It has long been obvious that a significant percentage of white men join their local police force to act on their inbred racism, inherent authoritarianism, and desire to inflict violence on those that they consider to be inferior: people of color, immigrants, gay men and women, women in general, anyone who is “different.” Often this stems from their own realization that the world is changing and their self-satisfied belief that they should be our natural leaders has been challenged and will continue to be.
They just can’t stand it, and violence is the result.
3
Facts, you can't stand the facts dear Times readers! Go to Slate.com (a most liberal site) and read an article by Mary Harris titled “What Happened in Ferguson Was Quite Different From What We Were Told”. Most here got it wrong. Mr. Brown was not a good guy. Maybe he did not deserve to be shot. But he committed a criminal act and most everybody believed incorrectly reported lies. The officer had different reasons for his actions than reported. Read for yourself what really happened. You cannot trust the NY Times on many things. There are many incidents in America where the reporting of bias against blacks is appropriate and correctly reported. America has a long way to go to achieve racial harmony. It is a two way street.
44
The USA are a very violent nation. By history but also by statistics of normal criminology.
8 times more violent crime rate per capita than in Europe. A denser population.
Also 8 times higher incarceration rate than European average.
Almost 1 % of all US citizens are in prison at all times.
The US police is also violent and corrupted compared to Europe.
And racist.
3
Ferguson was an example of reasonable and justified police use of force, as confirmed by the Obama justice department report led by Eric Holder. Additionally, statistical examinations of police use of force have shown that black people are not killed any more often to white people, in proportion to crimes committed. Therefore, if this author wants sensible people to join his cause, he will first need to drop his racially-divisive lies and commit himself to working from hard evidence going forward.
19
Nearby, right here in the paper of record, an article about liberal Nimbyism and how the columnist "hope(s) they understand the effect it is having". As if they have not known for decades the effect. The intended effect. To keep certain people out of their neighborhoods and their schools. Which people? Gee there's a poser. The sooner we renounce the false god of the democratic party and the liberal hypocrites it teems with, the faster we as a people will ascend.
4
I won't question Professor Hanford's sincerity, but I do question his judgment on Michael Brown.
Michael Brown had robbed a convenient store and assaulted one of the clerks just before his encounter with Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Brown attacked Wilson in Wilson's SUV and struggled for control of Wilson's gun. Eric Holder's Justice Department conducted a thorough investigation with one aim in mind: To bring civil rights charges against Wilson. That thorough investigation showed Wilson had not acted inappropriately, There were no charges against him.
An August 9 article in the New York Times lays out these facts. Notwithstanding, the myth of Michael Brown as innocent victim is repeated over and over. A recent Times Op-Ed stated that Brown had been "gunned down." Actually, "hoax" would be a better description than myth of Ferguson/Brown, with those with an interest in perpetuating the hoax for their own purposes doing exactly that, a la Al Sharpton with Tawana Brawley.
What one will never see mentioned in Op-Eds such as this is that NYPD officers Ramos and Liu were murdered, execution style, by someone who bought in to the Ferguson/Brown hoax.
15
“Michael Brown, the black 18-year-old who had recently graduated from high school when a white police officer, Darren Wilson, took his life, claiming that he perceived a deadly threat despite the fact that Mr. Brown was unarmed.”
That statement is quintessential example of deceit by omission because it fails to reveal that the Obama administration’s Department of Justice investigated this matter and reported:
• Brown’s DNA on Wilson’s collar and on the inside and outside of the driver’s door of Wilson’s car shows that Brown attacked Wilson in his police car.
• The pattern of blood stains in the street prove that Brown was advancing towards Wilson when he was shot.
• No witness gave testimony incriminating Wilson that was “materially consistent with prior statements, physical evidence, and other witnesses.”
• Eight witnesses gave testimony indicating Wilson acted in self-defense that was “materially consistent with prior statements, physical evidence, and other witnesses.”
Gross distortions of the truth, like this Times op-ed, are irresponsible, libelous, and have motivated murders of police: https://www.justfactsdaily.com/new-york-times-spreads-falsehood-that-motivated-murders-of-police/
23
What a disgusting article. Michael Brown was a criminal. The cop who shot him was investigated by numerous state and federal agencies and was absolved. Even the Obama justice department said so.
In the wake of this incident, and other like in Baltimore, the police all over the country are afraid to get involved in overt criminal incidents for fear of being prosecuted or losing their job to the leftist mob. In NY, the eradication of the legal “stop and frisk” has increased crime, to the point where people can now throw water on them.
In a wiretap of a narcotics gang from several years ago, the drug dealers spoke about their fear of going to NYC because of “stop and frisk”. Now, they have no such fears. Disgusting.
13
Very, very disappointed that this article has just handed moral outrage validation to the racist far-right white supremacists. The Michael Brown shooting is the worst example the author could have led in with. The only take away from his shooting is no one should do what he did: Drop off a bag of marijuana - steal and then strong arm a clerk - walk down the center of the street - tell an officer who pulls up to 'f off' - then reach inside the police car and start to punch the office in the head and grab for his gun - then when the office gets out of the car run away from him but then turn and charge him - and keep charging him even though he pauses firing several times - until the fatal shot is delivered when you are almost upon the officer. Too many whites will use this unreal societal conversion of an angry and aggressive criminal Michael Brown being turned into a Black Lives Matter hero - when he himself did everything wrong and caused his own death - to ignore other examples of real police violence against innocent citizens. Now I know why police departments around the nation rally so strongly around their own - when they did their job the right way and still get vilified.
12
Senator Blumenthal recently restated the legal principle "false in one, false in all".
Hanford falsely describes the Michael Brown incident by purposely failing to mention that the incident began with Brown robbing a store and then assaulting a police officer.
This deception demonstrates the writer's lack of credibility.
"False in one , false in all"
13
Michael Brown robbed a store, threatened the owner with violence, assaulted a police officer and tried to wrestle his gun away which caused it to discharge. Almost everybody knows these facts. When you completely ignore these and other facts such as the riots, looting, arson, assassinations and massacre in Dallas you are only fooling yourself. You are also helping Trump to victory in 2020.
10
The officer who shot Mr. Brown was investigated at the local, state and federal level and no charges were brought against the officer.
Please note that this was during the administration of Barack Obama, our first black President, and while Eric Holder, another black man, was Obama’s head of the Department of Justice.
If there had been any grounds for bringing charges against the officer don’t you think they would have been discovered by Obama and Holder?
43
No statistic about how many of the blacks who were killed by cops were armed and dangerous. But this is to be expected by a column that has more holes than a large piece of swiss cheese. And "white supremacists," who are a pimple in the US, have not infiltrated police departments.
16
It is precisely this kind of "reporting" that will allow Trump to waltz into the Oval Office in 2020. The staff of the NYT continues to ignore the facts in this case, giving fodder to the "fake news" accusers. When will you wake up? Look at the comments here. At least the majority of the readers know what actually occurred.
16
Brown was shot because he was trying to kill the policeman!
15
I am more concerned about street thug violence.
15
Brown was killed instantly by a shot in the head. He had no time to tell Dorian Johnson to "keep running." I imagine that claim originated from Johnson himself, who started the "hands up, don't shoot" narrative, yet another lie by Johnson. Hundreds of witnesses testified that never happened. Secondly, Bob McCullough was the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, not the city prosecutor for Ferguson. In addition, Travyon Martin was not in any way persecuted by the police. He was shot by a civilian. Don't make it sound like he was some sort of police victim. You seem to think the police had no right to form the "Blue Lives Matter" organization, yet blacks can form "Black Lives Matter." This is a double standard that has been evident in any discussion of race relations in America. Finally, try to get your facts straight when writing for a respected publication such as The New York Times.
15
Young man Brown took a sales item without paying and then pushed aside the employee who tried to block him at the door. Media overlooks that just as MSNBC hires Rev. Al Sharpton as a moderator despite his role in the Tawana Brawley hoax.
12
Michael Brown was a thief and a bully.
He should not have been shot but let’s
have all the facts revealed in the
constant retelling of this story.
10
More misleading propaganda from the left. It has been documented that Michael Brown was trying to take Wilson's gun, then charged him when he was told to stop. The "hands up, don't shoot" narrative from Brown's companion has been discredited.
Officer Wilson was not indicted because he committed no crime.
While Michael Brown may have graduated HS, he also had stolen items from a convenience store and intimidated the owner and refused to obey officer Wilson's orders.
These are facts available to anyone willing to read something other than racial propaganda.
Further, anyone who reads the FBI uniform stats will find the following:
-- Blacks commit 3.5x the number of crimes per capita vs non Hispanic Whites
-- Blacks commit 7x the homicides vs non Hispanic whites.
-- Over half of cops killed on duty are killed by Blacks
Recent research has that cops are less likely to shoot Blacks than Whites
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-reality-check-on-racism-and-urban-decay-11564526888
So stop this race baiting.
13
I'm so tired of this nonsense, have you seen the murder numbers in the south side of Chicago? Its not the police that are killing 18 people on a weekend and shooting 72, its blacks shooting and victimizing other blacks. This goes on in every other majority black town in the country. The longer we as a society keep listening to this stuff we will never make progress as a nation towards stopping it. Please accept responsibility for what is going on in your own back yard, everything is not someone else fault, some of it is your fault as a people. Please stop with the excuses about why you need to rob steal and kill because of your perceived racism. Blacks need to get it together and fast and stop blaming everyone else for the violence that permeates their communities.
15
If you magically waved a wander tomorrow and eliminated every single last shred of police racism you would do very little to improve the black community.
But if you waved a magic wand and every single black child had a father in their lives and parents who read to them every night the change would be monumental.
19
The idea of Protect and Serve is as dead as Journalism.
i am sorry, but..
Michael Brown did not have his hands up, he attacked a police officer and tried to get his gun.
If you want to focus on police violence, pick another case!
12
Three investigations - FBI, DA and the Justice Department found, based on forensics and credible witnesses, that Brown charged officer Wilson and reached for his gun.
It’s remarkable that Michael Brown has become a symbol for police brutality for some people.
Next thing you know they’ll demand a monument and national holiday for Michael Brown.
10
How are the police responsible for all the people shooting other people in Chicago every weekend, including kids?
10
"Hands up don't shoot" was a lie. Michael Brown was a violent criminal who had assaulted a cop, fired a gun at him, and then bum rushed him (a charge which continued even after taking non-lethal shots).
This movement was built on a false martyr, and the NYT is deeply irresponsible in pushing this false narrative and misinformation.
8
Why does the TImes publish this rubbish. It's a complete misrepresentation of what happened in Ferguson. Michael Brown attacked the officer, had robbed a store and charged the officer. The "hands up, don't shoot" story has been debunked. Officer Wilson wasn't indicted by local or federal officials because he didn't commit a crime. Then the race baiters helped destroy Ferguson.
Moreover, the author fails to mention that the violent crime rate for Blacks is 3.5x that of whites and that accounts for any disparities in the race of civilians shot by cops. Nor does the author mention that Blacks account for half of all cops killed in the line of duty.
This is pure divisive nonsense.
13
The New York Times is delusional to not think that the officer in the Ferguson case was justified in using his firearm. Michael Brown was a big man. He went up to the cop car punched the cop in the face as few times and tried to take his gun from him and the gun went off. Then Michael Brown rushed at the officer according to several eye witnesses. Again the NYTs is on the wrong side of the truth on Ferguson. There was no "Hands up don't shoot" it was made up.
10
Not surprising that the article paints Mr Brown as an innocent blameless angel. He had stolen from a nearby convenience store more than once. And did attack the officer as well.
Like so many other typical one sided pieces this one picks it's facts to support the author's predetermined conclusions. But I guess that's what an opinion piece is. Kind of like a certain part of our anatomy from which spews forth, what others think is, disgusting noxious stuff. Of course that same stuff can be used as fertilizer to grow something new if it's properly handled. Which isn't the case here.
10
The author leaves out the inconvenient facts the the police officer’s actions were investigated by both local and federal agencies and no charges were found to be justified. The federal agency was the Dept of Justice of an African American president headed by an African American Attorney General. Not exactly Bull Connors police department protecting one of their own in the 1960’s.
8
Michael Brown robbed a liquor store and brutally assaulted a worker in that store - a 'person of color,' by the way.
When Mr. Brown was confronted by the police, he tried to take the officer's gun. He then ran away. For whatever reason, Mr. Brown then turned and charged at the officer.
It was at that point that Mr. Brown was shot and killed by the officer. No action was taken against the officer, because no action was justified against him.
Trayvon Martin was beating George Zimmerman's head into the concrete sidewalk when he was shot. Mr. Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic. There is no way to determine what happened in the minutes before Martin was shot. But it turns out that a court determined that the shooting was justified.
Attempting to create false narratives about the behavior of young Black men does not aid your cause. But it does aid Trump's.
7
Follow the law-stay alive is anthem of the non-minority. So soothing to believe contrived narrative than to seek the truth. If such an open and shut case why have so many Ferguson Protesters died--In as many as four cases since Brown’s death and the protests began, protesters were found shot dead in cars in St. Louis and Ferguson. In two of those cases the men were found dead in burning cars.-----Thinking is Required Here
To the Editors:
Please understand that all of the readers have access to online search engines with which to check the assertions made by your opinion writers. The reason why there is so much blowback against opinion pieces like this is that cited "facts" are not borne out by the data. Eric Holder's DOJ found the officer had acted without a racial bias. That's Eric Holder as in President Obama's AG.
Please understand that a huge percentage of your readers have had life experiences with thugs like Michael Brown. Our experiences do not comport to your views that such thugs are harmless victims of police violence. To the contrary, our experiences suggest that thugs like Michael Brown should be locked up for a very long time.
Please understand that our experiences and our determination not to accept your one-note song of police bias inflicted upon innocent wannabe or real gangbangers does not make us racist. It means we have common sense.
Please understand that most of us who continue to read the NYT really want the racial animus and legitimate grievances of African Americans addressed in a positive way. We supported the Civil Rights movement. We detest bullying and racist cops, politicians and ordinary people. We have marched. We have confronted racists.
Finally, please understand that your refusal to ever examine any of the dysfunctional aspects of poor, largely urban African American life is intellectually dishonest; most of us don't buy it.
Sincerely,
TDurk
14
THIS is why we can never have the national conversation on race that whites and blacks so desparitly call for.
10
"Power never concedes without a struggle." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, ז"ל
indeed the police violence is instititionalizes racism must stop. however the black ob blsck violence, largely a product if long standing racism, will only stop if yhe people themselves insist on it .
Michael Brown was a thug and had just strong-armed a store owner. The officer was a good man and behaved entirely responsibly to protect himself and the public. “Hands up, don’t shoot” was fabricated by fake witnesses... a good story but it didn’t happen. The incident did, however, lead to uncovering abusive, discriminatory practices by the Ferguson police and courts. Good thing for that! But let’s not glorify the thug.
