Law Enforcement, George Floyd and Riots

Let me preface this entire entry with one thing: Everyone has an opinion and all opinions are equally valid to those who hold them. That said, the “difference of opinion” isn’t just between two people. A million people could have a million different opinions and each is right for the individual who holds it. Our challenge develops when we start discussing the differences in our opinions and then anger builds… condemnation occurs… tempers flare and violent actions can happen. The most important message I can convey is this: discussion about varying opinions is a great thing. Discussion decides what is right. Violent confrontation decides who is stronger… and that’s all.

As anyone who isn’t disconnected from mainstream media knows, George Floyd was arrested by four police officers. In the process of the arrest, after he’d been handcuffed, he died in custody. The assumed cause of his death is asphyxiation due to an officer kneeling on his neck as he continued to be restrained. (I put “assumed” because it seems obvious but I haven’t seen the coroner’s report.) As the one officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck, three other officers stood and looked on… doing nothing.

I posted the following on my personal facebook page and will share it here because it does adequately express my OPINION:

Let me be clear: based on the images and videos I’ve seen of the in-custody death in Minneapolis, I can’t help but be critical of the officers’ actions. Unprofessional... shameful... immoral... criminal. That said, I’m going to add two more observations:
1) nothing is to be solved by riots and looting and the more it occurs, the more George Floyd’s life is devalued.
2) if you call yourself a brother cop but then you jump on every “white cops are murdering racists” bandwagon, take off the badge and find other work.

Law enforcement professionals are their own race. We are not white, black, Asian, Irish, Italian, etc. We’re BLUE. If you put your racial identity before your oath, you shouldn’t have taken the oath. We serve all people equally, and if you view yourself as part of a given race or creed before you view yourself as a professional law enforcement officer, then you can’t approach the job without prejudice. Just think about it.

Read that again. Personally I condemn the actions and inactions of the officers involved as shown by the mainstream media. I also condemn the riots because I see absolutely nothing to be gained by them. In fact, with more and more focus being given to the riots, the destroyed property, the pending deployment of the National Guard and more, less attention is being given to George Floyd’s death, his family, etc. His death is, in a sense, being devalued by the rioting.

Here’s my challenge to all of my law enforcement brothers and sisters though, and this absolutely applies to command staff members because they are supposed to lead by example: If you condemn the actions of the officer(s), do you do so because they are white and George Floyd was black? Or do you do it because it was unjustified, excessive, criminal, etc.? Is your motivation for condemnation personal or professional?

We, each of us, has a responsibility to the community we serve. We have a responsibility to protect and serve – or in some places they prefer to reverse that to serve and protect. Either way, enforcing the law is part of that and we must enforce the law impartially, fairly, without prejudice and with the judicious use of discretion where it’s permitted. There is a professional standard we must meet no matter what the race, gender, age, socio-economic status, etc. of the person we’re serving at any given time. That said, we have no requirement to simply put up with abuse or any criminal actions. In fact, we have a duty to not shrink away from them and to perform the necessary enforcement actions when we observe criminal activity.

Something I never understood – due to my mentors, instructors, etc. – was why there was an “us versus them” mentality in law enforcement. While such is inevitable and necessary in a large conflict situation (such as a platoon of police officers holding a line against a couple thousand rioters bent on destruction and looting), in the day to day course of doing our duties we are simply people, set apart by uniform and accoutrements, doing a job to serve the public benefit. We are not “us” and the public is not “them.” WE are a community and as part of that community we are entrusted with a special power: the authority to detain, investigate and arrest citizens in the name of keeping the peace and maintaining public safety.

“The public” has the absolute right to know how we do this and to question our actions when it seems we acted inappropriately (at best) or criminally (at worst). We have an absolute duty to answer to the public in whatever means exists, i.e. citizen’s overwatch committees, answering to elected representatives, etc. Our challenge is that every time a single officer makes a mistake, it’s blown up on the mainstream media and presented as if it represents every officer in the United States. It doesn’t… yet, it does. Each of us… every single one of us no matter title: if you’re a deputy, policeman, trooper, ranger, agent, officer… if you wear a uniform and a badge or a suit and carry law enforcement credentials, you represent law enforcement in America. YOU impact how every citizen in the country might perceive us.

It behooves each of us to represent our profession – our brothers and sisters – in as honorable a fashion as possible. Is that always easy? Absolutely not. Is it always possible? 99%+ of the time, yes. Sometimes it requires discretion, and not making an arrest even when you could, because the larger impact on the community and the bigger benefit to be had long term, is offering assistance rather than enforcement. That possibility is entirely dependent on totality of circumstance. It is also impacted by agency ethos, protocol, policy, etc.

I call on all my brother and sister officers… I call on all command staff… I call especially on every officer assigned to a Community Policing position: Put discretion and assistance at the forefront of your mind. Stress and tension is already high across our nation due to the circumstances created by the coronavirus. It is getting even higher now as the mainstream media enflames the public with the near 24/7 coverage of the George Floyd incident and the riots being performed in his name. Part of our job to protect and serve, to keep the peace, is to find a way to de-escalate everything as much as we can. Yes, we have to stay safe and go home. Yes, we have to defend ourselves. Yes, we have to protect each other. But in doing so, we have to constantly keep public perception in mind and do what we can to increase the level of respect we receive from them.