Much of America exhaled. They saw Derrick Chauvin kill George Floyd but they had been told that police officers are not convicted—that there is at least an informal club that marches to one refrain: “we’ve got your back.” When the verdict was read “whew” was the response.
The truth is that a very high standard must be met in criminal cases. For a person to be convicted of homicide the evidence has to combine to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
In the case of police, who are charged with a crime at a crime scene, they have a ready-made defense. They are, after all, the front-line of protection and can claim that the State’s evidence, presented by a prosecutor, is simply one way of looking at the facts. A good defense attorney will explain that in threatening circumstances, where reaction to protect or defend is measured in split seconds, we should yield to the trained senses of our protectors—the police.
But, in the matter of George Floyd, the circumstances were not threatening; split second decisions were not needed and “take a look at the video.” Having prosecuted and defended a few cases, back in the day, I was always looking for a way to shape evidence into indisputable findings. In the Floyd case, there was indisputable evidence; it turned the public into jurors and the public nodded its approval when twelve of their number declared guilty.
There is, of course, much talk of police reform and I am sure some is needed. I would begin by emphasizing the use of weapons that disable, not kill. But, to those who want to defund the police I would say be careful what you wish for. Crime has spiked in recent months and the “defund the police” movement has certainly not helped.
But let me come back to the evidence. Video evidence has become more and more available as the possession of cell phone cameras is now ubiquitous. And for those on the front-line, require body cameras. This one step would lead to indisputable evidence increasingly facing off with “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
Both before and after the trial ended politicians were camera-ready. They have public personas and narratives and constituents to please. But, I would be careful about using the White House bully pulpit, in particular, to accuse American institutions of systemic racism. Systemic is most often used in medicine, to denote that a disease is systemic, rather than localized. In a heterogeneous nation filled with wildly divergent circumstances and demographics, the word systemic might be best left to medicine.
I spent several years in law enforcement as an Assistant Attorney General in my home state of Missouri. My sense then and now is that the overwhelming population of policemen, prosecutors, defenders and judges are doing their best to live up to the image and creed of impartial justice. Plus, law enforcement agencies are much more diverse today than in my day. Thankfully.
Is their prejudice? Yes, humanity is guilty. Are there people who wear the badge who shouldn’t? Yes. Does the evidentiary standard in criminal cases result in some guilty people going free? Yes. All and more combine to make the job of law enforcement more difficult and at times indefensible.
Finally, for those who were watching and listening they got an education in real life challenges and possibilities. The trial of Derrick Chauvin was not a made for TV movie or series. It was a dogged display of justice at its best and a dramatic lesson in how the video moment can neuter the defense.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
Patricia Kirby says
As someone who has been both a police officer and an investigator of bad cops, your article is absolutely on target. Thank you, Al.
Ed Plaisance says
Spot on.
As a technical writer and editor of many years, I appreciate your issue with “systemic” but would guess that the man in the street would not.
Can you recommend an alternative word that we might use?
Regards
Deirdre LaMotte says
The adjective systemic is an accurate description of what racism has evolved into since slavery and the Civil Rights Act of
1965. It describes racism that is not always obvious and that can easily evade current laws. It also accurately describes
unintentional bias one may experience; systemic is a problem because it is insidious. One may say, “hey, there is no more racism because of the passage of Civil Rights legislation” . Not true. Systemic racism is evident in so much of our
daily lives, from why one person is pulled over for a lapsed license plate renewal and killed for it to understanding the
challenges of growing up with such a threat. What one needs to understand is that our current situation with BLM is
that these issues have been brewing for a long time. Our nation needs to not only acknowledge this but confront this.
James Nick says
A NYC African American woman was arrested two days past her due date in late 2018 on a misdemeanor assault charge (later dismissed). Her wrists and ankles were shackled by police for hours while she was in active labor at a hospital even though restraining any pregnant woman in labor, admitted to a hospital, institution or clinic for delivery, or recovering after giving birth including an eight-week postpartum period has been illegal in the state of New York since 2015.https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/21/us/new-york-pregnant-woman-shackled-by-police-settles/index.html
A 73-year-old woman suffering from dementia was arrested in Loveland, CO last year by police officers who suspected her of shoplifting items worth $13.88 from a Walmart. A video shows police grabbing the woman, bending her arm behind her back and throwing her to the ground where an officer leaned into her back with his knees. At one point the woman cried out and began to crumble to the ground in pain. The police officer is heard to say: “Stand up! We’re not going to hold you!” In addition to scrapes and bruises, the woman had a fractured humerus, a dislocated shoulder and a sprained wrist. She was taken to a hospital from jail, more than six hours later.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/karen-garner-loveland-police-dementia.html
A video posted on social media shows a school resource officer at Liberty High School in Florida slamming a female student to the floor while seemingly trying to restrain her. Moments later, the deputy can be seen placing the student in handcuffs while a second deputy stands over them. The Osceola County Sheriff turned over the case as a criminal investigation to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “We will have zero, absolute zero tolerance of use of force by any of our deputies no matter where they are — in the schools, in the streets,” he said.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/01/27/video-shows-osceola-school-resource-officer-throw-student-to-ground/
Compared to police actions surrounding the deaths of Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, and many, many others, these incidents are penny ante. But just like to a hammer everything looks like a nail, it increasingly seems like to the police, everything looks like something that requires maximum, if not deadly, force be the first course of action judging by the headlines we seem to be waking up to almost everyday. It seems to be evidence of the rise of the “Warrior Cop” where “shoot first and ask questions later” is replacing “protect and defend”?
After repeatedly hearing about this sort of police behavior is there really any wonder how we get to the bumper sticker of “Defund the Police”. In our current hyper-polarized society it isn’t surprising this cri de coeur has been demagogued and weaponized. But it is not a call to hollow out the police. Everyone wants and needs there to be trained, competent professionals on the other end of a 911 emergency call. Rather, it is a call to stop militarizing the police and redirect funding to training specialists in conflict management, de-escalation, mental illness, drug addiction, and the like that, in many situations, would be better suited than sending in the SWAT teams when the situation calls for it.