I'd like to clarify my statement since I was deemed "complacent" about police
behavior. From listening to an intelligent, articulate officer who was not at
the scene when Mr. Saunders was shot, I can say that the squad car officers are
trained to see something different than you who were also not there are seeing.
That means that the city's population and the line officers--and hence all other
police personnel (they come up through the ranks)--have two different (at
minimum) logic bases from which we are trying to discuss the issue.
If the line officer is trained thus: "it's winter, it's cold, this big guy has
been driving erratically and he's in his underwear. When people go ballistic,
the training says they are going to blow any second and they gain incredible
adrenelin strength. Ergo, this guy is way dangerous." Training: dangerous person
ready to blow in a vehicle = make sure he cannot get out of the car, make sure he
doesn't pin you between two cars or a car and a building, make sure he doesn't
run over you. The cop's common sense tells him/her that if the worst is
actually present, there is no question that the licensed peace officer defends
his/her own life and the lives of by-standers first. Period, end of story. That
is the ultimate consequence of charging and licensing people to protect and serve
and equipping them with guns with which to do it.
I'd be willing to bet actual cash dollars that every one of us would do the
same thing in the same situation if those were the tools we were licensed to use.
Those of us who have not been there cannot begin from that perspective and those
who have been in that position in all likelihood cannot 'explain' it to
themselves, let alone to another person. That is why we pay 'em the big bucks!
If, then, my perspective is 'there's got to be another way to handle this, it
means we have to be sure that whatever other methods we devise are equally
effective.
Next question: Are we in a position to have that conversation with the police?
Don't bank on it.
Wizard Marks, Central
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> In a message dated 11/23/00 9:50:21 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
> << Can we please have a discussion on this list about
> proper police conduct and how we can hold police
> accountable for deviations from proper conduct?
> >>
>
> This is a sore subject - no pun intended - considering I was mugged in my own
> kitchen at 6 a.m. this morning by an individual looking to collect some extra
> holiday cash. But violence is violence, regardless of who is dispensing it,
> so let's just say at the moment I'm feeling sympathetic with anybody who is
> on the receiving end.
>
> I know way too many people who were murdered - my sister, my best friend,
> co-workers, acquaintances. I've learned that when you're dead, you're dead;
> there is no healing, no forgiveness, no chance to say oops, I messed up...
> the families, friends and neighbors of people who have been killed by
> Minneapolis police (an ignominous way to go, by the way - would you like to
> have to tell people for the rest of your life that your father was gunned
> down by cops?) are hurting, grieving. They need more from Chief Olson than a
> cold assertion that the police were acting appropriately. How can we
> acknowledge their pain and loss?
>
> Institutional violence puts blood on all our hands. I want to feel confident
> that it's there for a darn good reason. Are we as a community going to make a
> commitment to nonviolence?
>
> What would this mean? Responsibility and reparations, for a start - even if
> it means opening the door to litigation. Accountability - breaking up the
> one-party lock on our city government, maybe having an elected police chief.
> Retraining our police force in non-lethal intervention techniques.
> Acknowledging and abolishing racial profiling and over-policing of poor
> neighborhoods, which promote power abuse. And reconnecting our police force
> with the community, through incentives for residency.
>
> I want to be part of a community that is outraged when people are killed,
> regardless of the circumstances. The alternative is a kind of slow death of
> the spirit.
>
> -- Holle Brian
> Bancroft
> (612) 822-6593
