Don’t Kill the Messenger

When you can trace the origins of a commonly used phrase back over 2400 years, there’s a good chance it might be worth adhering to. Credited to Sophocles in 442 B.C., the phrase has been repeated across the millennia and modified along the way to fit the times. These days you might just as often hear, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” The underlying message remains the same: the messenger is not responsible for the message or the genesis thereof. He’s just delivering it. If it’s bad news or something you simply don’t want to hear, don’t attack him. Go to the source; the person(s) responsible. That said, if the messenger intentionally delivers the wrong message, most especially if it’s to their own benefit, then they absolutely need to be held responsible and punished accordingly. (Notice that I did not say “Shot” or “killed.” While I do believe in judicious use of the death penalty, I don’t condone it’s use as punishment for lying – even to the public in violation of your ethics as a journalist. Keep that in mind as you read the rest.)

So why am I writing about this on a law enforcement website? What does this have to do with police work? Well, as I sat pondering all of the news I could find this morning, both in the legacy media outlets and the various social media outlets I follow, it occurred to me that we are seeing a great many people today attacking the police for various perceived failures or mistakes in performance. But the police actions people are upset about aren’t the fault of those performing those actions. They are the fault of those who created all of the laws, policies and rules the police follow as they perform their duties. If an officer obeys every rule and the outcome isn’t what society likes, they attack the officer and call for everything short of a public hanging (and in some cases they call for that too). What no one takes a breath and calms down enough to realize is that the officer obeyed every federal law; every state law; every county law; every city law; every agency general order; every agency published special operations procedure and every training protocol he’s ever received. For all of that, something went sideways and events evolved in a way that every officer I know would prefer to avoid… and someone gets injured or killed due to the force used by the officer. Then, the worst thing that could ever happen does happen: some “reporter” scrambling for recognition and ratings twists events out of reality and the legacy media grabs hold of that and reports it far and wide. In today’s connected reality that means world-wide and the next thing you know, we have protests, some of which become riots, in reaction to everything that blood-thirsty racist evil officer did wrong.

Except he didn’t. I’ll give you an example and likely aggravate a lot of people along the way. That’s okay. I’ve already read three hate emails this morning and plenty of comments on my previous writings. For those of you who decide you want to send me the insults claiming that I’m “no longer a real cop,” feel free. I’ve carried a badge for 37 years now and although I retired once, I am still sworn (with a different agency now) and hold training responsibilities which still involve sitting in the passenger seat of patrol vehicles and answering calls. You’re welcome to your opinion, but at least base it in fact please? And no; I don’t think I “know it all.” There are men I know, and am honored to call friends, who have more experience than I do and who I try to regularly learn from. Interestingly, they tend to agree with 95%+ of my opinions and when they disagree, they offer me sound reasons (and education) on why so that I may learn rather than just being called names.

Example: Breonna Taylor. Within 24-48 hours of Breonna Taylor being shot and killed during the service of a high risk drug enforcement warrant on her apartment, the legacy media was blaming racist officers for having entered the wrong address and used undue force on an innocent black female EMT. Between the emphasis on “wrong address,” “white officers shoot innocent black woman,” and “EMT,” the legacy media created an image of racist blood thirsty officers who needed punishment because their sole motivation was to kill someone non-white.

Cities erupted into protests (these are peaceful non-criminal gatherings to voice a public concern about a circumstance, event, governmental action or legislation) and riots (these are criminal gatherings wherein those involved commit various crimes involving destruction of property, theft, violence and more) as citizens expressed their understandable anger and frustration. After all, if what the media reported had actually been true, then anger and frustration would be justified. No group of officers should ever be allowed to randomly kick in doors and kill people in their residence based on the color of their skin.  For the record: THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

We’ve now come to learn, thanks to the thorough investigation, the Grand Jury testimony that has been released and the segments of body camera video from various involved officers that has been released, that the officers were at the correct address. They knocked and announced themselves so much prior to breeching the door that a neighbor came to see what was going on. They did so even though a judge had granted and signed for them a “no knock” warrant that allowed them to perform the breech without any warning if they chose. The occupants of the apartment were both awake and in the hallway of the apartment when the breech was performed. One of the residents shot one of the police officers – this is criminal attempted murder at a minimum – and the police officers returned fire as is completely authorized and justified by every law and control cited above. Breonna Taylor was not, at the time, an EMT and hadn’t been for some number of years. She had been fired from that job because she had been discovered in a suspiciously criminal circumstance related to a previous convicted drug-dealing boyfriend. In video after the event, the man who it was later determined DID shoot the police officer claims that he didn’t that “she did.” And so, it’s understandable why and how police on scene immediately after the event believed, or could, that Breonna Taylor had performed the shooting.

