Wednesday, June 01, 2022
Honest Police Motto: "Our Priority is Officer Safety"
The more we hear about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the more tragic it becomes: The tiny caskets decorated with dinosaurs and unicorns, the grieving families and their grim realities, the conflicts over what to do. And, on top of it all, frustration at the police response.
The following facts have become clear:
-- For about an hour, at least 19 armed law enforcement officers were in the school but did not engage the gunman, who continued to kill children.
-- The children in the line of fire, meanwhile, kept calling 911 and begging for help that did not come.
-- The fact of those 911 calls was conveyed to the officers who were refusing to engage and save the children.
-- And now we find out that the police assertions that a teacher propped open a back door were a flat-out lie: in fact, the teacher closed the door.
It's a deep tragedy, and it cuts against our image of the bravery of law enforcement officers. In part, it appears, the officers were scared of the gun that the shooter was using-- A gun that he was able to buy just after his 18th birthday, despite a history of threatening comments.
In short, they decided not to engage the shooter because it risked the safety of the officers.
And there-- right there-- is the link between the disaster in Uvalde and the police shootings of George Floyd and others that have so troubled the nation. Invariably, when the police shoot someone (often Black) with a gun or with a cell phone or with nothing at all, the justification is officer safety.
And there's the rub. What we are learning through these tragedies is that police have come to view officer safety as their top priority, above public safety. This is epitomized in the "warrior training" they receive, which is rooted in an us v. them mentality that opposes the police and a dangerous public.
Or, look at the recent Amir Locke case here in Minneapolis. Locke had a gun, but wasn't pointing it at the police when they stormed into an apartment where he was fast asleep on a couch. The police shot him dead, and no one was charged. The justification, as usual, was officer safety.
Maybe they should just be honest about and replace "To Protect and Serve" with "To Protect Ourselves."