11
The Black Lives Matter movement was based on lies. That and the blatant anti-white racism of some of its leaders set back the needed movement to trim overly aggressive militarized policing. Zimmerman and Wilson both lawfully shot violent thugs assaulting them in legitimate self-defense and were wrongly persecuted. Data does not support any conclusion that racist police officers are more prone to shoot black citizens. I for one stopped my long time activism in that area to avoid associating with liars and bigots.
9
“Michael Brown, the black 18-year-old who had recently graduated from high school when a white police officer, Darren Wilson, took his life, claiming that he perceived a deadly threat despite the fact that Mr. Brown was unarmed.”
Here are the facts: Michael Brown committed a violent robbery just before the encounter with Officer Wilson. Michael Brown reaches into the officer’s car and grabbed his firearm. Brown’s DNA was found on the gun and on the left thigh of the officer’s pants. That officer had every right to fear for his life. Two grand juries and three separate autopsies supported his version of events and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Michael Brown does not make a good case for police aggression and abuse. Furgeson is probably safer now that he’s no longer on the streets robbing and attacking people.
12
"Michael Brown, the black 18-year-old who had recently graduated from high school when a white police officer, Darren Wilson, took his life, claiming that he perceived a deadly threat despite the fact that Mr. Brown was unarmed."
Uh? Aren't you leaving out a few things there?
44
So absurd, it is comical..
7
5 Years Later, Black-on-Black Violence Continues to Be Orders of Magnitude Greater than Wrongful Police Violence, But BLM Continues to Ignore Same.
10
How do you spell JOKE?
7
Shame on the Times. This article is full of outright lies and half-truths while the author is simply a provocateur, obviously intent on keeping the hate and racial divide the the country in high gear. Hanford hates law enforcement....fine.
Recently in NY black youths were recorded dousing police officers with water and throwing objects as they walked away showing amazing restraint. So yes Mr Hanford, let’s keep the hatred and race bating alive and well as you continue to get front page attention from this paper.
Shame on both of you
15
The writer starts off with a false description of what happened in the death of Michael Brown (must be intentional) because he states that he is a local resident and knowledgeable about the situation. Brown was a local teen who had just robbed a convenient store and had pushed his way through the clerk, knocking over displays as he forced his way out. Now one might think that a young man might go to hide to avoid being caught and arrested. Not Michael Brown. He boldly strode down the middle of a major street, smoking marijuana. Did the marijuana distort his judgement? We will never know. Here was a "good kid" as described by locals and widely published in the national news who would shortly be going to college (actually trade school). Nothing wrong with trade school, but the totality of the story of his character about the angelic Michael Brown was incorrect from the beginning.
Now why would someone who has just done a strong arm robbery walk down the middle of the street, disregard an officer's direction to get on the side. Why would he attack an officer in a patrol car? Either drugs or a temperament displayed in his actions in the convenient store could explain.
Now why did the Obama/Holder Justice Dept. fail to indict the officer for civil rights violation? Because there was no violation, either indicated by the forensics or the testimony.
And the upshot of the hate fomented by those like the author caused many of downtown stores used by minorities to be burned down.
13
Interesting article. Yet he ignores that Darren Wilson was clearer by an Obama led Federal AG.
I have worries about quality of police officers also being hired. But this anti-police movement is having the opposite effect the activist want. Good, quality young people have no jnterest in going into police work. Why ? Would you want to face 10 people holding their cell phones out recording you while egging you on ? Lack of respect ? So now you have these high quality people saying screw this I’ll go into another career.
And author ignores other facts. Number of unarmed , black people under 18 killed by police in last five years ..... it’s like 4 total. 4! There is no genocide by police of the black community. Fact look it up on Washington post.
Lastly , think of how many times police have any type of interaction every day with minorities ... what maybe 10-20000 a day ? How many result in abuse of authority ... I don’t have an exact number but I bet u it’s a extremely small number.
8
This...still. Brown strong arm robbed a convenience store then attacked Officer Wilson. The DOJ cleared Wilson. Hands up Don't Shoot was bull from the beginning. Pick a better martyr, Michael Brown was the source of his own demise.
6
This wouldn’t be an issue if people respected the police and didn’t break laws. Not a Republican or Trump supporter - just a supporter of being lawful.
232
@David The consequence of not "respecting" the police should NOT be death. I can't believe that still needs to be said.
101
@David: Respectfully, there is ample data to assert that the police treat people differently based on their race, ethnicity, and appearances, leading to police stops, frisks, and violence that are not associated with any criminality.
When I was young teenage boy, I had long hair, which I cut short twice a year. When my hair was long, I was stopped by police without cause on many occasions, and roughed up or seriously threatened more than once. When my hair was short, I was treated courteously and never stopped without cause. My level of lawfulness didn't change, only my hair length.
Unfortunately, our black and brown friends do not have the luxury of getting a haircut to reduce their risk of police violence.
123
@ChesBay
In a public encounter with a policeman, I respect the badge, the law behind the badge and the entire weight of civilization and decent peaceful society behind the law, not the person who I don’t know.
27
Michael Brown was a thug who allegedly committed a hate crime against a South Asian store owner. Smacking in the man and abusing him while he was stealing cigars to make “blunts.” What about the rights of the store owner? What about the news media responsibility for accuracy? What about the responsibility of liberal black and white activist in remediating the social pathologies of the African-American communities across the US?
6
Let's not forget that Michael Brown had stolen a box of cigars, assaulted a store owner, and tried to take the police officer's gun. Actions have consequences.
5
Mr. Brown's DNA was found on the officer's weapon, that demonstrates he was not "unarmed"
4
About Ferguson:
First, the whole “Hands up. Don’t shoot.” narrative. Now this is a very good thing because when race is discussed and an informed person pretends to believe this known lie, I am forewarned that I’m dealing with a willing liar.
Ultimately the Department of Justice would conclude that the claims of Brown having his hands up were not consistent with the “physical and forensic evidence.”
Emily Litella would’ve loved that one if she hadn’t been taken from us too early.
Then, the oppression of Black Ferguson by White Ferguson - Ferguson’s need for an “uprising.” Of course the looters and arsonists never mentioned the motivations attributed to them because the DOJ report came later.
But that’s not the biggie, another Emily Litella moment. While spelling out, at excruciating length, how daily oppressed were Ferguson’s Blacks and how they had no choice but to revolt like John Hancock and all those old white guys, he never mentions that two-thirds of Ferguson’s eligible voters were, now get this - those very same Black folks.
So, when Michael Brown’s absentee father screamed out to burn the town down, all he had to do was to tell them to vote. How does he decry the lack of democratic recourse and straight out encourage lawbreaking while simultaneously, if ever so briefly, acknowledging its ready availability? Not honestly, that’s how not.
“Never mind.”
1
Are we winning the fight on black on black violence ?
Which is the bigger actual issue ?
We must begin with raising our kids with hope and ethics
3
I am assuming that there is no responsibility to be leveled at the black community and the total absence of parental influence...I say this since I observed the same lack of parental oversight in the early 50s in Chicago...
3
Obama and Eric holder sided with BLM, Which at that time were run by thugs, and condemned the police and other law enforcement officers. Thanks to these two, we have seen more disrespect and false accusations against those who risk their lives every day to protect us... our men and women in blue. Their lives also matter!
1
Hard cases make bad law --- and academia un-tethered from reality makes really bad journalism. Why is the narrative so all-important that you feel compelled to purposely omit so many mitigating and relevant facts? It's utterly irresponsible to spin such a sinister narrative without providing the reader will all the information that he/she needs to make an informed intelligent decision about the state of law enforcement. How do you, for instance, so cavalierly and flippantly ignore the entirety of the DOJ investigation into the Michael Brown shooting?
4
But, after all the protests, after all the riots, after all the violence, after all the threatening hyperbole, we know that what happened in Ferguson was not police violence.
4
What many middle and upper class (mostly white) people fail to realize is that by turning a blind eye to police violence it will eventually spread to them as well. We are accustomed to police brutality in poor neighborhoods, but we are seeing more and more cases of it happening to middle class white people. (E.g. last summer a white 18-year-old in a bikini was held down by 2 cops and repeatedly punched in the head, a skinny white college student slammed down to the ground.) All of you who are defending these actions are in danger of this one day being your reality as well.
17
Further limitations on guns and high-capacity magazines are in order, and should be consistent across states.
The fact that one can legally purchase a particular type of rifle and magazine considered legal in state A and carry it into state B, where they are illegal, shows the inherent problem in allowing each state to set its own definitions of allowed guns and magazines. (Of course, guns and ammunition can be also be obtained illegally, too.)
I believe the NYT weakens its credibility by using the vague terms “military-style rifles” and “assault rifles” without defining exactly what these terms mean because they sound somehow more powerful or dangerous or sinister than “rifle” used by itself. Guns of any size and type are potentially dangerous—no need to indulge in hyperbole.
Mass shootings grab our attention—and headlines and air time—even though they are a minute percentage of annual gun deaths in the US. According to the CDC, and as reported last December in the NYT, nearly 2/3 of the 40,000 annual gun-related deaths in the US were suicides. A disproportionate number of the remaining 14,000 or so gun killings were black-on-black homicides in inner cites, which along with suicides receive scant attention in the NYT and other media.
Seeking a Constitutional amendment currently seems beyond reach; surely there must be a path to a Supreme Court resolution of this matter.
1
eric holder says brown was the criminal; not the policeman he assaulted for attempting to arrest him for a violent crime.
you can't make progress based on lies.
5
I live in Dallas, where video recently revealed cops laughing while killing a man. Where is their humanity?
1
The facts say it was the policeman being attacked. There was no hands up moment , but bring in erroneous news, activists and hollywood and suddenly we have a movement.
Thousands of blacks are killed each year by other blacks. The only hope is police enforcing the laws and locking up the killers.
Articles that ignore reality and create false scenarios are known as Fake News.
5
Any concerns about “police violence” must lose the racial angle – because it is clearly not a problem driven by race – and pick better cases that Brown, whose shooting was clearly justified. Additionally, it cannot be based on outright lies, like “hands up, don’t shoot”. Nor can it “celebrate blackness” unless it has no problem with “celebrating whiteness”.
The we-don’t-like-the-police left would find common cause with the we’re-distrustful-of-ANY-government right, if they would stop with the silliness about “racist structures” and “critical race theory”. You lose the discussion when you speak of “mass incarceration” when the issue is mass criminality. And it you truly believe that Trump is “virulently racist”, that disqualifies you from inclusion in any fact-based discussion.
Every one of the cities which you accuse of problematic police practices is overwhelmingly Democrat; why do you need the feds? Don’t cite advocacy pieces in Law Review articles by racial obsessives as authoritative. Don’t cite suicides as evidence of police misconduct.
You want fewer cops in “minority” neighborhoods? Be careful what you wish for. Young minority males are orders of magnitude more dangerous – to each other.
Conservatives NEVER trust government, in marked contrast to leftists, who ALWAYS trust it - except when it enforces the law or defends the country. If leftists want to work together to ensure better policing, they must find less delusional spokespeople.
3
With Trump and Republicans in charge of the government, police will remain empowered to kill anybody they don't like… and that includes Blacks, Latinos and LGBTQ. Under Trump the cops are "enjoying" open season on these minority groups.
2
Yes, we do have a problem with overzealous police using unnecessary lethal force in certain circumstances. What happened to Michael Brown is not a good cause to push, however. He was big and strong and attacked a police officer. Essentially, he died from his own stupidity. You never, ever attack a police officer. You never, ever actively resist arrest. A cop, like everyone else, wants to safely go home after work. In the case of Tamir Rice which is often cited, he was pointing what appeared to be a real firearm at police. Of course he got shot! Police are trained to look for hands holding weapons, especially when pointed at them, before they look at anything else. What is troublesome is the shooting of unarmed individuals who are not actively attacking/threatening police or any third party, or actively and physically resisting arrest. Yes, this needs to stop and the officers involved need to be held accountable. Definitely.
2
American local law enforcement aka cops began with slave catchers enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act under the American Constitution.
With 5% of humanity America has 25% of prisoners. And even though only 13% of Americans are black like Ben Carson and Tim Scott about 40% of the prisoners are black. Because blacks are persecuted for acting like white people do without any criminal justice consequences.
Prison is the carefully carved colored exception to the 13th Amendment's abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude.
See ' 13th' Ava DuVernay
1
Doubtless, there are valid martyrs for this cause, but Mr. Brown is not one of them.....
2
I don't want to say "fake news" but the statistics don't back up the narrative.
Study: "White police officers in the United States are no more likely to shoot dead minorities than black or Hispanic officers"
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-police-race/more-racial-diversity-in-u-s-police-departments-unlikely-to-reduce-shootings-study-idUSKCN1UI017
“We find no evidence of anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparities across shootings, and White officers are not more likely to shoot minority civilians than non-White officers,” the authors wrote.
Instead, the authors found variances between local crime rates played a key role in predicting who was most likely to be killed by police.
In areas with high rates of violent crime by blacks, police were more than three times more likely to shoot dead a black person than a white person, the study found."
3
We need police because of people like Michael Brown. The people of Ferguson were being mistreated but portraying Michael Brown as a victim is just plain wrong.
2
In the City of St. Louis, just a few miles from Ferguson, NINE children were shot dead in June and July in incidents of drive-by gang shootings. Nine innocent children dead, not because of police shootings, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time. How would you feel if you had to wrap up those little lifeless bodies?
4
The facts speak for themselves. Police forces nationwide more closely match the ethnicity of their neighborhoods than they did 20, 50 or 75 years ago. Police forces are held to a higher standard today than previous generations, and now there's State licensing. Incidents of police instigating or participating in violence against racial groups, sexual orientation groups, organized labor, etc. are at an all-time low.
While I find Mr. Hansford's Opinion heart-felt, I also find it ridiculously mis-representative of the basic facts that Policing is the best its been in the history of our nation. That doesn't make it perfect, but his postulating some grand retaliation ("backlash") conspiracy is on par with Trumpeteers claim "the deep state" is at work in nefarious ways. Both are wrong and ignorant of the simple truth that:
a. Governments, police forces, and society are comprised of us imperfect human beings; and,
b. You see what you are looking for.
If all you are looking for is evidence of perceived wrongs you'll see loads of it, but that doesn't make it true. And in this instance, Mr. Hansford is just plainly wrong in his conclusions.
123
@Mike_S
Then how come so many videos emerge showing the police actively lied in their reports when they've shot and or killed someone?Why don't the good cops tell on the bad cops?
10
@Mike_S where do you get your facts from?
They have a serious problem with their policing policies, but Michael Brown should not be the poster person for unjustified police shootings. Read the Justice Department report. Read Jonathan Capehart's column acknowledging that he was mistaken. The use of Michael Brown as the leading example vitiates an important and valid argument.
Let's have some regard for facts. Don't be like the Right.
2
I asked my state representative - one of the most liberal in Michigan - to introduce legislation that would simply take away the ability to be a police officer if they killed an unarmed person. No prison, no fine, just "you're done as a police officer."
