From the Fayetteville Observer (12/7/08): Police work is multifaceted, stressful, difficult and dangerous — it’s a tough day job. In my opinion, nothing compares except military service, which obviously is a whole different ball game.
Like most of us, I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the public servants who commit themselves to this sometimes thankless task of protecting people and property from the elements of crime and mayhem that have become all too common in society.
A recent incident in our community — a white policeman’s fatal shooting of a black suspect — has catapulted a wave of rumors and uncertainty with regard to the officer’s conduct. When the victim is black and the officer is white, invariably the issues of past injustices, racial profiling and police abuse, especially against people of color, become a part of the equation.
I don’t like that and you probably don’t either, but that’s just the way things are. Am I implying that there is evidence of wrongdoing in this case? My answer at this point is no. There is an open investigation and I have confidence that the truth of what happened will come to light.
Racial profiling
I’m going to try to frame things from a view on the other side of the tracks. Police work sometimes involves confrontation with the human face of our community’s most severe social problems — challenges that can cause some officers to take such a dim view of the public they are supposed to serve that they give up the role of servant for that of warrior.
Too many times the “warrior” makes national news after getting caught exercising excessive or unnecessary force. It doesn’t matter where the bad cop is — New York, California or across town — the public views the issue of police misconduct as a systemic problem.
Do honest, law-abiding black folks have a right to be skeptical and a little paranoid of the police? You decide for yourself; but it is not without good reasons that North Carolina and many other states and jurisdictions have enacted “driving-while-black” legislation to monitor the conduct of law enforcement with regard to race profiling and other similar acts of harassment by targeting select minority groups.
The recent shooting incident prompted me to visit the N.C. Attorney General’s Web site in search of statistical data on how often officers use deadly force resulting in death. To my surprise, it was not available.
I followed up the Web site visit with a call and was referred to the State Bureau of Investigation. After speaking to the criminal statistics division and several others within the bureau, I eventually talked to an assistant director and he informed me that the SBI did not keep this data. He referred me to a Web site for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A visit to the FBI’s Web site revealed that even at the federal level, this information was not available. Not available because government does not keep national data on how often police use deadly force resulting in the death of the victim.
However, data detailing the number of officers killed and assaulted is forwarded annually to the FBI by law enforcement agencies nationwide. Everybody knows that government keeps data on about everything imaginable — so why is this area left out?
Furthermore, do taxpayers have a right to know such information about the people paid to protect them? The answer would have to be a resounding yes. Yes, because we all deserve to know the whole truth.
Are there patterns or trends developing? One might easily conclude that lack of such data minimizes scrutiny of police shootings. I am aware that anyone can gain access to this information by submitting individual public records requests with each respective law enforcement agency. However, it ought to be obtainable with the click of a computer mouse. Such data would answer a lot of questions and provide crucial records for future funding needs, and tactical and strategic planning.
I am a pro-law-enforcement kind of guy. Although my badge-and-gun days are long since behind me, I still cherish my advanced law enforcement certificate as one of my most important professional achievements. I am advocating for a reform of policing practices with regard to data collection at the top. If we can count seatbelt violations, we ought to be able to count the number of times when the use of force by law enforcement results in death.
More important, I am praying for the family of the young man who is described by family and friends as a positive and caring individual. I am assured the whole community wished a better end to his story.
I also am praying for the policeman and his family. He responded to the “shots fired” call and that is always a difficult job.
Finally, I am praying for our community. When the investigation is over and the truth affirms and denies respective sides of the story, may we all be able to accept it and heal as a community.