PBA president Patrick Lynch claims that Mayor de Blasio’s words incited N.Y.’s protests. Only the most politically-motivated viewer might claim that it wasn’t the death of Eric Garner at the hands of a now un-indicted officer Pantaleo that upset everyone. Lynch’s incendiary language and the back-turning protests seem out of step with the city and the public, who generally support the police – in principal – and the mayor, who also does.
All cops know who the bad actors are in their midst, the few officers who repeatedly give their departments bad names. Yet all reflexively line up in official, union-sanctioned solidarity when gross misconduct occurs, making the group look unintentionally indifferent to the concerns of communities they serve.
The vast majority of police officers are good people doing good work, so body cameras shouldn’t be a problem for most. Nonetheless, it’s smart — as Ronald Reagan famously said — to “Trust but verify.” After all, civilians are told that the security, red-light and speed cameras trained on us are detriments to lawbreakers.
There goes the brave notion that body camera video will show indisputable evidence when a police officer breaks the law.
Both the fatal shooting of Michael Brown and the violent responses were heartbreaking — and are the fruits of deep-rooted social problems. Events in Ferguson are evidence that if communities don’t see fit to invest in the well-being and future of those who historically have been marginalized, they’ll pay one way or another.
St. Louis Prosecutor Robert McCullough made what seem to be some odd prosecutorial decisions in the case of the shooting of Michael Brown.
If you were a cynic, you might argue that they were calculated decisions. Either way, they led to no indictment being returned in the case.