He refused to do so. That's where we are.
As important as the issue set outlined here happens to be, the problem with police and law enforcement in the United States extends far beyond communities of color.
There is a police/law enforcement mindset that been widely accepted in the media- including the New York Times - where citizens are described as civilians. This may sound benign, but feeds the “us versus them” mentality among our civil police. Unless you are in the military, if you are a cop you are a civilian too.
There is a distinct difference between a soldier and a policeman, but the militarization of law enforcement has fed a mentality that sees every citizen as “them” as a potential “perp” and only a “thin blue line” separates us from chaos. These memes and mentality literally drips from the cop shows that populate commercial TV- CBS in particular. You would think the US is one big crime wave despite the fact that stats tell us violent crime has trended lower for a couple of decades .
We need a return of the peace officer to our various law enforcement agencies. This should be instilled in all training and those not suited to that view should be filtered out in the recruitment and hiring process. We do not need Dirty Harry on our streets. We need law enforcement that itself is law abiding. We need officers that realize that they are civil servants subject to the citizens they serve. And we need law enforcement that respects every citizen without exception.
Any officer who cannot comply needs to go.
2
Get to the nub of the matter, which is the gross inequality that is the contemporary US. On the police department side, they have to employ the people they can get, which isn't much: the most alienated, authoritarian, ignorant, violent elements that you can imagine. And regardless of race, they then have to constantly deal with, again, the most alienated, resentful of people, and rightly resentful and alienated. Where does all the alienation and resentment come from? And where the heinous support that the privileged give for the defense of their privileges? Level out incomes, give people a reason for living, give them some real hope, and so take away the resentment and all-round fearfulness of both police and policed. More egalitarian countries don't have these problems to nearly the same degree. Among the advanced industrial societies, the US is absolutely the worst place in which to be poor: not just materially deprived, but despised. And for the nation as a whole it is all so self-destructive. Utterly and completely contradictory.
2
Actually I think the trend has been positive, relative to the scope of the problem. Increased attention has resulted in more prosecution and conviction in those extraordinary cases in which police officers killed civilians without justification. And well-run departments increasingly condemn officer misconduct.
At the same time, it's not at all clear that there is an endemic problem of bias in police shootings. The anecdotes might suggest there is, but the data do not support it. Prof. Hansford seems to be unaware of recent research into fatal officer-involved shootings, summarized here: https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2019/the-truth-behind-racial-disparities-in-fatal-police-shootings/
From the paper itself: "We find no evidence of anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparities across shootings, and White officers are not more likely to shoot minority civilians than non-White officers. Instead, race-specific crime strongly predicts civilian race."
America has become a warrior state, elevating soldiers and police to the status of mythic heroes. Thus, police are portrayed as a separate breed to whom all mortals must genuflect. Fort example, after a police officer drowned while on vacation, his "brothers and sisters in blue" traveled from distant places to provide full "military-like" honors, while people who are killed while employed in more dangerous occupations, such as loggers and truck drivers, barely get named in the media. While deeply appreciative of the vital work they do, I believe police officers would be better served if they were regarded as ordinary members of their communities whose purpose is to protect and serve, rather than being lionized as super-heroes. It is easier for people to respect and honor one of their own than it is to have empathy for those who strive to be separate and above the people they serve.
5
We seem to make a demagogue out of government professions we seek to control.
For decades, teachers have been trapped between never being perfect (NCLB) and never sacrificing enough (cut after cut in pay and demonizing the NEA). Those few "bad applies" justifying the broad brush, with the occassional faint praise thrown in.
Now, the police. Like teachers, they have their problems and "bad applies" The difference is the police have circled the wagons and are armed to the teeth. They have embraced more military grade hardware, darker, more ominous colors and some even display the logo of a fictional vigilante, the Punisher. Yikes!
It is unclear who the police want to be. Teachers have doubled down on reaching all students while demanding fair compensation. Words like "partnership" is common. The police? "Thin Blue Line". That's an Us vs. Them philosophy. But recent examples of secret Facebook groups and abuses tell another story. The defense of these actions tells even more.
I miss Reed and Malloy from "Adam 12". As a kid growing up far from a city, "To Protect and to Serve" seemed a good ethos. Both teachers and police deserve to be held in that type of light again. But it will only happen when the police decide they WANT that image, and not the military one, again.
1
The death of Michael Brown, in Ferguson Missouri, is a poor basis to attack police actions.
Michael Brown was approached by a police officer because he matched the description of one of the suspects in a robbery and assault at a local business. He matched the description because he was one of the perpetrators. Forensic evidence supported the officer's testimony that Michael Brown attacked him in his vehicle, rather than submit to arrest.
Michael Brown was young but big-built and athletic. Size and strength are weapons, often deadly weapons. So Michael Brown was not only a criminal, he was not 'unarmed'.
Some aspects of the subsequent investigation might be open to criticism but not the basics of Michael Brown's death. Had Michael Brown acted reasonably, he would be alive and might even have avoided imprisonment. The outcome of that summer day was entirely due to choices that Michael Brown made and no-one else.
19
This is a remarkably important opinion piece and yet there are so few comments.
This seems to reinforce the notion that this country was founded on racism and is now receiving the support of a significant number of voters or else Trump would not be allowed to remain in office.
So I have to conclude that this is a racist country and the only way it's likely to change is if other more enlightened countries take notice and do the right thing to see that this injustice gets corrected because I think the fix will have to be brought about by international pressure just as in South Africa.
1
Sadly, a young man was killed but, due to the circumstances, it was a justifiable act by an officer of the law who was acting in self-defense.
I am black and I do believe that there are many more cases that could do much better to lay out the legitimate grievances that the black community has against many PDs. I do not concur with what I think is the motive(s) for selecting this one. I would hope that the various communities would see the need to work harder and in good faith to build bridges rather than more walls of hate.
@David below states a meaningless spiel, “This wouldn’t be an issue if people respected the police and didn’t break laws.” If people did not break laws, police would not be needed and that would be wonderful.
What we do not have is hard work, mutual respect & real efforts at communications, first by those in power and then real efforts by all sides to do some self-discipline & impose some appropriate discipline on those who need it. The media does play to this agenda a bit too much. All need to stop fanning these flames.
8
Michael Brown robbed a convenience store and attacked a police officer and grabbed his gun.
He was not a victim.
177
@John
C’mon John, if Prof. Hanford found your facts relevant, he would have included them. I mean, wouldn’t he?
13
The people complaining the most never think about the public but instead discouraging compliance. They complain about the violence in their neighborhoods but do nothing to end it......they just call the police to stop it so they don't have to risk anything but a phone call. But if the police have to sometimes must resort to vigorous action to attempt to stem the actions , they must stop to realize that the onlookers don't see or know and won't help. The men and women who protect you are not your enemies. But they do need the help of the communities they serve. Most people want rigorous gun control......get after their politicians to get it for us. If police seem too forceful in their orders it is how they are trained to get compliance. No one ever compliments the police who deescalate situations and lets us go safely about our lives. But this does not get headlines. Let us work harder to work with all so we may live safely.
3
Why was this case the one that was picked for everyone to make their cause? Yes an unarmed man died. That’s a tragedy. However there is some degree of doubt about whether he attacked the officer or not. Would it not be better, in light of all the cases that were much more clear cut (such as the Garner case) to make one of them the rallying cry for justice?
1
Police forces rely heavily on the military veterans for enlistment, and well they should, as it makes sense to bring in chain-of-command indoctrinated members to form a functioning team. Problems will arise, however, if these veterans are in the throes of PTSD. This is no to say that those afflicted from PTSD should be excluded, but a means to recognize and effectively mitigate the effects of the affliction should be a prerequisite before putting these otherwise enormously qualified individuals on the front lines - especially in tense situations...
I disagree on your first assessment: “as well they should.”
The Military thinks in terms of friends and enemies, victory and defeat, threat and triumph. The police should not.
But you are right - the militarization of our police force is at the heart of our police problems.
3
Military and police work are not the same-policing civilians is very different than engaging an enemy in battle. Just because you are good at one it’s not automatically a given that you will be good at the other.
4
Most veterans do not have PTSD. Most who serve and have served are not the tip of the spear engaging the enemy directly.
As to the logic of hiring military vets for law enforcement- not so much.
A soldier is taught to kill people, break things and occupy territory where a civil policeman is - or should be - a very different thing. Civil police should be peace officers- not warrior cops. A Private is supposed to follow orders and a Patrolman is supposed to be able to exercise judgement- also very different things. Police often work independently or with a single partner while soldiers commonly work as teams, squads, platoons or companies under the direct command of a senior NCO and Officer.
1
The plea “ stop killing us” implies to this jaundiced reader that police will not alter their privileged killing until and unless the police themselves find it necessary to seek safety in a truce. Which, in turn, implies a dreadful truth. The worst is yet to come.
1
in the interest of balance and intellectual honesty the "teenager" in question was over 300lbs, rushing at the policeman, and had an history of violence. No?
The violence in Feguson against youths is far far more likely (statistically) to be at the hands of other youths, than from police officers.
Let's face up to the real threat. Let's teach our kids to respect, to listen, to learn, to uphold ethics, and to have hope.
41
In what world are these two causes mutually exclusive? This narrative is virulently ignorant. It is a fact that police empirically antagonize African Americans more than any race. American structural violence and institutionalized racism is the root cause of many crime problems that African American communities face, NOT a disregard to “ethics.”
"As events unfolded, I realized what a privilege it was to watch the people in this small Midwestern town make history right before my eyes."
How about the burning and looting part?
37
I work about a mile from Ferguson. Ferguson & the surrounding area have suffered because of this. Many customers were too afraid to come to the area. It’s taken years to get back to where we were before this all happened.
5
I know that no one should ever let facts get in the way of opinion, but the data are clear. White cops are no more likely to shoot black civilians than are black cops or Latino cops. It is a racial group's rate of participation in violent crime that accounts for shooting statistics, not racism.
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/32/15877
p.s. Here is the abstract from this study undertaken at UC Berkeley: "There is widespread concern about racial disparities in fatal officer-involved shootings and that these disparities reflect discrimination by White officers. Existing databases of fatal shootings lack information about officers, and past analytic approaches have made it difficult to assess the contributions of factors like crime. We create a comprehensive database of officers involved in fatal shootings during 2015 and predict victim race from civilian, officer, and county characteristics. We find no evidence of anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparities across shootings, and White officers are not more likely to shoot minority civilians than non-White officers. Instead, race-specific crime strongly predicts civilian race. This suggests that increasing diversity among officers by itself is unlikely to reduce racial disparity in police shootings."
30
I can see an argument that fear and bias influences decisions officers make in conflict situations, and that bias should be fought. However, the BLM website says the organization is " An ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically intentionally targeted for demise". That claim is at the heart of their distorted thinking. It is a claim with zero factual basis. Is it surprising that there has been a backlash? Similarly, BLM activists claim that all whites are racists as opposed to the more reasonable claim that all humans have biases. Extreme claims are emotionally satisfying but prevent dialogue and obstruct change.
23
The attitudes if local police have changed dramatically over the course of my lifetime - roughly 60 years.
We now have overly militarized police trained to view those they supposedly 'serve and protect' as enemies.
It has become absurd - even in nothing happens suburbia where cops are the ones who have killed others. A drunk NYC officer shooting others without provocation. A local officer pursuing - and killing - a teen on an ATV (no charges but he had problems in previous jobs and had just come off desk duty..... I'll bet he left that department not long after).
Two boys in my youngest's high school class were pulled out of a van by officers with guns drawn - they were picking up a friend. One was at the top of his class in HS and an Eagle Scout - the other a year out and in the Coast Guard. How hard would it be to run the license plate number and find out who owned the van? In my youth police KNEW who was who.
With local taxes going to things like Hemi Chargers (in a village with no straight roads where you can top 35 or 40), half their retired officers collecting disability and lots of 'goodies' the local streets are abysmal.
After waiting months to get potholes near my driveway filled, I began filling them myself (on a low traffic Sunday). Two police officers showed up threatening ME - saying 'You can't do that'! - failing to see the absurdity of it all. I was lucky ANOTHER officer I knew showed up.
7
What we are losing the fight over is common sense. In fact it's probably lost..... If you want to do a story about Police Violence it would be well worth it to pick a case where the Police were actually at fault. Not this one.
24
The Blue Alert was inspired by a incident where a man shot and killed his girlfriend and then tweeted that he was going to get "revenge for Ferguson" on cops.
This is a "perverse" law?
The Arizona case the author cites happened when a woman who was holding a knife and had been the subject of a 911 call that said that she was threatening to kill someone's dog over $20 walked down a driveway with the knife after cops told her not to.
What officer of any color would feel that the option to shoot is unreasonable?
Any argument becomes unhinged when supports are exposed as highly suspect.
Why, when the matter of violence against blacks is so important, do some pick flawed examples to support BLM?
11
If Black lives really matter, why isn't this author talking about the real and true carnage on the streets of St. Louis? I live in the metro area and read about young Black men shooting each other nearly every day (not to mention the innocent bystanders - often children - who are also victims.
Yes, cops often act badly, but don't imagine for an instant that it only people of color on the receiving end; I have personally witnessed countless White guys getting tuned-up by rogue cops.
While bad law enforcement is indeed a problem, it clearly pales against the violence so common in urban America.
18
I haven't finished reading this op-ed piece. It is my opinion that proponents for the Separation of Church and State--which is very difficult based on my own experience--as become the Church as the surveillance State.
I have not read the following book, but I will read it, and recommend reading it. What is a conformed conscious in a capitalist society?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism
Yes we have grief and its all the same I seen Chase bank forgave all credit card dept to Canada and in 2008 the USA gave them a 12 billion dollar bail out whos running the country. To much intervention on the new world order.Lets find out who the money is from and controlling it all and have them accountable. Then peace may happen up on the earth.
Much easier admiring 1960's Civil Rights pioneers including Rosa Parks, James Meredith, Vivian Malone, James Hood, many more. Just not getting similar positive vibes regarding today's deeply flawed black martyrs. Sean Bell intentionally ramming a police vehicle, an overgrown middle aged "dad" selling loosies instead of seeking legitimate employment, a so called "gentle giant" physically attacking an honest hard working man.
14
This is so bogus! Several studies - for example:
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/empirical_analysis_tables_figures.pdf?mod=article_inline
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334633566_Officer_characteristics_and_racial_disparities_in_fatal_officer-involved_shootings?mod=article_inline
have demonstrated that there is no bias by police in officer involved shootings. The first study concluded that there was no evidence of racial bias in police shootings and that blacks are about 24% less likely “to be shot at by police relative to whites.” In the second study “We did not find evidence for anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparity in the police use of force across all shootings, and, if anything, found anti-White disparities when controlling for race-specific crime.”
It's long past time to blame racism for problems in the black community.
20
This is a fundamentally dishonest column in so many ways.
