Thousands of police from all over the United States gathered in New York for the funeral of slain officer Rafael Ramos. Representatives of just about every police force in the country flew in a representative to express solidarity and the streets of the city were a sea of blue uniforms as civic leaders - including the vice president, Joe Biden - attended. This sent very different messages to very different groups of people !
Officer Ramos and his partner Wenjian Liu were in their police car when Ismaaiy Brinsley approached, pulled out a hand gun and shot both officers in the head, killing them both. Brinsley ran to a subway station where he used his gun to commit suicide.
Unfortunately, Brinsley's message prior to the killing linked it to the deaths by police of several unarmed black citizens and it was clearly a revenge motif. These deaths had provoked a very strong protest across all sections of society and there was a real chance that public opinion would force change in the way policing was conducted. There were calls for police officers to wear cameras on their uniforms so that interaction between the police and the public was recorded. The killing of these police officers muted that movement in it's tracks.
There was another signal that will send a message to many. New York's mayor, Bill de Blasio spoke at the funeral and because of the crowd size the ceremony was shown on huge billboards. Many of the police present turned their backs during de Blasio's speech because he had previously expressed the need for balance in policing - and some police regarded this as support for the assassin.
Of course the police must show support for a fallen comrade, but the message that some will interpret is a vindication of their actions - and a promise that nothing will change. It is a fact of life that America has a skin colour problem. Racial discrimination still exists and black people still represent the largest segment of the prison population - and unarmed blacks are much more likely to die of a police bullet than white people.
There are many parts of the country where a large majority of the citizens are black - and the police force is predominantly white. In such situations, the hated "stop and search " laws target black people and clearly discriminate on colour grounds. Many black skinned people fear the police - with good reason.
America has a gun culture that is protected by the constitution. The police need to use caution. There is an assumption that a suspect may be armed and they are quick to draw their weapon to protect themselves. A simple misunderstanding - someone reaches for their wallet to produce ID - can lead to tragedy. All too often a partisan grand jury chooses to accept the police officers version without a close examination of the facts - and exonerate responsibility for the death.
There is a clear danger that the mounting pressure to change this police culture may lead to more police killings and we could see a form of "jihardist " warfare emerge within the United States. One of the problems is that American policing is fragmented. Each town or city has it's own police force and this intermingles with state police forces, and then on a national basis law is covered by the FBI. Achieving some form of consensus across that spectrum will be a titanic task.
The message that emerged from this police funeral does not auger well for harmony. To some police, it will be interpreted as a call for unity - and more of the same. To the more radical black elements is may be a call to arms. Probably the best hope for quick national change would be implementing a law by Congress to require all police to wear body cameras - but given the political impasse in the country such consensus is unlikely.
Just when a circuit breaker seemed possible, this police funeral sent the opposite message.
No comments:
Post a Comment