American police need reform, not blame

A little over a week ago, Derek Chauvin was on trial accused of the murder of George Floyd. The jury took less than twelve hours to reach a verdict. He was found guilty on all three counts: second degree murder, third degree murder and manslaughter. The unanimous verdict came close to a year after the Minneapolis policeman was recorded restraining Floyd by kneeling on his neck for ten minutes. His subsequent death sparked outrage across America and the reemergence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

There was a palpable sense of relief across America as the verdict came in. The concerns about a potentially biased jury were untenable — some believed a jury consisting of 50 per cent white individuals would mean Floyd would not get justice, while others feared the irate crowd present outside the court every day of the trial would threaten the impartiality of America’s judicial system. All these concerns proved to be irrelevant. Once Chauvin’s police chief testified against him it was clear that the US legal system was functioning as it should.

It will take a few months until we know the sentence, but there is one thing we can already take away from the verdict. His conviction will go some way to providing evidence of the integrity of the justice system. Hopefully it will stop people making sweeping generalisations that portray the US judicial system as fundamentally flawed and racist. It should act as a catalyst for wholesale reform of how police operate and interact with people.

It was due to Chauvin’s excessive use of force that he was found guilty. This was also the view held by the general public. Not long after the video’s release, 90 per cent of Americans believed Chauvin had used excessive force and two-thirds agreed his actions constituted that of murder. Both the trial and conviction have clearly shown that the US legal system is not beset with racism.

This was not the position held by some Democratic politicians. Rather than emphasising the progress and positives that came from the jury’s decision, Joe Biden was quick to point out that the country remains profoundly racist. Referencing Floyd’s murder, the President argued that systemic racism “is a stain [on] our nation’s soul; the knee on the neck of justice for black Americans; the profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that black and brown Americans experience every single day.” While Vice President Kamala Harris wanted to remind us all that the country was in fact, inherently racist when she said: “America has a long history of systemic racism…So many Americans have now seen the racial injustice that black Americans have known for generations.”

Although the US has a long way to go before it achieves racial harmony, the country is far from the racial dystopia portrayed by establishment politicians. They are wrong. Floyd’s case was primetime news, in part due to its rarity. What happened to Floyd is not something that happens to black Americans on a daily basis, as Biden claims. It is unsubstantiated claims like this that fuel racial division. A survey found 54 per cent of “very liberal” people thought over 1,000 unarmed black people are killed annually by the police. In 2019, the real figure was 27.

As the verdict came in, there was news of another police killing. A 17-year-old black girl had been shot dead in Columbia, Ohio. In an effort to placate protests and riots, the bodycam footage was quickly released. This time it was conclusive. The white police officer in question had shot a girl as she was lunging towards a fellow black girl with a large knife. This was a case of a cop saving a black life.

Yet it still didn’t stop some from framing this as another example of institutional racism within the police force. In a now deleted tweet Lebron James posted a photo of the cop with the title “YOU’RE NEXT!”, implying that when it comes to police killings, race is the dominant factor.

A recent example of racial bias occurred at a BLM protest in Minnesota. The group had convened outside the local governor’s house when they learnt that a policeman had killed a carjacker. When the news came out that the victim had not been black, but had in fact been white, they quickly left the scene.

By framing police violence as an inherently black problem, politicians, activists and celebrities fan the flames of division when the country should come together and unite. Isn’t Biden supposed to be the great unifier? This should not be a colour issue — this is an issue that affects everyone. Any victim of police malfeasance, regardless of colour, should be investigated and the perpetrators dealt with accordingly. American police kill on average 1,000 people a year of all races. And that’s 1,000 too many.

Yet most police officers are overworked and underpaid. With socioeconomic factors playing a large role in crime, the police are being called out for a wide range of reasons. They are babysitters, guidance counsellors and they are taxi drivers by proxy. They have to deal with people at their lowest point in their lives. Of course, this in no way means the police are saints. They’re also faced with the unenviable task of having to make split-second life or death decisions. Failure to act, too, may result in death. In 2019, 44 policemen were shot dead in the line of duty. The emotional and physical trauma experienced by officers may go someway to explain why police have a higher than average suicide rate.

But they are also over-armed and under-trained. The policewoman who killed Daunte Wright mistook her own gun for a taser. A truly staggering work of ineptitude. Something has to change. When 58 per cent of Americans believe major changes are necessary to make policing better, perhaps it’s time.

The call to defund the police is counter-productive. What police officers need is better training and more psychological help when it comes to de-escalating potentially dangerous situations. It also can’t help when you demonise a million police officers as racist. No police officer should fear reprisal, forced retirement or, at worst, imprisonment for carrying out a routine stop and search on someone who is a different colour to them.

When the police do act unconstitutionally or with reckless abandon, they need to be held accountable for their actions. Immediately releasing bodycam footage is a sensible option. This happened when a white Nashville policeman was accused of shooting a 31-year-old black woman. The footage — which clearly shows her with a gun and shooting the cop, before he shoots her — exonerated the officer. The longer evidence is kept from the public, the more time activists have to concoct racial conspiracy theories.

Another option would be to look at the reform of police unions. A union exists to protect its members. Officers’ records are regularly “updated” (removed) while complaints made about officers are often ignored. Derek Chauvin had 18 complaints outstanding against him.

We need more police on the streets to reduce crime. But we need better trained police to stop this happening.

It won’t help George Floyd, but it may help next time.

A Message from TheArticle

We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout the pandemic. So please, make a donation.