Let's focus on two key issues:
1. Eric Holder's DOJ thoroughly investigated the Michael Brown case. Their report ("DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REPORT REGARDING THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE SHOOTING DEATH OF MICHAEL BROWN BY FERGUSON, MISSOURI POLICE OFFICER DARREN WILSON") can be found with a Google search. Read it if you think Officer Wilson somehow got away with a crime.
Here's the final paragraph:
VI. Conclusion
For the reasons set forth above, this matter lacks prosecutive merit and should be closed.
2. The number of unarmed Black people shot dead by law enforcement is small, probably less than the number of Black people who are struck by lightning each year.
That's not hyperbole. It can be verified.
Start with the Washington Post's list of police killings:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/police-shootings-2019/
Data for the years 2015 - 2018 are available. The numbers have been trending downward, not upward since 2015. The average across those years is 24.
The odds of being struck by lighting are 1 in 1.222 million according to the National Weather Service.
Here's a link:
https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds
There are roughly 44 million Blacks in America, so simple math suggests that about 36 Blacks are struck by lightning each year.
We can't have honest discussions about difficult topics if we allow false narratives to shape the conversation.
22
Food for thought from the National Academy of Sciences July 2019: https://www.pnas.org/content/116/32/15877
This is the Big Lie, repeated & repeated until you submit in exhaustion.
There is no "police violence" - there is black violence, which nobody knows what to do with, and so everyone else is blamed.
11
When is real police reform going to be a talking point? Is it so complicated an issue we simply can't figure it out? These police officers, many of whom armed only with a high school diploma, are asked to do a job that requires ample tact, patience and an adaptive ability to problem-solve, these are not attributes exemplified in folks at the same education level as a high schooler. There needs to be continued annual in-class instruction for members of the force. They need to learn there more to problem-solving than pulling the gun followed quickly by pulling the trigger. Promotions should favor those who pursue college study. You want to be on SWAT? Where's your bachelor's degree?
2
@David
Police officers these days have AA's, BA's and even graduate degrees in most big city departments....Time to catch up with the realities of modern policing if you really are paying attention
In 2010 here in Albuquerque, police shot and killed a man brandishing a plastic spoon. He was obviously not a threat. But cops who may or may not be on steroids are prone to hyper escalation in any given situation. When you throw race into the mix, you've got a recipe for a disaster. When you also have very young police recruits who are already amped up, the police force can become a deadly agent in the street not to be trusted. If I were black, I would be hard pressed to call the cops for most issues. While I believe most police are good people, there have been times when I chose not to tell the thick necked cop about the weapon I had because I feared getting shot, like Philando Castile.
1
5 years after Ferguson, if the rulers won't end their aggression against African-Americans, no one, white, black or brown, should keep pretending the government is legitimate.
4
Surely the Black Lives Matter movement can find better examples of police excessive use of force against black citizens than the death of Michael Brown. Read the Wikipedia article under "Michael Brown." The evidence supports the Police officer's account that he was defending himself against a threat to his life from a violent criminal.
15
This problem would probably be better if the 1.5 million blacks that voted for Obama and didn't vote for Hillary, had actually voted for Hillary. The easiest thing a person can to do to fix this problem, is to vote in competent leadership.
4
The correct answer to this problem is that police should never shoot first, or if they do shoot first then non-special civilian adjudication standards should apply if a trial is necessary to determine the legitimacy of the use of force.
No more weighting the scales of justice to give favor to the testified perceptions of police over the provable circumstances of reality. Police lie, if you haven't heard.
1
@Milo
The line around the block for future police officer applications will be really long if you were in charge, no doubt about it!
3
The article that caught my eye was, “5 Years After Ferguson, We’re Losing The Fight Against Police Violence.” Yes, we as humans should still see the color of other people as a way to raise much needed conversations with respect, but when we see color it is not appropriate to act negatively against it. It's so disturbing how we have been going backwards into the past rather than moving forwards when there is love and acceptance. Similar to college, the acceptance rate of colored people are around 35%. According to the article, “The Blue Lives Matter Facebook page has over two million likes, while the Black Lives Matter page has under 400,000.” This should we a huge red flag that things definitely need to change. Cops receive the praise for committing the deaths while colored people receive the backlash for protesting against the cops’ actions. The world is so backwards that the New Years holiday shouldn’t exist due to the police brutality continuing. Why do police even exist if they hurt people instead of protecting them? It scares me to know there may be a chance my future children will have to deal with the hate I went through for being black. I don’t want them or any other youth growing up believing there is something wrong with our color when it’s actually a signature of our amazing ancestors. We can be killed by many dangerous. These kind of topics about skin color hits deep because I’ve tried multiple times to lighten my skin.
I don't know about losing the fight against police violence, but we're certainly losing the fight against gang violence.
25
Not to mention losing the fight against paranoia.
Mr. Hansford has strong feelings about the issues he discusses but they do not conform with the facts as confirmed by investigations. It is no uncommon for people to use a set of skills in one context but to not do so in another. He is a law professor who uses reasoned thinking as an educator. But when it comes to this issue about which he feels strongly, those skills just are not there.
But it's very important to hear both sides of important issues no matter the facts because humans do not rely upon facts and reasons to act, to find justification for what they propose or do.
It's important to know that people are thinking that racism and white supremacy explain the racial disparities that do exist. But how? The formal and legal foundation for such a system has been removed. So how does it work and control people of all races working in these institutions in order for them to serve the interests of those white masters?
11
I have to say I am amazed at the author ignoring the reason why the police are there in the first place.
When I graduated from college i lived in a mixed race neighborhood for ten years.. During that time bloods and crips were fighting over territory and our neighborhood was in the middle of it.
If the cops weren't there the people of the neighborhood would have had to stay locked up inside.
Police were there because of the criminal element and because most of the community wanted them there.
All communities wether black, white or mixed deserve a safe community. Our society use police and laws in all communities to accomplish that. If there were not a heavy police presence the gangs would run things and there would be a lot more bodies laying in the streets.
My advice to the author is that he needs get out of his Ivory Tower and spend a year in a community fighting for its safety. After that I would hope you could come back a write a much more accurate article.
52
Questioning some violent actions on the part of some police officers is not the same as believing that all of them are erroneous.
Yet many commenters have trouble with the converse idea--that not all police violence is justified. Five years after Ferguson, there are still too many knee-jerk reactions when this and other incidents are discussed. Too much eagerness to justify them, too little willingness to consider the possibility of tragic errors.
Regardless of race, a police department that's not only a profit center for its municipality but generates a meaningful percentage of the town's budget has mixed motives--not for the violent actions, but the traffic and pedestrian stops that end badly.
4
There was never any backlash, there was never any loss of progress; there was simply a return to normal. The term 'backlash' is a loaded term; so too, in this context is the word 'progress'. Both connote a sense of institutional action, the notion of 'them' and 'us'. This viewpoint is often situationally accurate, but it also ensures failure. Policing is essential and police work can turn deadly in an instant. So police violence gets, and deserves, special consideration. Yet sometimes that police violence is inexcusable, sometimes murder. The crux is in the emphasis - institution vs individual. As long as controlling 'the Police' is the sentiment, reform will not happen. But when controlling unfit individuals within a police force is the sentiment, reform will have already happened. Unfit workers are removed from their jobs in other businesses every day, it is a natural part of doing business. It is just that "unfit" in police work is often highly visible and highly charged. However, until the removal of unfit police becomes a natural part of doing police business, and not a social issue, progress will not have been made. We will just continue the cycle of 'incident' and 'backlash'. Public action needs to focus on measures that enable the Police to do a better job, not on new, unworkable, judgmental controls. The latter is easy, votable. The other requires steady constant public involvement. That makes progress.
4
I have to say I am amazed at the author ignoring the reason why the police are there in the first place.
When I graduated from college i lived in a mixed race neighborhood for ten years.. During that time bloods and crips were fighting over territory and our neighborhood was in the middle of it.
If the cops weren't there the people of the neighborhood would have had to stay locked up inside.
Police were there because of the criminal element and because most of the community wanted them there.
All communities wether black, white or mixed deserve a safe community. Our society use police and laws in all communities to accomplish that. If there were not a heavy police presence the gangs would run things and there would be a lot more bodies laying in the streets.
My advice to the author is that he needs get out of his Ivory Tower and spend a year in a community fighting for its safety. After that I would hope you could come back a write a much more accurate article.
17
I have to say I am amazed at the author ignoring the reason why the police are there in the first place.
When I graduated from college i lived in a mixed race neighborhood for ten years.. During that time bloods and crips were fighting over territory and our neighborhood was in the middle of it.
If the cops weren't there the people of the neighborhood would have had to stay locked up inside.
Police were there because of the criminal element and because most of the community wanted them there.
All communities wether black, white or mixed deserve a safe community. Our society use police and laws in all communities to accomplish that. If there were not a heavy police presence the gangs would run things and there would be a lot more bodies laying in the streets.
My advice to the author is that he needs get out of his Ivory Tower and spend a year in a community fighting for its safety. After that I would hope you could come back a write a much more accurate article.
7
I'm a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, with a masters and was research/student teacher assistant. I dealt with this stuff years ago. White suburbanites hired as probationary police officers and thrown into a largely immigrant, brown and black population. I also went to CUNY Law School and met Derrick Bell. What an awesome teacher. I took the easy way out in some ways as I was a firefighter for decades rather than deciding to be a police officer. I was in a combined engine/rescue company that did alot of "jaws of life work" - and we even kept kids away from the cops when we could. I also have friends who are police ("better to be tried by 12 than carried by six") and relatives too. It's morphed into a social worker job that carries a gun. I once dated a Jamaican Woman who had boys. She said she never slept at night. The job of policing requires more education, empathy and smarts than almost anyone can imagine. Even as firefighters, we saw the craziest stuff. Police have it worse. Nobody wants t see them coming and they go from boredom to terror in seconds. Let's require more education, teach them better, pick them better and get them out in the community. As my old man, a 20-year firefighter taught me, "you have to help everyone, so you can't hate anyone."
14
@Billy
Joseph Wambaugh is no liberal but he agreed that police are often alienated from the communities who they serve and tend to only trust other police officers. His take was that police see the worst of human behavior, often. They also experience the public mistrust when it makes no sense, people lying during routine encounters like traffic stops when telling the truth would be the better choice. Criminals escaping prosecutions because people refuse to help them acquire the evidence to do so.
No, we’re losing the fight against community violence. It is community violence that drives police violence, not the other way around.
62
The Times and Hansford should be losing sleep over these responses..
3
Suggested reading: The Ku Klux Klan and the City by Kenneth Jackson. It details the historic involvement of the KKK in local government and policing.
Whatever the facts about the Brown case, the police have a history of recruiting KKK members to their forces. This includes northern urban areas recruiting from the South to get police who can use southern control methods on black populations in their cities.
3
@KJ
Heuristic problem solving. You have new problem to solve, you review the old ones to see if what worked then fits.
Police biases are due to selective sampling of their experiences and the observations of other police. Racial prejudice can cause it but it need not and probably is not as big a factor as a century, ago. If they encounter a score of people, they will recall only the ones that stand out for them. Perhaps an angry man was stopped and was uncooperative, that will be remembered. The concentrated policing will uncover more crimes and skew the statistics in comparison to those areas lightly policed. If they only patrol one community, they will only make arrests in that community, they will not have a true perspective on that community in regards to all others. They form false generalizations and create stereotypes.
6
The author's entire premise is misplaced.
The Obama Justice Department (no bastion of white privilege) declined to indict Wilson; rather, it found forensic evidence showed that Michael Brown attacked Wilson and tried to grab his gun.
The rest of the story is, as Joe Biden would say, a bunch of malarkey.
This is not the example you want to point to when discussing police brutality.
97
I don’t know why this case was the one that got picked to be the poster child for police brutality. Seems to me there are plenty of others that would have been much better choices.
1
As I posted in the other article: There were two official investigations into this incident, one by a Grand Jury and another afterward by Eric Holder's DoJ. Both investigations took months to complete and interviewed dozens of witnesses. The conclusion? The forensic evidence backed up Darren Wilson's account and Brown's witnesses gave conflicting (and in some cases, recanted) testimony. The DoJ's report is in pdf format online for anyone wishing to read it.
Also, how can the NYT publish not one, but two separate articles completely glazing over the facts? As most of the comments here reveal, the NYT's readers are fully aware of what did and didn't happen. Did you mean to publish this at Salon.com?
76
"People around the world embraced the movement." Ok. Interesting statement. Then further down the article.
"the Black Lives Matter page has under 400,000. (likes)"
Doesn't sound like too many people are really concerned about that message. Even if every single one was of African descent, no Euro's etc, that's a tad bit over 1% of the that population group. Hardly what I'd call an overwhelming statistic.
17
Heck if I know what goes on in jury rooms when verdicts of clear-cut police brutality and violence are adjudicated. What doomsday scenarios are painted for jurors that frightens them into whitewashing murder on the part of law enforcement officers ill-suited do their jobs and warrant public trust.
As much as any law-abiding citizen, I honor and support the role of those who SERVE the public in positions of law enforcement, but when we see overt cases of outright murder, there should be no question: Cops like that should be put in prison. There is no difference between them and murderers the media has conditioned us to loathe.
There is no law and order in the USA when bad cops are immune from conviction for violent crimes. From blue states to red states, there are too many cases to count in which cops have murdered unarmed suspects, people suffering from mental illnesses, or beaten and killed innocent Americans.
The poison starts at the top. Bad cops reflect bad management that reveals itself as sadistic and immoral, and by extension lets sadistic and immoral cops run afoul of their mission to serve and protect.
1
Studies conducted since the Ferguson shooting show no there is racial bias in police shootings.
Blacks make up a disproportionally high percent of police shootings because they commit a disproportionally high percent of violent crimes. Blacks make up 13.4 percent of the population. In 2017, they make up 25.9 percent of those shot and killed by police, but in 2017 backs committed 37.5 percent of violent crimes, the type of crime most likely to produce police shootings.
A study published in August by the National Academy of Science found “no evidence of anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparities across shootings, and White officers are not more likely to shoot minority civilians than non-White officers.”
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/32/15877
A 2016 Harvard study titled “An Empirical Analysis of Racial Difference in Police Use of Force” found that “Blacks are 23.5 percent less likely to be shot by police, relative to whites, in an interaction.”
https://scholar.harvard.edu/fryer/publications/empirical-analysis-racial-differences-police-use-force
61
When the NY Times allows an Opinion Piece to run
it does have the duty to see that the basic facts are presented,
does it not ?
Michael Brown tried to take hold of Officer Brown's weapon.
The Weapon discharged, now Mr. Brown was guilty of an
felony assault on a policeman, and possibly attempted murder.
The office pursued Mr. Brown, who refused to surrender, and
then turned and charged at the officer.
We, who were not there, say that the Officer should have called
for backup and carried out a search for Mr. Brown and put out
a warrant for his arrest. Which would have been a better decision
but we were not there having almost been shot.
Mr. Brown and his "Bro" Mr. Johnson has robbed a local store,
and Mr. Johnson lied about what happened concerning the altercation and the news media did not check its facts and
riots followed.
