Citizens and Cops

“If you don’t like the police, the next time you need help, call a hippie”

                       -bumper sticker circa 1970

The remaining  real hippies and ex-hippies  are  past sixty now, and the millennial wannabes  are weak epigones,  but in the case of one unfortunate   woman from Minneapolis,  it might have been a good idea to take that rude, old slogan literally.  According to reports Justine Ruszczyk  called the police to report a fight or assault in her neighborhood.  Two cops arrived with their the body cameras turned off in violation of their rules, and one of them shot and killed her.  Months before a policeman in the same city shot and killed Philandro  Castile, a law abiding citizen,  during a traffic stop when Castile mentioned he had a legally allowed gun in his possession.  The cop was acquitted of manslaughter on the grounds  the news his victim was armed frightened him. ( Since millions of Americans legally carry firearms in their cars, one can  hope this does not establish a precedent.)    There have been other well publicized cases in various places  of policemen killing people without good reason and getting away with it. 

In a free society the citizens have to keep officials and policemen under strict control and require  that they stay within the constraints of the law. It is not only permissible to second guess the police, it is mandatory to do so.  Policemen at all levels of government have lots of power, and that power must be kept in check. There is a reason the term “police state” is  used as a synonym for a  tyranny or dictatorship.

One may accept that police work  is stressful and sometimes dangerous without believing that gives cops a license to shoot people who don’t need shooting.  (We certainly demand better of everyone else.  Being a policemen is nowhere nearly as stressful or dangerous as being a combat infantryman, for example, but the services require enlisted men, including very young and only recently trained ones, always  to follow rules and orders about when and at whom to fire.)   One may understand  that many people have difficulty making good, quick decisions when scared or under pressure without believing that  absolves officers  of liability for  fatally bad decisions. One may agree that these killings occur rarely without believing assertions that  that makes them insignificant.  One may understand that police are often victims of false and politically motivated charges from political hacks on the make without believing that every charge against a cop is bogus.

The need to keep the police under control and within the law should not be controversial, but often it is – usually because of politics.  Too many conservatives ignore it or make excuses when the officers or state or local, and the victims are lower class blacks or Hispanics who have had earlier trouble with the authorities. Too many leftists ignore it or make excuses when the cops are federal, and the victims are  white hicks who are not  too fond of the federal government.   Both should know better.