What One State is Doing About It
Americans have heard and seen reports, many with accompanying video footage, of excessive use of force and brutality against protestors and some rioters. We have the two Buffalo police officers who shove a 75 year old man, causing him to fall to the ground and hitting his head on the pavement. Then, while visibly bleeding from his head, he is ignored by many officers. They fail to render the man any assistance.
There have been reports of driving a patrol vehicle into a crowd of protestors, violently knocking protestors to the ground, police striking a man in the head, violently attacking and dispersing peaceful protestors to clear the way for a photo op, and so on. Members of the nation’s supposedly highly trained law enforcement personnel seem to have lost their ability to remain professionals.
Departments have relieved officers pending investigation into their actions, fired officers, and officers have been charged for their alleged violations. That’s all well and good, but what about the field supervisors who should be controlling their officers? Are they to get off without any disciplinary action? If there were no supervisors, then the command staff needs be held accountable. Also, more training at all levels may be called for too.
I acknowledge that officers have had to deal with rioting and looting, yet that is no excuse to be brutal towards anyone. We look to our law enforcement officers to work at a higher standard of behavior, to be professionals who stay within the laws.
Law enforcement agencies need our trust and we need to be able to trust them. Police have something no other civil group has, they can take away our freedom. It is vitally important that we know they will never let their professionalism fail them. We need our police, they do hold a thin blue line between a safe society and complete criminal anarchy. If we can’t trust them, then our society is doomed.
Right now in the United States there is a national upheaval occurring. Between the murder of George Floyd, the pandemic, and the tanked economy, we are teetering daily. We are unsure of what tomorrow will bring. When our national leaders fail us, as they are currently, we look to our state government to lead us and to our law enforcement to keep us safe.
America needs these protests to continue, to fight against systemic racial injustice. It needs to be done by Americans of all races, standing together to support our most discriminated against racial group – African Americans. Because until Black Lives Matter we will never be able to say that All Lives Matter.
Until next time
American Dystopia 