The Protestors who gathered in the next few days were
composed of three groups: Peaceful Protestors, those who
came to look on and those who set fire and destroyed local
businesses and attacked the police.
It is the latter group, Professor Hansford, that you
failed to denounce and that hurt(s) your cause the most.
The Poor always suffer the most in a society.
One difference in policing is that in Urban situations the police
rarely have any idea who the person is that they have stopped.
Whereas, in the rural area the police are County Sheriffs and may have a good idea whom they have stopped and thus know better
what to expect.
50
I’m not so sure. They can run the plates of any car. The cops in any neighborhood, rural or urban, usually know who the biggest troublemakers are.
I have a modest proposal: rather than investigating within the police department, bring all police shootings to a jury trial—and don’t let the jury know the race of the victim. Instead, use a generic photo of a middle-class 30-year-old white man or woman. Every other detail remains the same. Remove race from the equation and let the jury decide whether the killing was justified. People on the right like to say “all lives matter,” so let’s call their bluff and see how they feel about these killings if they happen to white people.
8
@Mari
Maybe a basic civics lesson in American jurisprudence is in order first.
Police treats suspects according to the risks they pose. An encounter with a black suspects is five times more likely to result in the death of the police officer than an encounter with a white suspect. Asians are the safest suspects to deal with
Every officer knows these odds - and acts accordingly
34
@John This is a lie!
Whites kill more cops than blacks every year, this hols up looking at 10 or 30 years back.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/01/09/are-black-or-white-offenders-more-likely-to-kill-police/
excerpt:
There were 511 officers killed in felonious incidents and 540 offenders from 2004 to 2013, according to FBI reports. Among the total offenders, 52 percent were white, and 43 percent were black.
The FBI provided The Fact Checker a detailed database of victim officers and offenders in felonious incidents, accidental deaths and assaults with injury, from the early 1980s.
From 1980 to 2013, there were 2,269 officers killed in felonious incidents, and 2,896 offenders. The racial breakdown of offenders over the 33-year period was on par with the 10-year period: 52 percent were white, and 41 percent were black.
The underlying premise in your argument is that the police shoot for their own safety. It makes me think of the video where the police shot the guy in the back while running away and then claimed self defense. And yes, of course he was black.
Total figures are taken out of context.
From the same WP article “The black population in America ranged from 11.6 percent to 13 percent between 1980 to 2013. Compared to that percentage in the population, the percentage of black offenders who killed police officers appears to be disproportionately high”....
Police need accountability and lack of it is abhorrent. Police also have no requirement to be polite, customer oriented, and at rare times act worse than any thugs. Hardly any resources are spent towards deescalation training. Saving one ‘lives’ and vilifying another at the same time does not help, and this in itself is racist. How many black college professors are shot by police, I would guess, not many. No, I am not white.
Some voices of those who know best what it's like to live in the the north St. Louis area:
https://apps.stlpublicradio.org/livingferguson/
It's worth a listen.
10
Mr. Hansford, This is not the best case for your argument. Michael Brown was a thug. He stole from a store, roughed up the store clerk, and tried to pull a cop through the window, and also tried to steal his gun. What did you expect? Of course there is racism, but you are painting with a large brush. Pick a better example for you argument.
40
Michael Brown would be alive today if he didn't rob a convenience store and attack a police officer and attempt to steal his weapon.
64
The NYtimes seems hellbent on stoking racial divisions - no doubt because it is good for business. Is that responsible journalism?
69
@Bjh; Oh, you're right on the money!
1
If Hansford showed some concern over the thousands of blacks killed through gang violence every year then the "black lives matter" slogan might have some meaning.
44
In recent months, I have wondered why I haven't seen coverage of Ferguson in The NY Times--perhaps there was and I didn't catch it, but I've thought about it a great deal. I appreciate this editorial and all the related articles I've now read about the aftermath Ferguson. Some articles about the aftermath are so tragic and heartbreaking; others hopeful and inspiring. But like many, I do believe the more recent explicit and staggering acts of racial violence (in some ways) stem from the way many white people viewed Ferguson while Obama was in office. I only have two acquaintances on social media who are Trump, Blue Lives, and anti-immigrant supporters. Before this happened, I liked them both. Now I have blocked their posts because we haven't been able to have a healthy conversation. When some white people say, "I'm not racist," in my opinion, it's because they aren't physically violent. But they're unable/unwilling to see, hear, recognize the implicit layers of their racism. Until all white people question how a long history of "civilizing" other people and nations have been responsible for the world we now live in AND do something about it, I don't have much hope for us to move forward, but I do remain helpful. @Blackstarjus, thank you for enlightening this white person and for the link to the petition and other ways for getting involved.
2
@BenC But it wouldn't have been "tragic and heartbreaking.." if Michael Brown had succeeded in killing officer Wilson. But we do remain hopeful.
2
While the use of excessive police force has impacted the African-American community, racializing the response blunts the fact that excessive police force affects us all. According to Statista, more than twice the number of whites were shot by police than blacks in 2017, yet where was the outrage then?
That being said, the good news is that shootings by police are down significantly overall from a combined black and white total of 680 in 2017, to 608 in 2018 and only 152 so far this year. So keeping focus on this issue is having positive effect. We can keep up the vigilant effort by expanding #BlackLivesMatter to #AllLivesMatter In this time of provoking people to be against each other, coming together instead is what's really necessary for the long-term survival of the country.
See: https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
4
There are indeed problems in the use of force by police officers. It is, in my view, an irresponsible act to use the Brown case to launch a case against police violence. An extensive investigation occurred after the Brown incident. The evidence suggests that police came to the scene in response to (a) a burglary committed by Brown; (b) that the officer stopped Brown as he was crossing the street; (c) that Brown reached into the officer's car to procure his gun; (d) that the gun was shot at that point; and (e) that addition shots took place after this point, as Brown ran toward the officer -- and not with his hands above his head. By these accounts, Wilson acted appropriately. This Op-Ed fuels the wrong fire -- and in so doing -- contributes to the problem rather than helps resolve it.
24
@michael
And that, Michael is the precise goal of the NYT.
1
So sorry to read this article. But with the press and politicians hailing law enforcement as heroes all the time, the movement was dead before it got any real traction. Law enforcement officers are not heroes. They are just cops that are suppose to do there jobs. Nothing more, nothing less. Stop calling them heroes.
4
@Mick Certainly some have been heroes. I would agree that the word be used to describe only those whose actions have, in fact, been heroic.
5
@Mick
Police are brave and self sacrificing members of the community, because of the job that they do every day. Those who cannot risk themselves can do it. However, not all are virtuous people. In addition, the psychological effect of authority can make people less considerate and inclined to behave themselves poorly with a sense of impunity.
By the way, when one must command authority it really angers some people, they hate it and the person exhibiting it. But without that command presence things tend to become unpredictable and dangerous.
7
are we losing the fight against thuggery on the streets also?
18
“ stop killing us”
Michael Brown just robbed a convenience store, was intoxicated and attacked a police officer - there surely must be better examples of police violence victims?
How many police are killed in the line of duty by criminals and gangsters? Why does the NYT never report on those?
On the other hand, the dismantling of the outrageous "fines & fees" set up in Ferguson was a very good thing. Hopefully, other cities followed suit.
200
@Kai NY Timesand other media report on police killed in the line of duty all the time, and local news broadcasts give us extensive coverage, sometimes live, of their funerals and funeral processions. It's just that the police kill a lot more suspects than suspects kill police, quite often unarmed. If Forbes is a conservative enough source for you, 55 police officers were deliberately killed by others last year (though almost as many died in accidentally), while some 1,000 people were killed by the police, quite a few of them unarmed. People would simply like the killings of unarmed suspects to end.
28
@Mike McGuire
Can you please update us on the racial make of cop killers? cop victims?
This will allow us to make a more accurate conclusion about the charges levied by the activist.
8
@Mike McGuire
how many of the 1,000 were really unarmed, and what were they doing when they were shot.
Man, you have no idea what it is like to be a cop,
24
Police work can be violent. Unnecessary violence is wrong no matter who does it or what color they are, whether cop or criminal. Let's go after those cases. But for everyone's sake let's stop trashing the whole profession of law enforcement. To do so is as bigoted, wrong and harmful as trashing all black men because some of them commit crimes.
128
@Judy Harmon Smith, No one is "trashing the whole profession of law enforcement," but we need to start getting real. Law enforcement as a tool for state control is very simple: The state threatens violence, sometimes extreme violence (from tax laws, drug laws, to stop and search, to violent death at the hands of officers) through laws and officers of state control, and the good citizens obey, or they suffer the consequences. Most of us know this, consciously or not, and obey, or not. When the threat of violence, and real life law enforcement action is unduly and unfairly meted out, as is the case in minority communities in the United States, there is protest, and the obeying majority should pay attention. They just aren't because, it's "those people." To deny the racist heart in the story of our country is a form of conscious, or unconscious racism. It's really very simple.
6
Agreed but stop calling them heroes for doing their jobs. Stop glorifying police.
8
@Mick I view someone as a hero when that person puts their own life on the line to protect the lives of others.
If they INTENTIONALLY take the life of another, they are murderers.
I surely do not put my life on the line doing my job. I do not know if you do, but, I will call them heroes.
7
The Wikipedia article on the shooting of Michael Brown is a hundred times more useful than any article I have ever read on this issue. I suggest people read that before they read anything else on this subject. People, with an agenda, having been lying about this for years now.
24
"We had just one year of progress before the backlash kicked in."
That could also be the headline for an article about #MeToo.
Mr. Hansford:
The Brown shooting was thoroughly investigated and the officer cleared. Why can't you and others accept it? You and others should show some sympathy for the store owner Brown robbed as well as those people who lost their jobs bc of the subsequent looting.
48
Was Justin Hansford ever a police officer?
7
@Travelers Excuse me, only police officers can judge our public policy toward killings by police? In a democracy, the rest of us simply don't count?
2
Construction work is more dangerous than police work.
1
@Fox
except that a 2x 4 is not trying to kill or cripple you. It just does, unlike another human being taking your life because they can't live by the laws the rest the of us law abiding people live by.
3
A law professor should know that no one has the right to bounce hispanic heads off the pavement. No one has the right to rob people and assault the police. Has he no idea that he undermines himself when he equates a Big Mike and a Rosa?
16
I suspect that what Mr. Hansford sees as an increase in police violence is actually all of us...communities, journalists, politicians, social media... giving more attention to a matter that so many people just took as fact of life in years past. (Similar to how many people think rates of autism are rising when in fact there's just a greater awareness and diagnosis of the condition) Let's be very careful to consider how much making generalization about any group - people of color, immigrants, police officers - doesn't contribute to a healthy or productive conversation about a real problem. Keep peace makers accountable by reporting and recording incidents, questioning the decisions they make, and voting in local elections. And when you have the opportunity, get to know your local patrol officers by having a conversation and asking questions.
3
We're loving the fight against violence, period.
Certainly, non-police White Supremacist terrorists are "holding their own" in competition (co-operation?) with the police.
And let's not forget: Sackler Family, Purdue Pharmaceutical, drug overdosing. VIolence for profit.
1
Haven't seen such a narrative since the Django flicks. The white citizens councils are running the country. The police regardless of race, religion, or creed are white supremacist lumpen proletarians.
Ferguson city government was unrepresentative and they used traffic citations to make up for weak revenues. In addition, the entire state has a history of racism going back to the time of John Brown. Plenty of reason for a lot of African American residents to mistrust police.
Michael that cute gentle giant of 13 or 14 in the photos, was a 6'8" inch person nearly 18, who was in a very bad mood, and because he was an adolescent decided he was not going to let any police officer tell him what to do. So he attacked him, unarmed. He was succeeding, the officer could not stop him nor get away. A bad thing resulted.
Now a chronic complaint of African Americans has been over policing and unnecessary force by police. A group of advocates are trying to change this. As part of this effort, they look for cases where this might be happening. They do a quick survey of the situation and if there is any hint of it, they assert that it's racial policing and any deaths or injuries are clearly criminal. Some are and some are not, they reliability of facts before good investigations is usually not good. Well, that spoils the message, so it's a cover up, not sometimes, every time.
The statistical analysis upon which the proof of persistent racial disparities are based, don't explain.
10
The "Dept of Justice Report Regarding the Criminal Investigation into the Shooting Death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri Police Officer Darren Wilson" is an 86 page long report detailing the entire incident. There is no mention of a witness by the name of Dorian Johnson and no mention of Brown's last words. Also of note is that the Report describes that all the eye witnesses that went to the press to make a comment were fabricating their comments. The Dept of Justice concluded that "this matter lacks prosecutive merit and should be closed." It is also interesting to read about witness 103, an eye witness, who did not make a public statement. He "is a convicted felon who served time in federal prison, and has a son who was shot and injured by law enforcement during the commission of a robbery." He told the truth about what happened. Read the DOJ report on what actually happened and not the press accounts.
36
All of the energy and effort and focus the national media and African American community places on police racism is, quite frankly, a bit of a waste.
There are many things that hold the black community back and racism, police or otherwise, in 2019, isn't actually very high on the list.
31
Can we PLEASE replace the media excuse-phrase "officer-involved shooting" with "shooting by police officer"? And stop the blame-the-dead narrative before the police even start to espouse it? And, while we're at it, if we're going to hear character assassination of the dead from the police, which seems routine, let's have a discussion of the character of the person who killed them. Was the officer having a bad day? Had he snapped at people? visibly upset about something. Chip on his shoulder? Drinking problem? Wife-beating problem? Previous disciplinary actions, and for what? There's two sides to most stories, and we're only getting one. The press can do better.
2
Are we at the point where we condone assaults on police officers? Should Wilson have called Al Sharpton during the assault for advice on how to react? There is a video circulating showing Brown assaulting another black in what appears to be a housing development. I have perceived over recent years a concerted drive to water down law enforcement so that the lawless do not have to face the consequences of their actions.
20
Had he called for backup, this probably would not have escalated the way it did
Thre were two mass murders committed by young white males last week. We are still reeling from the deaths and aftereffects. One of the white killers was killed by police before he could slaughter dozens more, whcih you can observe in videos. One of the white killers gave himself, which you cqan obser in videos. I heard a white radio host assert that the El Paso killer " ... would be dead if he was black." I've heard many other people assert this. Mr. Hanford should do a bit of easy research, he is after all a law professor. He might want to look up how Police Officers Natalie Corona and Tara O'Sullivan in California were gunned down in the line of duty amongst many others.
13
If you think of the police as the Praetorian Guard,
protecting the aristocracy, the fall of our democracy
is much easier to take.
Does anyone really believe that the police are the problem with America?
25
Eric Garner was murdered by the NY police officer who took him down with an illegal choke hold. Why he isn't in jail shows the weakness of our judicial system. However, Michael Brown punched a cop and tried to grab his gun. The officer responded as called for by his training. He ordered Brown to stand still and place his hands over his head. Instead, Brown tried to bullrush the policeman. Brown made a mistake and paid for it. There are many, many examples of unjustifiable force used against minorities in the United States. The Michael Brown case was not one of them.