So… who is “the messenger” we shouldn’t be shooting or killing?  Let’s start with the officers and how they performed their duties. Armed with a no-knock high-risk warrant, they announced themselves anyway, thoroughly and at some length, giving the residents of the target apartment plenty of time and notice as to who was at the door and what the intent was. If the residents had been unarmed, standing in the living room, with their hands in plain view, neither would have been shot; neither would be dead. Both would have been arrested in compliance with the warrant. Understand this and I know that it upsets / angers a huge segment of society: if CRIMINALS didn’t fight the police while the police were arresting them for breaking the law, then CRIMINALS would not get injured during arrest. Yes, the police are responsible for their actions and behavior. Yes, the police pulled the trigger and – here’s the big difference – had to justify every shot in the post-incident investigation. The CRIMINALS never have to justify why they fired, who they fired at, if there was any justification for it, etc. They simply commit their crime and then it’s on the shoulders of law enforcement to prove the crime in court. Interestingly, while mainstream media alleged multiple crimes were committed by the police, no one waited for the investigation or a trial to see if the officers were “innocent until proven guilty.” The officers were tried and convicted in the completely inaccurate court of public opinion and when the officers weren’t punished within a day, protestors and rioters took to the streets. How can rioters justify their crimes because a CRIMINAL was killed as a result of their own actions/behavior claiming that the killing was punishment without benefit of a trial, but then those same rioters turn around and demand immediate punishment of the officers without benefit of a trial? Hypocrisy is the one thing that should never be allowed in a fair justice system.

Now, who is the messenger that SHOULD be punished for delivering a completely inaccurate message and doing so with full intent and malice aforethought? The legacy media and every other individual who either 1) knew the facts and intentionally distorted them to sensationalize the story and increase their own ratings / exposure, and 2) everyone who didn’t know any facts but simply made up a story as they went along to suit the narrative they wanted to “prove.”

The First Amendment is a beautiful thing; as beautiful as the rest of the Amendments (at least the first 16 of them. After that I need to study more). “Freedom of speech” is something that should be held of great value and protected. That said, “Freedom to intentionally lie for personal gain and commercial revenue benefit” isn’t something that should be defended by the First Amendment… ever. If a news outlet is caught editing statements from someone, thereby entirely changing the context and meaning of what they actually said into something unacceptable to society, then that news outlet should be held responsible corporately for crimes of fraud (at a minimum). “Inciting violence” isn’t acceptable. When a major news outlet “reports facts” that are complete falsehoods (untrue) and that “reporting” results in over $50 million dollars of damage in one major city alone, the news outlet ought to be held responsible. They should not be allowed to hide behind the First Amendment.

The First Amendment does not protect you if you falsely yell, “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater, incite panic, and people are injured or killed as they flee a threat that doesn’t exist. Nor should mainstream / legacy media be free of consequences when they “report facts” that are patently false after they’ve carefully selected and reorganized what bits of information they are going to “report” as news. When that mainstream/legacy media recreates reality to sensationalize an event, thereby inciting MORE criminal behavior (riots) that they can then report on, thereby increasing their ratings, thereby increasing their advertising revenue… then it should be investigated and punished by the Federal Government, through whatever agency is appropriate (FCC?) and the fines should be hefty enough to impact the shareholder dividends. THAT is the only way such actions will be stopped. Of course, we could simply imprison the CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and on down the chain to the reporter him or herself who authorized or made the relevant changes.

THAT is the messenger who should be punished (I STILL haven’t said “shot” or “killed”). In a different entry I could argue that there is another set of messengers that could be held responsible, still separate from the police: They would be all of the elected representatives that pass the laws the officers have to enforce AND the judicial system that, through case law, creates controls on how law enforcement does its job.

Comments and intelligent feedback appreciated.