NO ONE SEEMS TO BE ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS…
(…whenever police resort to deadly force…)

Every time a police officer in this country ends up shooting someone…whether black, hispanic, or white…and regardless of that officer’s racial or ethnic identity as well…there is an immediate public outcry against that officer, as everyone’s raw emotions about such violence stampedes them into assuming that officer is the guilty party in such events. Granted, things such as the latest events in Louisiana and Minnesota do raise serious questions about that.

But such presumptions of “guilt” before all the factors involved have been properly investigated suggests that we, as a people, have somehow lost our confidence and faith in the integrity of those tasked with providing that thankless task of serving and protecting us all. As a society we have apparently come to view anyone wearing a police uniform as…a threat…rather than someone who is literally putting their life on the line for us every time they are on duty. It’s a sorry state of affairs, and a sad commentary about our society’s declining sense of values and regard for being a law abiding one besides…and this latest Dallas ambush of police officers further emphasizes that.

We do not deny, however, that there are rogue elements among our police who, for one reason or another, view individuals of a different ethnic or racial group with contempt and inherent hostility. But such elements are the exception rather than the rule. Conversely there are also elements in our population, especially among our youth, which, regardless of the circumstances, view any form of police attempts to either admonish or enforce compliance with various aspects of the law…as an imposition on their personal right to do whatever they please, despite the law…and thus…their legitimate reason to react with similar contempt and hostility at any police officers trying to do their sworn duties. It’s these kinds of mutual hostility and confrontation situations which lead to so many incidents which end in deadly results…against both.

Unfortunately, whenever these shooting incidents occur, no one seems to ask the right questions whenever police do resort to deadly force. To some degree this may be because video and camera technology has made it too easy to rush to judgment since such “clips” appeal to raw emotion, without contributing any real understanding about the context leading up to what is being seen in those clips. So the right questions we should always be asking ourselves at such moments, should be…what led to such a confrontation…and… what drove the officer involved to use “deadly force” instead of other means to resolve the situation? At such times, however, no one ever seems to care about asking such questions, and only fixated on expressing “outrage” that it happened.

Thus, neither the media nor our public officials, and certainly not the public, ever bother to ask such questions. We can only wonder…why not?

Perhaps it’s because in the heat of the moment that’s too much to expect. Minority communities apparently prefer to play the victim and blame game, rather than face the possibility that one of their own might have been the cause leading to the use of deadly force against them. At such times it’s just much easier to blame the police and to paint them as jack-booted thugs with badges instead. All of which suggests that “racism” is not a one-way street in America.

Lastly, we must also ask another important question here…what do we expect police officers to do when faced with either resistance or outright hostility? In such instances they have only split seconds to make a decision, and generally, have only two alternatives at hand…their batons…or their guns. If they are driven to use batons…it’s labeled “police brutality”…if they are driven to use their guns…it’s labeled “police murder”…so police officers end up in a damned-if-they-do-and-damned-if-they-don’t situation. Either way they can’t win for losing.

We don’t have any ready answers on how to resolve or prevent such problems, but we wish we did, because too many of our police officers are senselessly injured or die in the line of duty; and, too many of our young people of all kinds are also senselessly injured or die as well. Yet, perhaps, there may be a way to prevent all of that from happening. That is…by making a much greater effort to indoctrinate every community’s youth that the best and safest way to react in any encounter with the police is not with hostility…but to de-escalate thing with smiling and cooperative compliance instead…while at the same time noting their names and badge numbers.

There are hundreds if not thousands of attorneys just ready, able, and more than willing, to sue the pants off any police departments on their behalf later, if they feel the police had no good reason for bothering them in the first place. So let there be a new golden rule of behavior firmly implanted in the minds of all our youths, regardless of their ethnic or racial backgrounds, with this mantra: “It’s better to end up rich…rather than crippled or dead… from any encounter with the police.”

CENTURION