17
The purpose of the police is to protect the rich from everyone else. The protect and serve motto refers to the rich not you.
Two of the Times regular columnists recently referenced an article from Tablet Magazine called "America's White Saviors." It analyzes data regarding police violence and appears to largely contradict the premise of this opinion piece.
"...multiple recent studies find no racial disparities in police use of deadly force. The odds of an unarmed black person being shot by police appear to approximate his/her chance of being struck by lightning..."
So what's the truth?? And why keep running conflicting pieces if the data is indeed accurate?
22
What a biased, prejudice article this was. It's obvious Justin Hansford has no understanding whatsoever of police work. He also takes the story of Ferguson and slants it in such a way as to ignore the facts and portrays the officer as the villain. Articles like this, based on personal prejudices, do a disservice to all police officers and create a further rift between LE and the community. He has embarrassed himself and his profession and should consider another source of employment.
37
You could make the entire police force of Chicago African American and it wouldn't change the murder rate.
Whatever racism exists within police forces around the country is way way way way down on the list of the most pressing problems facing the African American community.
33
In Chicago, year to date, 1,660 people have been shot. As for police-involved shootings, 5 people have been killed and 3 people have been wounded. 4 CDP officers have been shot. The rare police shootings obtain massive coverage. The actual carnage is mostly ignored. Chicago CCT recorded a drive-by where the victim was a woman carrying a baby. The video is on Youtube: Chicago Homicide: 1254 N Mason Ave
32
Recently NYT has been encouraging independent writers to engage in propaganda not only against the police but also in other sectors. If the police are that bad author should give up journalism and join the police force. Lets see how far you get. Police have a very difficult time dealing with public safety and other issues. There were faults but it takes time to correct these like introducing body cams. Recruiting is at all time low thanks to NYT reporters. Let someone write an article praising the police.
14
Some of the article is utterly absurd wackiness like abolishing police and prisons. I'd like to hear what these "abolitionists" would do with regards to antisocial behavior and crime. I'd also like to hear what the criminals would do if the police and prisons were abolished. I mean, I think some criminal laws are stupid and should be repealed, but law enforcement is absolutely necessary.
28
The problem is you did not make a convincing argument about any of the deaths. Should police risk their lives? If so when and how. As the stories get spun out they are never as clear or as easy and either side wants.
99
@Daniel A. Greenbaum: Police seem to have adopted a policy of shoot first, be exonerated later.
Maybe we need police who think first, deescalate and arrest later.
12
@Daniel A. Greenbaum
It is more dangerous to be a garbage collector than a police officer. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Roofing, farming, commercial fishing etc are more dangerous.
So what are the police getting paid to do? To shoot first, concoct a story and then get other officers back you up or "to serve and protect". When was the last time a police officer testified against another police officer in a wrongful death suit? I haven't heard of one either.
Police culture is the culprit. A rotten culture. Look at the Facebook pages.
How much do we know of what goes on behind the badge? Not much.
Police unions protect brutal corrupt police officers.
A police officer gets fired for misconduct or brutality and then goes to work for another police department. Don't we the public have a right to know if a police officer is a rogue cop? I think we do.
Vietnam Vet
16
@Daniel A. Greenbaum
Police don't fight fair, they apply force before it's applied to them. It's brutal but less brutal that real fights between police and angry citizens who tend to try to take officer's weapons.
Self defense means saving one's self or others from death or serious bodily injury. Stopping it means before the threat is no longer preventable. Seeing a weapon actually about to harm you, means you might have a chance to retaliate before the lights go out.
12
I'm not sure why Ferguson is continually raised as an example. The situation was investigated to the tiniest detail and the officer was found to have acted appropriately. According to multiple eyewitnesses he was being charged by a 300 pound teen who had already attempted to shoot the officer with his own gun. This was after an assault on a store owner.
Police violence is a problem that needs to be addressed but Ferguson is not a good example. It is, in fact, an example of an integrated community that is home to many middle class whites and blacks who coexist peacefully, for the most part.
261
@M Davis
It was the first case regarding alleged murder by police that created a mass media event with police misconduct during the crowd control activities. It also started a lot of narratives that resonate with people who have no experience with law enforcement and who sympathize with complaints of injustice. Like swat officers on sniper duty where the risk of random violence with guns is possible clearly proving that the police are acting like a military occupation force instead of police.
6
@M Davis You state the police narrative of what happened very clearly. I just don't buy it. Somewhere in the police script, perhaps available in printed from some local police unions, is if yo have no other legal reason for shooting an unarmed person to death, claim "he went for my gun" or "he was trying to use his car as a weapon." And hope no clear video showing otherwise is held by anyone other than the police.
11
@Mike McGuire NOT just the police version. Multiple witnesses corroborated. Other witnessed who disagreed were disproved and clearly lying. Read up.
15
The elephant in the room that the news media never seems to see is how "community activists" and "minority leaders" encourage violent behavior on the part of their constituents to increase their political power (and revenue). The almost inevitable result is that those radicalized constituents believe they can use force against the police with impunity. They can not. In a nutshell; don't resist and you won't be shot.
130
@Hypnogator Even when you use this logic, which is faulty, I think, black people often get shot/treated violently whereas aggressive white people somehow manage to be taken in peacefully without incident even mass shooters like the El Paso killer. Black people often end up dead. Look at Eric Garner's treatment vs that of the white El Paso Killer. The color bias is outrageous and often deadly for people of color and it is not for whites.
3
@Hypnogator
Some activists do want police to overreact because it looks bad on the mass media, and because it increases community support for the protests. But, they do not have to do much, every community where people are frustrated and feel ignored can be found angry people spoiling for a fight.
During the Ferguson demonstrations, the police screwed up, they lost their tempers and chased down anybody who they disliked regardless of what they had done. A bunch of national mass media company journalists were attacked by the police, just because they were there and reporting. Stupid.
1
Police are there to enforce the law. There is a presumption of innocence and whether or not you're guilty is determined in a court of law.... not in a court on the street corner.
Non compliance with a police officer's lawful order can't be tolerated if we are to have a lawful society. If someone wants to complain about the way they are spoken to or treated by the police then their complaints should be brought to court. Arguing in the street will get you no where.
Both Michael Brown and Eric Garner were lawfully approached by the police for allegedly committing crimes. Both would be alive today if they complied with the police.
28
@Matt Carey
But Eric Garner didn't charge against the police officer who approached him.
Brown and Garner respective cases are apples and oranges.
3
@Gian Piero Messi
Eric Garner had been previously arrested for selling loose cigarettes before that his last day on earth. All the other times he was arrested for it he was released with an appearance ticket an hour or two later. That wasn't Eric Garner's first rodeo. Why did he resist his lawful arrest when he had a reasonable expectation of being released on an appearance ticket? It's his own fault that he died.
8
@Gian Piero Messi
Eric Garner refused to be placed in handcuffs. By doing so he resisted arrest under NYS Penal Law. The police- Garner interaction is well known and seen on video. If he had complied he would have survived the interaction, received a summons, and released. The action of P.O. Pantaleo was overzealous and unnecessary. His fate will be decided shortly.
4
In virtually every case of a young, black man being killed by cops, two get out of jail cards are used as justification: "I though he had a gun," and "I feared for my life." Those excuses just about cover everything--even when a suspect unarmed or packing no more than a cell phone. Black men never get the benefit of the doubt. White men, not surprisingly, can walk down the street with an Uzi and when confronted, cops will speak calmly, get their intent, then act accordingly. An example of this is the arrest of the El Paso massacre suspect. There is no explanation for this except pervasive systemic racism.
3
Until our communities demilitarize police departments we will continue to reap a whirlwind of violence.
Police used to “serve and protect “. Now they dress up in black tactical gear and drive black SUVs. Ex- gang members thrive in this atmosphere.
It’d be keystone cop funny if it weren’t so dangerous.
4
First there was shooting unarmed black men. Then there was sexual abuse. Now there is mass shootings. The media goes from one hot topic to another. They land somewhere and stay for about six months. After those six months, they reach a saturation point and move on to their next crisis.
The news is for sale but the media needs to create the demand. And this is the way they do it. Traveling salesmen would go from town to town. Reporters create crisis after crisis. Otherwise, they are basically the same. As for police shootings, that topic was saturated years ago.
3
I’d be interested in hearing the perspective of family members of people killed in black gang related shootings that occur weekly in Chicago. Just this week, the Chicago Tribune published a story about a young Graduate Student that moved to Chicago after completing his undergraduate work in New York. On his very first day in Chicago, he was struck and killed by random gunfire that emanated from two opposing gang members that were having a gunfight nearby. Such collateral killings are not at all uncommon on the South and West sides of Chicago.
How about an article and some discussion about these true victims.
44
@William The Times has covered Chicago shootings by civilians frequently and in impressive detail. Perhaps some readers have missed it.
2
Does the author trust the Obama DOJ's investigation and conclusions regarding the death of Michael Brown?
Does the author acknowledge that an unarmed person can become armed by taking an officer's gun? (Michael Brown's DNA was on the officer's gun.)
Does the author support a policy change that would prohibit police officers from making detentions or arrests on their own authority and instead require that a warrant be issued by a judge prior to any detention or arrest?
9
The African American community absolutely should continue to fight for equal justice under the law. It is without question there is a binary justice system in place for the "haves" and the "have-nots" in this country. However, Mr. Brown was an extremely poor face of that movement. He strong arm robbed a convince store and then physically attacked a police officer before he was shot. No evidence was ever supplied that he had his hands up or yelled "don't shoot". It created an environment where folks who've never personally experienced harassment or violence by police officers say "see, we knew they are making it up".
It only lead to a reinforcement of people's ignorance and a wasted opportunity to have a real conversation on a very serious issue.
8
Didn't the professor (of law, wow!) read the grand jury report? Even a casual perusal informs one of many facts of the Brown case that he chooses to ignore. This was certainly note an example of a law officer opening fire from a distance on an unarmed young man. Could it be his interest is only to advance his anti-police agenda?
22
This is not simple as some would have you believe--that a criminal was shot resisting arrest--A Contrived Narrative--cookie cut for convenience........
A puzzling number of men tied to the Ferguson protests have since died. Two young men were found dead inside torched cars. Three others died of apparent suicides. Another collapsed on a bus, his death ruled an overdose.
Six deaths, all involving men with connections to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, draw attention in the activist community that something sinister is at play.
3
The harsh reality is that the black community is a far greater threat to itself than the police is to it. In Baltimore the murder rate is about the same as it is in El Salvador - one of the most violent countries in the world. Meanwhile across the nation as a whole the police kill about 1,000 people each year - the majority of whom are white.
So yes, an unjustified violence and racism are still reprehensible and worthy of condemnation, but it's incredibly hypocritical when the black community refuses to acknowledge how rampant gang violence is wracking these communities. Worrying about police violence when gang violence remains unaddressed is like ignoring heart disease to worry about the "threat" of being struck by lightning.
There's simply no statistical case that demonstrates that police violence is a major threat to the lives of black Americans - which is probably why the only concrete statistic the author shares is the number of likes two different Facebook pages have...
This piece is pure opinion and devoid of any rational argument to support that opinion.
47
I have no doubt that some of the most dangerous members in communities are in the police department. Oversight on PDs in this country are a joke considering the insanely low bar required to apply and become an officer.
30
@Andrew being a cop is one of the hardest jobs in the world and often a thankless job.
3
@Andrew - "the insanely low bar"? Please cite one example of the requirements to enter a police academy and become a sworn law enforcement officer with powers of arrest that you consider "insanely low". I'd like to know that municipality (or state).
2
@Andrew
Andrew - really, an “insanely low bar”?
People must respect the authority of the police. The alternative is anarchy. Regardless if you think the police are violating your rights, cooperate and sue later. You walk away with your life and a cash payout. Resist and you can lose your life. Not a hard choice.
18
@M "Refusing to obey a lawful order of a peace officer" is nowhere a capital crime. Nor should it be.
1
Police violence? Yeah, there are cases of abuse physical and otherwise by police, but to use Ferguson as a starting point is absurd. The officer who shot the criminal, yes I said criminal, was exonerated . If you want to use that as an example of police violence, that dog won’t hunt.
29
I suppose you didn't read the news report which said that 2 patrol officers in Dayton responded within one minute of the shooter's opening fire, killed him, and thus saved many lives. What would have happened had they not been there?
19
As opposed to doing what? Those cops did what they are paid to do. So what’s your point?
Professor Hansford, did you read the U.S. Department of Justice report on Mr. Brown's shooting? It concluded that there was no basis for criminal charges against officer Wilson and that the forensic evidence established that Mr. Brown had reached into the police car and tried to take officer Wilson's weapon and was moving toward him at the time he was shot.
I recognize that this is an opinion piece, not a news story. But even so, I think there are some minimum standards of candor that should apply and am disappointed, though not surprised, that the NY Times did not require some level of balance in describing the facts.
49
Ferguson is a poor example of “police killings”, inasmuch as the officer in question was subjected to investigation, and cleared, by local, state and federal authorities.
33
Are the police responsible for the death of Bassem Masri? If so the DOJ should investigate fully and at a minimum release autopsy reports or pursue gathering information. If he was killed by police people should be sent to jail
we have been losing the battle of violence in the country for a long time. Police killings are particularly bad for any society, but especially one with the racial issues we clearly have. Otoh, Chicago had another "normal" weekend and 7 people died. There are bad cops and bad institutions and that makes it a lot harder on the cops who are really trying to do the right thing. Independent commissions seem like a good idea. Get the facts, let the chips fall, but that doesn't stop people going nuts at Walmart or at a music festival. It's so discouraging but we have to try to move forward.
4
The people I feel sorry for in this entire matter are the police involved. They are the thin line between outright chaos and some small sense of security in communities that are plagued with high crime rates.
39
@Tony Francis I don't feel sorry for them at all. They are the foot soldiers of the system that creates that chaos. They perpetuate far more harm than they ameliorate.
1
even while lynchings were occurring in the jim crow south summary executions of blacks by law officers were undoubtedly happening simultaneously. and while the lynchings stopped with the advent of the civil rights movement in the 60's, the extra judicial shootings by police did not. while blacks in america were acutely aware of these crimes by police, white america was ignorant of them and would have remained so except for the advent of the smart phone. even in the cases where the suspect had a weapon, police were more likely to shoot a person of color than a white person. another example of white privilege (not to get shot). the police whether they are black or white simply do the accord black suspects the same level of trust that they do white suspects. they are far more likely to shoot a person of color first and ask questions later. this level of distrust of people of color is endemic in society and is going to be very difficult to change. what can be done to reduce the level of police violence against minorities is to give them a reason to hesitate and ask questions first before shooting. the only way to achieve this is to rack up some convictions of police who have clearly shot someone (especially a person of color) with out justification which is the case here.
