(ThyBlackMan.com) Marches, demands, boycotts, protests, and yes even riots are sometimes only partial solutions to ending police brutality, though not always advisable and no longer as effective as they have been in the past.
Clearly today there are many options available to make change happen, and fast. But first we have to understand what is keeping the problems in place or the solutions will not work by design to resolve the problems. And it’s past time that citizens stop begging not to be killed by people the community should trust to protect us. Officers who took an oath.
Police brutality is neither an incident nor an act in America. Police brutality is a machine that has to be dismantled. A machine that manifests itself through bad cop behavior. But in order to dismantle the machine, the first thing you have to do is identify all the parts, especially those that protect police officers who are guilty of police brutality. And because these protections are in place, bad cops feel more confident, more at liberty and less accountability when they are guilty of police brutality.
The solutions to ending police brutality are not hard at all. The problem at the core is the lack of will, consistency, courage, accountability or agenda to implement them.
So what then are the parts of this police brutality machine that must be dismantled?
1. The Bad Cop
2. The Blue Code
3. Officers who protect bad cops.
4. Unions that protect bad cops.
5. Unions that exert undue influence on officers and district attorney offices.
6. DA’s who won’t prosecute bad cops. 7. Grand juries afraid to indict bad cops.
8. Citizens who cry wolf by lacking personal accountability.
9. Police chiefs and command staff who refused to hold officers accountable. 10. Citizens who are inactive and asleep until police brutality happens to them.
11. Politicians who protect police officers because of personal agenda or votes.
12. Attorneys who neither practi
ce nor inform the citizen of all his rights and options.
13. The media that knowingly sends out, promotes and creates a false narrative.
14. Police Department on policies and procedures that racially profiled and discriminate.
15. Blanket protection for police officers such as “qualified immunity”.
16. Laws and ordinances that give police officers too much power or sometimes unchecked authority.
So you see, when we speak of ending police brutality and police reform, it is not a simple as changing the police department alone. Each one of the elements aforementioned is a part of the police brutality machine. And they all must be lawfully and strategically addressed, changed and/or neutralized simultaneously.
Some of these elements or parts work independent of the others. But unfortunately all of them contribute to the whole of the problem. They are separate links in the chain, but links nevertheless with some being stronger than others.
Nevertheless there is a way to break the chain or the cycle of police brutality. The solution is in dismantling the police brutality machine. The two most important links in any chain are the master link and the weakest link. Break either one and the chain will not stay in place. And in a chain the master link performs a unique function that no other link can perform. But far too often people have made the assumption that the police department itself is automatically the master link. Not always true because it depends on how many other elements are in place in that city or county or state and which elements (or links) those are.
For example, sometimes the master link is the law itself that needs to be changed, not the police officer who enforces that law. Such was the case with slavery which was the law of the land. In other cases a master link could be “qualified immunity” which allows bad cops to feel comfortable and protected when they break the law or violate the citizen’s rights.
And yet another master link problem c
ould be the lack of prosecution of police officers such as in Minneapolis where the only officer who was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced in a long time was an African-American officer after he shot a Caucasian female.
There are many officers and likely the majority of police officers in this nation who do their jobs well and lawfully everyday, protecting citizens and communities by risking their own lives. Unfortunately on the other side of the coin there are many more bad, mentally unstable, bully, racist, egotistical and poorly trained cops than. society is willing to admit.
Those bad apples make it hard for both citizens and good police officers. And to that end, good police officers have to stand up without the fear of retaliation or reprisal from unions, supervisors or their own departments.
There needs to be a National organization that supports good cops who stand up against bad ones. When these good cops do, they move to the next stage of being heroes in the fight to end police brutality. So to all the good, great and phenomenal police officers out there, we thank you.
But we also want police officers to know that with great authority comes great responsibility and that nobody is above the law. You don’t have to fear a supervisor or your department. You don’t have to fear losing your job when you step up to intervene as a colleague is violating the law or hurting a citizen unjustly. Because there is another job out there waiting for you and in law enforcement there will always be a massive need. To the good police officers out there we also say those of us who are awake to what is happening do not stereotype all of you. We see you, we know how hard your job is and we value what you do.
And finally, to the good cops, don’t allow yourself to be programmed or brainwashed by unions who have their own agendas. Don’t allow yourself to be used as a pawn who gets stuck in the middle. All unions are not bad but some unions have overstepped their boundar
ies and they made promises simply to gain your support while they further their agenda. Don’t allow yourself to be used by them like that and don’t be afraid of them. Because anyone or any Union you fear can exert control over you.
To all those who are links in the chain or parts of the machine of police brutality, you are protecting behaviors that weaken the community. Behaviors that place good officers at risk. Behaviors that are often unethical and unlawful. Behaviors that will first decrease then one day come to an end. So this is a wake-up call to everybody, citizen and police officer, judge and attorney, jury member and politician, business owner and clergyman, victim and criminal.
Today you need to see things in a different light. And today you need to know that either you are part of the solution or you are definitely part of the problem.
So get on the right side of the fence because you can expect that the chain will be broken and the police brutality machine will be dismantled. It’s just a matter of time and the clock is ticking. Have the courage to do what’s right because it does not take any to do what’s wrong.
Staff Writer; Trevo Craw