The incidents of police shootings since July 5th (2016) and the ambush on the Dallas police all provide guidance toward solutions that have not revealed themselves to most before. When I say “most” I’m not including Dallas Chief of Police, David Brown. He is someone who has proven to understand how real solutions to this seemingly out of control and un-tamable problem can be implemented nationwide. I’ll get to that.
First let’s look at a handful of dynamics that have been overlooked by the media and most people during this unnerving week of violence in America:
- Before the horrific incident in Dallas where five police officers lost their lives to sniper fire in an ambush on July 7th, the officers were conversing and taking selfies with Black Lives Matter protesters. They were not wearing riot gear. They were not in armored vehicles. The protestors did not seem threatened by them, nor were they taunting or opposing the police like we’ve seen during many of these protests. And the protest was completely peaceful until this lone, over-armed domestic terrorist opened fire.
- In one of incidents where a black man was killed by police in the two days leading up to the Dallas shooting, video showed one of the black men was pinned down with both arms disabled by the pinning before shots rang out. In the other one, the black man was in a seat belt in a car. The policemen were overly aggressive and seemingly ramped up, escalating the situation instead of diffusing it. And in both instances the policemen administered at least four shots, each to lethal areas of the body.
- After the lethal gun shots were administered, none of the police officers made the slightest attempt to help the victims even though it was obvious they were not yet dead. This is indisputably shown on video coverage. They just yelled obscenities in their own adrenaline- induced breakdowns. In the case in Minnesota, the cop was the least calm person, yelling near hysterics and he kept his gun pointed at the head of the dying victim while yelling to himself and at the passenger of the car. The dying victim was still seat-belted in the driver’s seat of the car. Even in cop-buddy TV shows from the 1970s the cops would try and help the criminals they’ve shot in the line of duty. Starsky and Hutch seem to have been better trained than these modern day police officers. (OF COURSE most police officers are well trained and provide exemplary service in the line of duty)
- In the case in Minnesota, when backup officers arrived on the scene the person in the passenger seat was told to get out of the car and get on the ground, then handcuffed and put into the back seat of a squad car even though she had shown absolutely no threat and only cooperated with the constitution-violating overreach of demands by law enforcement. Her four-year-old daughter was strapped into the back seat of the vehicle and witnessed all of this. The passenger’s phone was taken away and has not been returned as of this writing three days later. It has so far only been reported that his incident began as a stop for a broken taillight.
David Brown, Dallas Police Chief has addressed these mostly overlooked factors over the last six years of his tenure there. He’s taken steps to improve the relationship between police and communities. Complaints of excessive force by police have gone down nearly two-thirds. Police shootings have been cut in half from 23 in 2012 to just 11 in 2015 and in 2016 there has been only one so far.
Instead of criticizing one side or the other, he has recognized the tension between cops and people of color. He’s trained his officers to speak calmly instead of barking orders, thereby de-escalating the situation instead of adding more fear and tension. It is clear from the video footage of the two latest shootings that that sort of approach would have saved two lives.
In the ambush of the Dallas police, the police were outgunned by the terrorist in much the same way the bootlegger mobsters of the 1920s and 30s outgunned cops using the Tommy Gun. Outcry at the time over this mismatch lead to the 1934 National Firearms Act which ruled military grade weapons, along with some other guns and silencers, had to be registered and taxed. The NRA of that era fully supported that legislation. How things have changed.
And the media seems determined to hold positions that divide us. The left has one argument, and the right takes on the opposing argument. These arguments only intensify the fear and hate. They only intensify the tension and anger. Yes, we all feel grief, anger, fear, resentment, and many of us feel a need for revenge. The media enriches itself by making us feel that way. We’ve been subjected to biased “news” for thirty years, and it’s past time for all of us to realize that we need to do better than that. We need to stop arguing, we need to stop acting out of fear and anger, and we need to find solutions. Dallas Police Chief David Brown has come up with effective solutions over the last six years. The rest of the country needs to catch up to him.
Let’s stop following our respective fake news channels and extremist talk shows and start following leaders like Chief Brown on this issue.
It’s complicated to be sure. It involves cultural attitudes, gun laws, fear, hate, disinformation and bias. It includes campaign finance issues and special interests in our politics. But there are solutions. We must have the courage and patience to confront the complexities, rise above our emotional knee-jerk reactions, and implement these solutions. Chief Brown has.
I believe that we have reached a tipping point, with the heartbreaking level of violence occurring in our country becoming so terribly commonplace that our leaders and neighbors are feeling compelled to effect real change.
This change will take time and feel too slow in coming. We may not feel the change within the next few months or even years, but in the words of John F. Kennedy, “Let us begin!”