3
The case where?
Brown's blood was found inside police car, because he was reaching in, to do what? Have a dialog?
11
The entire premise of this opinion piece is flawed. The 2015-2018 rates of "police killings" are 994, 962, 986, and 998.
If you didn't have that data, by reading this article you might have thought the increase was in the thousands. Neither the article or the original source document what percentage of those deaths were justifiable.
Nor does it tell you that, while it sounds cold, the rise in deaths is statistically insignificant in a country of 330 million.
52
@Ryan M: What's cold here is that you are finding a way to diminish a systematic racial bias that kills black people by law enforcement.
What's cold here is the deaths of almost a thousand people a year is "statistically insignificant" to you.
What's cold here is you imply that's not enough death to be worth our notice.
3
@Darsan54 - I think many would say the same about black-on-black homicides, which represent a far larger number of victims.
In St. Louis alone, a community of barely 300k, we have 203 murders so far this year! That's 20% of all the people killed by police nationally, and just in ONE CITY! Nearly all the victims and all the perpetrators are black.
If that's not statistically more significant and worthy of protests and outrage, I don't know what is!
8
@Darsan54: Ryan M points out that in the four years 2015-2108, the number of police killings per year was nearly constant; there is no significant trend. There are four numbers averaging 985, with a range of only 36 from smallest to largest, and statistically, these fluctuations cannot be attributed to anything but random chance. To get nerdy, we use a Poisson distribution; the standard deviation is the square root of the mean, or about 31, and all four points lie well within one standard deviation of the mean. It takes about two standard deviations to achieve statistical significance. Statistical significance is not a measure of how we value life and hate death, it is a measure of whether fluctuations are attributable to real trends and not just chance. Ryan M never said that there is no moral significance to this loss of life. He simply said that, contrary to original author Justin Hansford, there's no clear trend in the period 2015 to 2018.
3
One thing Trump revealed to me is that the center of this country is way more bigoted than I realized. We have a serious problem that has been festering without proper treatment.
I think we need another system of checks and balances. Maybe the writer of this piece could look into supporting a civil grand jury system being added to the states. This grand jury’s purpose is that citizen volunteers do research and discover to root out police corruption.
This involves them going into the community, investigating police files, talking with those sentenced and other witnesses. The police are not capable of policing their own. We need outside citizens to do it. Obviously jury selection is key but if implemented in earnest could help root out issues.
We keep trying to paint Brown as some kind of saint. He was a mess and handled himself poorly in the incident. I'm sure had he behaved himself he would be alive today and in some prison by now for breaking the law repeatedly.
104
An unarmed teenager? What was he doing that was endangering the life of the police officer to the point where his whole life was taken away.
1
@George. Maybe so, but we have to have a better way to deal with, especially young males, who tend to be hot headed no matter their race. Tazers, and other non lethal measures have to be in the police options. Cops killing people under any but the most extreme circumstances is not good for a society.
4
@Al, I TOTALLY agree with you. But that's a different story than trying to portray Brown as some nice guy caught in a bad place.
3
How about starting at the base of it all? National police training standards. The paramilitary, us vs. them of it all. The go in with overwhelming force and guns first attitude. How about pushing insurance companies to refuse to cover police shootings and make the officers and the cities responsible for their actions. If an officer knows he'll be on the hook for millions maybe he'll think taser or mace before Smith & Wesson.
8
@markd. Talk about going to an extreme! Having to self-insure would discourage people from choosing law enforcement as a career. If the community says to cops you're on your own, the response will be you're on your own too, good luck with the thugs.
Police serve society, doing dangerous and dirty work. We need to choose and train them carefully, and appreciate, honor and support them. Part of that is looking at ways to prevent unnecessary police violence.
5
I'm supportive of Black Lives Matter, broadly speaking, but unfortunately Hansford demonstrates one of the problems the movement has here. Mixed in with real grievances and good ideas are distractions (e.g., Blue Lives Matter messaging) and references to incidents that don't really support their well justified points.
For example, as others have pointed out here, Darren Wilson was cleared by the DoJ (under Obama) in the shooting of Michael Brown. Brown assaulted Wilson (who later required medical attention) and was charging him at the time he was fatally shot. Eyewitness accounts inflamed the community, but the investigation found that eyewitness statements were mutually contradictory and inconsistent with the physical evidence. It was right to clear Wilson.
As Hansford mentions, the DoJ did find numerous unjust policies and examples of racist speech/behavior by Ferguson officers. He and other Black Lives Matter activists would be much more persuasive if they focused on those legitimate issues and downplayed/left out such shootings that may have served as flashpoints that led to public debate but now mostly just undermine the credibility of the movement to reform policing.
67
@Edward Swing Agree with you except want to balance out your statement that eye witness accounts were mutually contradictory and inconsistent with then physical evidence. In fact, the vast majority of people that were eyewitnesses - white and black - all verified officer Wilson's story. It was the post shooting arrival of a large number of community blacks who started making up stories and some of them falsely saying they were eyewitnesses. The actual eye witnesses got out of there as fast as they could - as the mob grew larger and started to work itself up.
11
"In 2016 Harvard economist Roland Fryer published an empirical study that examined more than 1,000 police shootings in 10 major departments nationwide. He concluded that there was no evidence of racial bias in police shootings ...
"Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers ... concluded that disparities in police shootings stem from racial disparities in criminal behavior and not from police bias. 'We did not find evidence for anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparity in the police use of force across all shootings, and, if anything, found anti-White disparities when controlling for race-specific crime.'
"Why should anyone be surprised that young black men are far more likely than their white peers to be shot by police when young black men commit homicides at nearly 10 times the rate of white and Hispanic young men combined? 'One of our clearest results is that violent crime rates strongly predict the race of the person fatally shot,' write the authors. ... Minority officers are no less likely to draw their weapons on minority suspects."
That was Jason Riley, writing in the WSJ. I'd lay more blame on whites, on racism and history, for the plight of blacks than does Riley (who is black). But family breakdown and hyper-violence in urban black communities is historically relatively recent, which makes laying the blame for it in the deep past problematic. If police are trigger-happy, probably experience as much as bigotry has made them so.
73
@David L, Jr. This number of police shootings, many of them of unarmed people, would be a problem with or without a racial component.
2
Police violence is a problem. But it's not just a problem for Black victims. And it's not just perpetrated by White officers. To see this issue as only Black vs. White ignores many compounding factors and flies in the face of evidence. What we need is better accountability, which means, among other things, that we need to better track all acts of police violence in the U.S.--something that is not being done.
20
I think a big part of it is the police know the President has their back, no matter what they do.
3
I assume that the writer of the column is unaware of the facts behind Michael Brown’s death. He was stopped by the officer because the officer had received a call that a robbery had just been committed. Micheal Brown fit the description. The officer was seated in his car and asked Brown to come over. After a brief conversation, Brown reached in the open window. A struggle ensued for the officer’s gun. Brown, who had his hand on the trigger, shot his own finger off. He should not be called a martyr. However, his death has created a much need conversation.
83
I would like to believe a law professor could assess and valid and sound argument.
1. The police force and civic leaders of Ferguson were not remotely integrated.
2. There was an exceptionally high rate of crime in Ferguson
3. Michael Brown was killed by the police as a result of ingrained racism in the police force and the town administration.
4. The citizens of Ferguson burned their town down.
5. The police force and the civic leadership were significantly integrated.
6. After initially falling, the rate of crime and the rate of murder climbed to levels above the 'racist' levels prior to the integration of the police and the town.
What can a reasonable person conclude?
a. The integrated police force and the town administrators are somehow still carrying out racist arrests.
b. The community is committing crimes at an even greater level than prior to the Michael Brown killing and it has nothing to do with racism.
I am not sure how the author got to a.
11
As a law professor, you should have also known to wait to see what the totality of the evidence would ultimately show, not just the initial, unsworn accounts that played out in the media. In fact, many of the oft-quoted statements were not credible and ended up conflicting with overwhelming physical and forensic evidence. Addressing just the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative, many of the accounts were inconsistent with prior statements and a number of witnesses ultimately admitted they did not, in fact, witness the actual shooting or even parts of it. You point out that Michael Brown was unarmed, yet fail to mention that the evidence showed that Brown punched and grabbed the officer. This was shown by bruising and scratching and Brown’s DNA on the officer’s collar, shirt and pants.
129
@Don L.
Well Don L., evidently this law professor has no interest in your facts.
1
The highest number of US fatal police shootings is in New Mexico. the James Boyd murder made national news a few years ago but without any conviction of the police. Then the Justice Department investigated and judicially reviewed monitoring reports began. And for four consecutive years New Mexico still holds the title.
The result of monitoring: "The leadership and management cadres currently at APD have made palpable progress. More importantly, they have constructed critical foundations for the change that still remains to be accomplished." https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/page/file/1159336/download
Is that vague enough for you?
Well then, consider: "Over the course of our engagement with APD, our use of force case reviews consistently revealed serious deficiencies in the oversight and accountability process, particularly with respect to use of force, force reporting, supervisory-level investigations and chain of command reviews. While we are seeing significant progress in these areas, in particular with the Internal Affairs Force Division, that positive movement has not alleviated issues that continue in the field."
2
The ongoing police brutality (not all but always 'some') may be just part of our institutionalized violence, especially in these awful Trumpian times. Could it be that the police force is hiring uneducated, insensitive, or even ethnic- guided injustice- prone individuals that ought not be allowed the power of a gun? Perhaps most police folks ought not be carrying a lethat gun to begin with, a taser at most, if they are unwilling to de-escalate a situation, so to allow us, the public, not be afraid of them, trusting instead. It seems we have a long way to go. Not that the police owns the exclusive privilege to abuse their power; we see it in all walks of life, especially when money is used to subdue or scare us away.
3
@manfred marcus--Hmmm, Could be. What kinds of people do we see actively pursuing jobs like this, where they can implement their racist, misogynistic, xenophobic points of view at the expense of innocent citizens, and get away with it almost every time. This is the definition of IMPUNITY.
1
@ChesBay ...and don't forget sadism, prevalent in some minds, perhaps akin to opportunistic folks volunteering to join the army...so to shoot people with impunity (luckily, those are few and far between, but still).
@ChesBay
ChesBay, I’m guessing that you’ve never known a police officer and have had your preconceptions formed by people like Prof. Hansford.
In ten years as a police dept civilian, I never heard a single “racist, misogynistic, xenophobic” word.
17
After disobeying Officer Wilson's instructions to get out of the street, Michael Brown reached into Wilson's patrol car and tried to take the officer's pistol. During the struggle, the pistol discharged and Mr. Brown was hit in the hand; his blood was found inside the patrol car. Wounded, Mr. Brown took flight and, given the gravity of what he had just occurred, Officer Wilson left his vehicle and took off in pursuit. After a chase of several blocks, during which he ignored multiple orders to halt, Mr. Brown stopped, turned and charged at Officer Wilson at which point Wilson shot and killed Mr. Brown. This is not conjecture or merely the officer's word. Brown's blood was found 21' from where Wilson fired, evidenced by where the shells ejected from his pistol landed. Mr. Brown's body came to rest just inches from those same ejected shells, clearly showing that he was, as Wilson testified, charging towards the officer. All the bullet wounds in Mr. Brown's body came from in front, and indeed, the shot that killed him entered the top of his head at a downward angle consistent with someone charging forward with his head down.
119
@Glenn Baldwin
Well Glenn Baldwin, you’ve just put yourself into the same fact-obsessed boat as prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, eligible to being “accused of” misleading us.
2
Racism remains a problem. Racism is rooted in a widely-held view: that African-Americans are "property", as was so when Slavery prevailed. Then, a black man (or woman) who was disobedient was whipped, sometimes fatally. So, what's changed? A black man who flees a police officer - or is "insolent' - arouses the same volcanic anger.
This might explain the greater frequency of shooting of African-Americans by police officers. Simply put, when a person flees, it is generally unlawful to shoot at them, as they have ceased to be a threat. An exception: if there's reason to think they intend soon to commit a violent crime.
The view that another human is "property" also explains the high frequency of violence against women, independent of race, etc. Until 1920, women had no right to vote: while State laws varied widely, in many cases married women were "owned" by their husbands.
That mindset still prevails. It explains why there are serial rapists, and why some men think it is OK to put hands on a women, without her consent.
To reduce the frequency of violent against those, who were once legally (or practically) property, great mindset changes are needed. This will not be easy.
1
@Jay E. Simkin--Our education system is failing, as are the people who claim to be our leaders. Republicans know that the less informed and educated people are, the more they win elections. Police officers know that their criminal, anti-social activity will not carry any personal accountability. What better place for violence prone, criminal bullies, who value their own lives more than the people they serve, and who are mostly cowards, and who get their jollies by taking out their hatred and frustrations on others? The violence and entitlement is so far out of control, that I doubt we can regain the moral upper hand.
1
@ChesBay "Republicans know that the less informed and educated people are, the more they win elections."
Please cite to public and published studies that show this is so.
If your claim is factual, I'd expect Republicans to be enthusiastic supporters of open borders. Most, who now seek to enter the US, have some education. Many have little.
I'd guess that Democrats prefer those less well-educated as such persons tend to be needier. Liberals need to be needed: they do not feel complete unless they can help someone less fortunate. Doing that provides a sense of fulfilment not otherwise to be had.
In extreme case, public policies are designed to promote and to prolong neediness, e.g., encouraging single parenting by those without the income to support children, i.e., to keep them fed, clothed, and equipped for school.
While there are some decent police agencies out there, the majority are participating in a police state. The reason we need cops at the moment is because of the gun violence. The police union is tight with the NRA, causing the problem they seek to stop. I heard the police in Mississippi say they are law enforcement, not social services, to justify the ICE raid there this week. That's a problem. I think eventually we will not need police because of technology. As it is, their technologies (guns) are vastly outdated and do not address structural causes of crime.
2
@David Not so!!! In the U.S., police forces have no duty to protect the average person. The U.S. Supreme Court so held in 1855 (South v. Maryland, 59 U.S. 296 (1855)).
In the modern words of a U.S. Appeals Court decision: "But there is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen. It is monstrous if the state fails to protect its residents against such predators but it does not violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or, we suppose, any other provision of the Constitution.”(Bowers v. Devito, 686 F.2d 616, 618 (7th Cir. 1982)).
This is “good law”, i.e., this decision has not been over-turned. If we have no right to protection from the government, it follows that we are responsible for our own protection.
The NRA needs "gun control". If "gun control" were exposed for the nasty fraud that it is - "gun control" promotes genocide, the murders of hundreds of thousands or millions - the NRA would implode.
Were "gun control" to vanish, the NRA no longer would need armies of lobbyists. The NRA would again become a training organization, and so do much good work.
I did not enjoy the letter very much. I don’t like feeling vilified for being white. I work hard everyday, and am exhausted; but I need to feed my family. I know these were my choices. So can I live life in peace as a white American and not be made to feel guilty for such?
