be in the making as a result of this phenomenal case.
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