Who Are They Helping?

Opened my computer this morning only to find more incidents of cop brutality.  Is it becoming the norm or are more people just tuning in to it?  I find it interesting that so many people make excuses for this kind of behavior.  They say things like "cops put their lives on the line everyday" or "they became a cop because they wanted to help people".

First of all, many people put their lives on the line everyday: firefighters, high rise construction workers, miners, fishermen, and that is just off the top of my head.  As far as "helping people" I would say that the motivation behind becoming is cop is to carry a gun and a badge.  In my experience the type of person that becomes a cop is someone who craves power and authority.  Is that a generalization? Sure it is.  There are always exceptions.  But I think people who become social workers, teachers and volunteers are really the people who want to help others and make a difference for the better and they make a lot less money doing it and they answer to a hell of a lot more people.

I think the real problem is accountability.  It appears that teachers and social workers are held to a much higher standard than police officers.  When we read about a teacher who has abused their power they lose their jobs quickly.  A police officer who abuses his or her power is put on leave with pay during a lengthy investigation and then after the dust settles quietly brought back in.  There is no civilian oversight.  Law enforcement would like us to think that there is transparency but that is a lie.  When abuse occurs the incident is investigated by another department, generally in the county where the incident occurred.  The departments protect one another.  Think about it, do you want to judge another department harshly when that department could be investigating you one day?  In addition to that, when the incident is serious enough, such as in a "critical incident" the matter is often referred to the grand jury.  Those jurors are usually very old, white people who are appointed by the department heads and who hold absolutely no power to impact change.  Their only task is to find if the officer followed department procedure.  When the department's procedure includes lethal force, then the jury finds they have done nothing wrong.  There is no one to force a department to make changes.  The public has no say.

When we permit a certain group to have jurisdiction over us, to have the ability to search, question and arrest us, there must be a mechanism where the public has the right of oversight.  The police are the enforcers of the laws that we make and their job is to "protect and serve".  There should be no problem with the public having a say in how we police our communities....they work for us.

That said, nearly every department refuses and resists public oversight.  They don't want the public all up in their business.  But their business is our business.  If we want real change  we have to demand public oversight.