155
@Craig I don't see where the article blames white people in general for the problem. I'm white too and didn't see this as an attack on me at all. There are thousands of major injustices in this country, many of which we're all complicit in due to our actions, votes, and purchases. The writer is bringing up one injustice. We all have to choose where to direct our energy, no one can fight every injustice at once. If you feel guilty about it, ask yourself why and what you can do about it. If all of your energy goes to providing for your family, that's perfectly fine too, but maybe think about it when you vote.
23
@Craig
To make this an attack on your whiteness underlines the primary division we have in this country. Raising the experience of people of color in our country does not degrade you or what you perceive as your culture.
If you were to experience fear of those who are sworn to protect you, you might understand the dynamics in this situation and the institutional racism that exists in our society.
28
@Craig no one white, which includes you and me, should feel 'vilified' for the actions of out of control police officers. It's not black vs. white, nor black vs. blue. It's right vs. wrong. I do believe the Michael Brown shooting, was justifiable use of force based on all the circumstances we've learned. But there have been plenty more clearly racist and unjust incidents. Police departments can not defend their actions in the deaths of Sandra Bland and Eric Garner, each of whom lost their lives for what were minor misdemeanor offenses. I am fortunate to have persons of color in my family and it's clear to me that DWB is a real thing that white don't have to contend with. No one is making you feel guilty but your own conscious.
13
It is indeed true that ALL lives matter, but it also true that it seems a lot of people value the lives of policemen considerably more than they do the lives of minority groups which are all too often perceived as violent or a threat - an Orwellian "Some lives matter more than others" type of attitude. The militarization of many if not most police departments in recent decades, has turned the streets into a de-factor Battle Zone where heavily-armed officers tend to view everyone else as a potential threat, and often act accordingly. If you prepare and equip people for a war theater then they will usually act like they are fighting a literal war - "war against crime" or some such inflammatory thing. The notion that the constabulary are primarily there to Protect and Serve, has been replaced in part by a tribal "us vs them" mentality, where anyone who might possibly pose a threat to an officer is quickly categorized as belonging to the "them" side, and tense situations result all too frequently - the kind of situation that can escalate surprisingly rapidly, with all-too-often deadly results. Its time to take measures to far more often defuse and more importantly, to prevent these kinds of tense, explosive situations - how, i'm not sure, but seriously: it MUST be done, or the spiral of violence, suspicion and retribution will just keep escalating.
15
@Joseph Ross Mayhew
I agree with you many points. Unfortunately, the prevalence of powerful firearms in the hands of many people make police work increasingly difficult.
Our society seems unable or unwilling to face the problems of guns and racism. There are powerful people who profit from this situation and via mass media prevent reasonable solutions.
If we don't solve these problems we will become a failed state where gangs will rule and the police will an arm of the wealthy.
I remember visiting a central American country several years ago where the wealthy lived walled compounds with armed guards at the gates and the rest lived in poverty. We are headed that way. Just consider our income distribution curve.
3
Michael Brown's death was indeed unfortunate; no one should die as he did. But then, on the other hand, Brown should have cooperated with the police. Instead, he lunged at the officer. What was the officer supposed to do? Let Brown overwhelm him? Take his weapon and use it upon him? The Brown incident was not an example of so-called police violence upon a community of color. It was merely an officer attempting to enforce the law and, at the same time, protect himself. This article demonstrates that as we get further away from the actual event in terms of the time and space continuum, the facts become distorted by those who wish to revise the narrative to fit their perspective and force their flawed social and political agenda upon an unknowing public. Thank you.
239
@Southern Boy. The officer was in a car. He could have rolled up the windows and drive off a bit and call for back up. Instead, his instinct was to stay and shoot. Officers like him need better training. They are trigger happy and do not respect human life. The gun should not be the first and easy solution to stressful situations. In the words of Toni Morrison, a coward with a gun is the most dangerous thing.
13
@Southern Boy Spot on. Thank you.
10
@Southern Boy Michael Brown probably shouldn't have robbed the convenience store to begin with, either. But yes, I mostly agree with you.
10
"after the Justice Department reported that Ferguson’s officers targeted residents as “sources of revenue,” a practice disproportionately aimed at African-Americans. The predatory use of fines and fees faced new legal and political challenges. "
The above is what could have started a more successful movement. The practices are common in many large cities, most of which would consider themselves "progressive."
A movement against high sales taxes, high property taxes, excessive employment licensing, and traffic fines in the name of "safety" such as red light cameras would have united the Libertarian and Republican wings.
Democrats could get on board once they realized that their ill conceived incentive structures were disproportionally hurting minorities. A national movement against civil asset forfeiture (aka unconstitutional takings of property).
Here in Chicago, "progressives" like Daley and Rahm Emanuel oversaw revenue departments that siezed vehicles and would auction them off without due process.
The smaller the government, the less it is able to hurt its own citizens - especially those progressives claim to have the most concern.
3
Not necessarily. The St. Louis area has many small municipalities that do not have the tax base to support the services they need. So they came up with the large fines for very minor infractions to make up the difference. A bigger community would have a larger tax base & consolidating some of the smaller ones would alleviate the need to duplicate services.
This narrative - that Blacks are unfairly targeted and gunned down by police - continues to be asserted without statistical support. Look at the Washington Post website that tracks police shootings - lots of people of lots of races are killed in police encounters. Yet we only hear about this one subset. Why is that? Because the media and the activists have a shared agenda.
Moreover, the number of people killed by police - particularly those who are unarmed - is tiny compared to all of the killings that occur in other contexts. By far, most people killed are killed by criminals and suicides - not by police.
Let's focus our resources on these other areas where we should be able to get broad agreement by all.
179
@Citizen
There is too much killing by the people who are supposed to protect us. There is too much hostile policing. They should not be dangerous to people who may be innocent or may not have committed a capital crime. Please note that I am not taking a position on Michael Brown's killing, but I am concerned by many other incidents (not all against black people) and in general.
6
@Citizen
"This narrative...continues to be asserted without statistical support."
Here you go:
https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
5
@CedarHermit
Thanks for proving my point.
Nearly 40,000 people died from guns in 2018 (NYT). 1,164 were killed by police - less than 3%. The website doesn't immediately distinguish between armed/unarmed, but it does say that 21% of whites killed were unarmed compared to 30% of blacks killed - not a huge difference; both less than 1/2.
Why spend so much time and emotional energy on well under 3% of gun deaths?
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The police has a difficult mission for the current times, and frequently the officers are not training to act in the right way and they have a lot of psychological pressure.
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When it comes to police shootings you can prove anything depending on the statistics you use. One statistic jumps out at me. Each year only 3 officers are convicted of crimes for on duty killings. You can argue that that is a good thing or a bad thing. I would argue that you use statistics to prove what you already believe.
The professor has clear biases that he dresses up with helpful numbers while ignoring unhelpful numbers.
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@michjas
There is no way that three murder convictions is a fair representation of malevolent killings on the behalf of law enforcement officers. From biased investigations and biased prosecutors, you will never have policeman fairly dealt with in our justice system.
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@michjas
As you also "clearly" have a bias, Mich - since you obviously didn't get the point that "3" wasn't actually a "good number."
@Marky A. Malevolent and criminal are different. And what is criminal for you and me is different from what is criminal for the police because they have more discretion to use violence. It is the law itself that makes convictions rare.
Police have built-in bias against minority males which has skewed the results in more arrests, more deaths, more brutality. The data is clear.
With that said, while police brutality is more pronounced with minority males, the problem is overall police brutality. The training is bad, the culture is bad, the repercussion almost nil.
Recruiting better officers and providing them with better training and charging them when they clearly violate citizens' right with a callous recklessness would move the needle in the right direction.
One thing that would help the police though is to reduce the proliferation of guns. With close to 300 million guns out there, the police are scared for their lives. Perhaps more than they should be. But police brutality, while it is its own thing, it is also related to other dynamics - including racism, poor training, poor recruiting, terrible incentives (ie, promotions based on tickets and arrests quotas), bad culture, bad leadership, but also too many guns in our society.
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@Cee
You say "Police have built-in bias against minority males which has skewed the results in more arrests, more deaths, more brutality. The data is clear."
What data clear is clear?
May I point you to another commenter who stated:
"In 2016 Harvard economist Roland Fryer published an empirical study that examined more than 1,000 police shootings in 10 major departments nationwide. He concluded that there was no evidence of racial bias in police shootings ...
"Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers ... concluded that disparities in police shootings stem from racial disparities in criminal behavior and not from police bias. 'We did not find evidence for anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparity in the police use of force across all shootings, and, if anything, found anti-White disparities when controlling for race-specific crime.'
"Why should anyone be surprised that young black men are far more likely than their white peers to be shot by police when young black men commit homicides at nearly 10 times the rate of white and Hispanic young men combined? 'One of our clearest results is that violent crime rates strongly predict the race of the person fatally shot,' write the authors. ... Minority officers are no less likely to draw their weapons on minority suspects."
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Maybe we should have “police free” areas? This area is already rent free, food for free, school for free. Maybe it will work?
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What should police do when they ask someone to do or stop doing something and they don't obey? Shooting may be too extreme, but disrespect for police seems present in most of the violent encounters, and the officers seem reluctant to engage the offender with hands on action. Better training is needed both at the academies and in the homes.
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Non lethal weapons & calling for backup spring to mind.
Mr. Hanford is right that police in America are out of control, but the solutions he proposes make it clear that he is living in an ideological bubble which bears little relation to reality, and looks at the problem through the sole criterion of race. End policing and prisons? Sure, that might prevent some black men being incarcerated (good in the case of low-level drug offenders, not so good in the case of those guilty of serious violence) but wouldn't it also loose hundreds of thousands of violent, out-of-control white men upon us, including Dylan Roof et al?
It seems to me there is a simple solution to abusive policing. Every community in America should have an elective police oversight board with salaried investigative staff, legal counsel, subpoena power and an absolute right to fire any officer, at any time, for any reason. They could hold weekly hearings where citizens who have experienced abusive police practices could appear and have their concerns heard and acted upon. This way the lousy officers will be weeded out, hopefully before they do major damage, and attitudes will be readjusted toward courtesy and respecting our civil rights. Sure the police unions will squawk, but someone will have to remind them that they are there to SERVE the public, not vice-versa.
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@Bill Smith
Depending on who you are and how it impacts you, mandatory minimums, and other draconian measures that politicians cynically use to flex their muscles during election seasons, make equal nonsense as does the abolition of prisons.
If you are serving 3 strikes life for stealing a candy bar, or are a shoplifter who whisked away the hand of a storeowner who tried to grab you and are serving mandatory 20 because an Oregan law construes this as violence, you might have a different perspective.
The problem of course is not either/or, but intelligence.
I think your community oversight board proposal is an excellent one. Public service is a privilege, not a right, and this would be a good reminder.
We can see, by watching the degree to which Trump has coddled law enforcement, (more than any other demographic group besides the rich), how craven politicians empower law enforcement and make them unanswerable to reasonable scrutiny.
The same is true within both the public and private world of corrections enforcement, where much of the systematic wrongdoing is even more unanswerable than in law enforcement.
Both corrections and law enforcement should ultimately be much more easily responsive to the public, who should just as easily be interested in fairness and equality.
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One of the lessons learned from the Ferguson protests is that a civil rights frame for police reform is not enough.
We need to fundamentally change the nature of what constitutes policing. First, first we need to advocate for broad decriminalization of drugs. Enforcement of outdated drug laws has been a primary flash point between police and communities of color.
Drug use and it's consequent social impact should be addressed as a public health issue not as a criminal justice issue.
Secondly, we need to take the police out of the business of dealing with homelessness through arrests, trespass citations and other encounters that they are neither trained to do nor does it need to be done as part of law-enforcement.
Cities should set up separate task forces to address the full range of issues dealing with homelessness and police should only be called in on an as needed basis and in a back up role.
Finally, we need to substantially increase resources dedicated to addressing mental illness. A significant number of deadly police Citizen encounters occur with persons with mental disorders where often they can neither understand nor safely respond to police demands.
Again, these are issues that should be addressed by special municipal task forces that include mental health specialists trained in deescalating potentially dangerous situations.
Note that none of these reforms are specific to the black community, yet all carry the potential to reduce police violence.
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@Drspock
“outdated drug laws”? I guess crack cocaine which ravaged black families and communities has become benevolent. The prime mover of those laws was the Black Congressional Caucus; they lived it.
No mention of the Holder DOJ report which exonerated Officer Wilson based on forensic evidence.
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@CHM
And testimony by multiple eyewitnesses who said the officer acted appropriately and with restraint until his life was threatened.
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@CHM
No mention because facts that don't always support the author's narrative are inconvenient.
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@CHM
And determined "Hands up, Don't shoot" was fiction.
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And yet this.....
Police union says horse-riding officers who led black man by rope didn’t think about ‘optics’? That this would not conjure up feelings of execution by hanging boggles the mind. Staggering that this is happening in America in the 21st Century--What is wrong with this Country??
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@TWShe Said. That’s the problem. A lot of police officers in the USA do not think. They turn off their sensitive receptors when they do their jobs. It is easier for them to dehumanize during an arrest to assert their control and authority. Easier for white officers to treat minorities as sub human. I respect their role in society but how they approach and do their jobs need a thorough re-programming. Change the language used, too. Absent an active shooter situation, they need to learn to treat people with dignity, whether or not someone is cooperative.
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@TWShe Said
The rope was attached to his hands, and that's how mounted police take people into custody. Police are there to do their job, not worry about "conjuring up feelings".
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@TWShe Said
Okay, but now you have to explain how police on horseback should take a man into custody.
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Up until five years ago, my experience with law enforcement officers was entirely positive. Since that time I have experienced some minor but startling negative verbal interactions with officers which made me realize that they are not being trained in a proper manner, or they are not screened properly for psychological issues. While their job is stressful, a lot of people have stressful jobs, often with no union protection. In addition, police have the legal right to kill, thus have greater responsibility to provide good customer service. They need to realize that they are serving the public. The public is not their collective victim to be shot or stolen from. I do wonder how this will play out when Trump and other Republicans refuse to leave office when they are voted out.
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Let us come back in late November 2029 and see if Trump is reelected or has a peaceful transition to the winner.
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@Eugene Debs Trump will be re-elected. Republicans will probably take the House.
Why is any of this a shock? This is Trump country, and outside of the range of microphones and reporters the great majority of residents say the kid got what was coming to him for not “obeying” law enforcement. Sadly they don’t want less of this. On the contrary.
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@Victor
I don't know where you get your information, but the St. Louis area population is largely made up of Democrats.
Few are the voices who claim he deserved to be shot to death for his actions.
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@Victor He committed a violent robbery including an assault and then rushed officers before he was shot. I don't think anyone thinks he, "got what was coming", but his death was directly caused by his own actions, not police violence
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@Victor He wasn't being "disobedient", he attacked a cop. That was the finding of the Obama justice department report, and that's what got him killed. Ignoring the facts won't help you improve the situation.
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