Trust Got Us Black and Blue by the Boys in Blue
Police brutality within the United States has unfortunately become outrageously rampant over these past couple of years. It seems that new cases of violent police action spring up every few weeks. Whether it be from officers assaulting a suspect or outright shooting them out of suspicion of them carrying a weapon, the police officers just always seem to go with a course of violence first.
“Atlanta, Georgia, where a SWAT team, attempting to execute a no-knock drug warrant in the middle of the night, launched a flash bang grenade into the targeted home, only to have it land in a crib where a 19-month-old baby lay sleeping. The grenade exploded in the baby’s face, burning his face, lacerating his chest, and leaving him paralyzed. He is currently in the hospital in a medically induced coma.” (Whitehead, The Growing Epidemic of Police Violence: Is It Time to De-Militarize Police Forces?)
Surely the officers must face the consequences of these actions however. Police officers are humans and mistakes tend to happen. So it is possible that they can make a completely wrong call on somebody they deem suspicious after they physically attack or shoot them. So naturally they should have to face assault or murder charges respectively if they make this mistake. In the event that a police officer does mistaken kill or injure an innocent person they are liable to investigation and suspension.
“Like in any unnatural death, there is an investigation of the cause by the police. In cases where a law enforcement officer claims to have either accidentally shot someone or shot that person in self-defense, that officer is typically placed on administrative leave. Depending on the circumstances and the agency, this leave may be either paid or unpaid” (Snider, What Happens When Cops Kill Innocent People).
But this is not always the case. Sometimes police officers cover up these misdeeds by lying. Often saying: “I feared for my life”, “They were carrying what appeared to be a gun”, or “They appeared to be under the influence and therefore unpredictable”. Too often, this is all that it takes for them to get away with the assault or murder of an innocent individual. It does not have to be a factual telling of the events that transpired, they just have to make it believable.
“The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled” (Schmidt and Apuzzo South Carolina Officer Is Charged with Murder of Walter Scott).
After all if the victim is no longer living after the events we are only left to go by what the police tells us. Officers are fully capable of lying to the public whenever they so choose. By hiding or tampering with evidence, planting drugs or weapons near or on the victim, or by lying in their reports. These things happen frequently whenever acts of police brutality arise. However the majority of people still tend to trust the officers despite evidence of officers brazenly lying, quite frequently within their testimonies, in reports, or on camera.
It is not just police officers that are capable of covering brutality cases. Mainstream media sources do this quite often. These media outlets favor the narrative that is given to them by the police because that’s what will get more views. Sometimes these outlets will create their own commentaries on the events and feed that to their viewers, whether it is factual or not.
“This week, right-wing talk-radio host Larry Elder (you know, the guy who is always accusing liberals of being “race baiters”) stunned the Internet with a photo of Ferguson cop Darren Wilson recovering in the hospital due to the severe injuries he received at the hands of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager he gunned down … Proof at last that the valiant cop was only acting in self-defense! Except that it wasn’t proof of anything except Elder’s own lack of honesty and integrity. Because the photo isn’t of Darren Wilson. Rather, it’s a 2006 photograph of “freestyle motocross” personality Jim McNeil, recovering after a nasty “faceplant” accident” (Bodine, KABC’s Larry Elder Spreads Phony Darren Wilson/Ferguson Meme).
In some cases, these news sources will get a hold of the victim’s past criminal actions or the community in which they hailed from and use that to further discredit the victim and paint them in a negative light. Poor media coverage of events normally ends up helping police officers whenever situations like this come up because not only do they serve as distractions to the public, but it pushes the idea that it was the victim’s fault for what happened to them instead of focusing on main issue that is police brutality and excessive police force.
“News preoccupation with things like property damage diverts attention from the underlying conditions that caused them in the first place, and has misrepresented the situation in Baltimore as one characterized by chaos rather than frustration about an ongoing issue. What’s more, community members have united in organizing peaceful demonstrations related to Freddie Gray’s death and the aftermath in the city — images of which weren’t being shown nearly enough in mainstream coverage. With officers in the cases of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Rekia Boyd all getting off the hook for killing unarmed black civilians, there’s also a palpable fear about Gray’s case following in the same trajectory. But that wouldn’t be apparent from simply getting one’s information from cable news stations transmitting nonstop images of the rioting.” (Clifton, In One Quote, Morgan Freeman Said What Everyone’s Thinking about TV Coverage of Baltimore).
News media often tends to favor the police because of the pedestal we place officers on within our society. What gives these outlets an advantage of spreading the news that the officer was a hero for what they did is, that the general public have certain expectations of what a police officer should be embedded within them.
“A police officer must always be strictly honest and truthful. If you make a mistake, please do not try to hide it, but admit it so that it can be rectified as soon as possible. The life or liberty of a person may depend on your word, so your evidence must be absolutely truthful. A police officer whose truthfulness is open to suspicion is useless to the force and his senior officers, and is unfit to exercise the responsibilities that are delegated to such an officer … The approach of a police officer has a great effect on the attitude of the public. That is why the use of tact and persuasion instead of force is encouraged. You will find that members of the public will comply with direction more willingly when they understand the situation or the event that took place. Insisting on the right of your authority instead of using tact will run you in the risk of having your authority challenged.” (RBPF, Attributes of a Police Officer)
Throughout life, we are often taught the police are shining examples of truth, justice, and decency. Police are always to be trusted and are the go to option whenever an issue arises. Seeing as how this is engrained into our culture, it is quite difficult to convince people that officers are just like us. If their jobs are on the line, they will lie to protect themselves instead of doing what is right. It is a very common, and quite frankly natural response within our society. Whether it be a retail, corporate, industrial, teaching, or food service kind of job; at some point we have all either lied or given half-truths in order to keep our positions. You would have to be lying to yourself to believe that they would not do the same.
In a New York Times opinion piece by Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Alexander goes on to slam the New York Police Department. Exposing many instances where police would lie, how they would do it, and why they have a good reason to do so.
“But are police officers necessarily more trustworthy than alleged criminals? I think not. Not just because the police have a special inclination toward confabulation, but because, disturbingly, the have an incentive to lie. In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so.” (Alexander, Why Police Lie Under Oath).
From that point, Alexander goes on to paint police officers as ordinary people or the people deemed as criminals. They have a reason to lie. Whether that means they have a specific arrest or ticket quota to meet or if it is used to protect themselves or a fellow officer, if they have the ability to lie more often than not they will take it. Even if they are known to be lying, jurors would still trust the words of a police officer more than they would a criminal. Simply for the fact that, it is a police officer against a criminal. However with a written account from former San Francisco Police commissioner, Peter Keane, can serve as the stepping stone into changing thoughts on police integrity.
“Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.” (Keane, Why Police Lie Under Oath).
Police officers should not have such an easy time being able to get away with murder and excessive force on American citizens by lying and having the media covering for them. It is our tax dollars that pay them. Our hard earned money that supports officers to continue to hurt innocent people and kill suspects when they should face trial. As difficult as it is, our society must come to the realization and accept that the police are not the heroes they once swooned over. With so much evidence of what police officers are capable of doing to get away with their heinous acts, it is a complete mockery of what they call and what we know as justice. We most look pass the media coverage that continues to paint all police officers as paragons of truthfulness, decency, and righteousness. As well as take the narratives created by the police with more skepticism. For of these things do not change, at any moment, it can be your death or assault that a police officer is lying about to get away with.
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Counterintuitive Spring 2024 