POLICE BRUTALITY… LAW ENFORCEMENT’S ABUSE OF BLACK BODIES THE COMMUNITIES RESPONSE AND SOLUTION

Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Louisville, Georgia…. In every state in the United States and certainly in every major urban center within the nation; police brutality against black people has been a raging issue since emancipation. The killings of Philando Castile, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, LaQuan McDonald, Rekia Boyd, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd are all too familiar to us. But what about the names that are less known but their killings are just as painful. In 2019 in police killing where the race was known and identified, Black folks represented 30 % of those killings even though black people represents only 13% of the overall population.

State sanctioned violence and murder has been addressed by Ida B. Wells, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. to modern day figures Ta-Nehisi Coates, Dr. William J. Barber II and Black Lives Matter.

What has become noticeably clear to me is that virtually every gain that was made during the Black Freedom Movement was the results of protesting, boycotts and a legislative agenda. Without it an agenda that directly speaks to the problem, is looked upon as rage without a direction or plan.

What is clear is that every perceived oppressed group has used the full black protest playbook. What is even more clear is that we have the mechanism to enact a legislative and policy agenda, but for some reason we have not pressed for a full policing agenda in Washington that confront police brutality.

I have a few thoughts and ideas that can help mold that discussion…

1. The creation of a NATIONAL DATABASE that tracks the behavior of police officers all across the nation. Repeat offenders will risk their certification which could effectively disallow them to ever work as police officers ever again. Currently, local police departments issue these certifications which basically states that the officers have been professionally trained in policing policy and procedures. However, there is NO uniform training across all 50 states. The Department of Justice MUST take control and issue a uniform code of training that will give them the power to certify police officers and de-certify any police officer proven of any egregious behavior against the tax paying citizens of the United States.
2. Police officers MUST BE LICENSED. If a barber, medical doctor, CPA, attorney has to licensed by the state they serve in and engage with the public, then any person who has been sworn with an oath the enforce the law with a badge and a gun, taser and nightstick; should and must be licensed. They have the mandate and power to take away your life. If an officer has been de-certified, then it will harder if not impossible for them to be able to re-obtain a license anywhere in the United States without full scrutiny.
3. Police officers MUST have LIABILITY INSURANCE. Police misconduct is costly. In former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s final budget, there was a line item that called for nearly $500MM to be set aside for police misconduct. It drains city resources that could and should be utilized for other services that would benefit citizens more directly. In other words, we as taxpayers are funding the litigation and financial judgements of bad apples in local police departments. What many do not realize is that cities and municipalities pay for their own liability insurances to protect their budgets from large awards by the court. In Mayor Emanuel’s final budget of $500MM, that figure was ABOVE AND BEYOND their cap payout and coverage by their insurance company. The direct burden has to be placed on and shared by the officer to monitor and shape their own behavior dictated by the professional training that they received. Liability insurance will take some of the financial burdens off of municipalities, many of whom are cash strapped.  This will be a motivating factor.
4. Taxpayers fund local police departments. As a result, police officers receive healthy and well-deserved pensions. But we must not lose sight that police misconduct by rouge police officers is in many instances, “state sanctioned” violence. So why reward a rouge police office with a taxpayer funded pension? The best example of this was former police commander John Burge who was fired in 1993 for his role in torturing confessions out of innocent black suspects for over a decade.

There was also an internal cover-up with other conspirators who have never been identified. In 2008 Burge was charged with obstruction of justice and perjury and was convicted in 2010 on all counts. He served four and half years in federal prison. He was able to retire and receive his full pension. Police officers like him and others should have their pensions revoked because these are individuals who are sworn by the state to uphold the constitutions of their state as well as the United States Constitution, but their crimes are against the people they are sworn to protect. It is an incestuous relationship with those officers who are allowed to retire with behaviors such as these.

• The Fraternal Order of police has too much power and has become a threat to public safety in black and brown communities. They seem to forget that police officers are civil servants. They are not allowed to strike. They have a contract with numerous municipalities and have tremendous power. My question: is it necessary for a union that should protect and serve its citizens to have the power and ability to delay or block the dismissal of a police officer that has been a documented threat to the society it is sworn to protect? In my opinion, no. Revisions to police contracts have to be discussed. There is an “upside down approach” as to whom has the power of dismissal and retention and how long that process should take. The vast majority of citizens do not enjoy this kind of laborious process in the determination of their employment within the context of gross misbehavior that affects life and death. If the Fraternal Order of Police is not open to this redetermination, then maybe their power should be tested by municipalities abolishing the union. Simply put, the FOP has too much power in protecting racist and evil behavior in police departments.

This should be a legislative agenda that reflects a bottom up direction. There are black elected officials that should carry this water to their state capitals and Washington. These officials are from local municipalities, county and state government. There must be a grass roots 50 state effort to get state legislatures to adopt and enact these types of changes. Our federally elected officials in the Congress and the Senate should not wait to introduce legislation that addresses these issues either. 

We have black professional police associations such as the National Black Police Association (NFPA), the Nation Organization of Black Law Enforcement (NOBLE), Black Police in America and others that should be included in formulating legislation and policies.

However, in this climate of a national election for President, Joe Biden and yes even Donald Trump must be pressed to have a legislative approach to police brutality. Even though it is certain that we have a corrupt Department of Justice led by “Attorney General” William Barr they must not be allowed to recuse themselves from addressing the issue of race and police brutality.

Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden must be pressed to have policing reform at the top of his platform and MUST be held accountable to see this through within his first term if elected. If for some reason he reneges then there must be a push for an in-party challenge in 2024 to ensure that this will have a perpetual focus.

With an autocrat such as Donald Trump in office and with a presidential election in November, the issue of Police Brutality Legislation should be shared brutality against black and other people of color should be shared with Covid-19. There is no better time to address this than now…

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