A Word on Police Violence

Please Note: Because of unforeseen circumstances, the podcast is going to be delayed a bit this week. To compensate, I’m writing an extra essay because here at Deep in the Tank, we like to keep content flowing to our faithful readers and listeners whenever possible. Thank you for reading and listening.

A Preamble

I should go ahead and get a few things out of the way before I undertake this essay:

  • This will have a decidedly political bent to it, so please, forgive the lack of Biblical argumentation

  • I’m not anti-cop but I’ll understand if you think otherwise after reading this.

  • We’re going to have a bad time.

George Floyd, Duncan Lemp, and Philando Castile. Those names seem unconnected, but they’re each names on a list I wish didn’t exist. Each of these people, alongside hundreds of others, were wrongly killed by police officers/LEO’s. Each were killed for different reasons, (Floyd for “resisting” arrest after apparently using counterfeit money, Lemp for allegedly owning a firearm as a non-permitted individual, and Castile for informing an officer he was carrying a pistol, which many states would’ve required of him), but a question that comes up every time is, “Why did this person have to die?” There are times we can pretty easily work out: a weapon is drawn and split-second decisions are made, and those decisions can have fatal consequences. We can even, possibly, understand when a mistake is made, such as a fake gun being mistaken for the real thing. Even then, however, we may stop and ask ourselves, “Aren’t cops trained professionals?” and similar questions.

Some Key Observations

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that LEO’s undertake a potentially dangerous task. The Miami-Dade shootout immediately comes to mind, and for good reason. However, when you look at the data, the notion that policing is a uniquely and remarkably dangerous profession is shown to be essentially mythical, and this is before you break down the actual causes of death associated with professions.

I’ll grant that one can say, “But loggers don’t get shot at.” That’s true enough and I’ll concede that point when the point that most police officers don’t either is conceded. Again, the best data available (compiled by the Department of Labor, so not exactly a “liberal” or anti-cop source) is illustrative of a simple fact: being a police officer isn’t a death sentence (and that’s a good thing, by the way).

I understand that it’s largely a thankless job as well. When was the last time that you saw a think piece on how firefighters are a menace to communities? Further, law professors don’t give lectures on why you shouldn’t talk to the mail-man. Then again, mail-carriers have never, to my knowledge, developed a reputation, however outdated, for domestic violence and firefighters can’t invoke court-affirmed permission to lie to you in pursuit of their goals.

Where (I Think) the Issue Lies

You may read up to this point and think that I’m radically anti-cop and relish the thought of LEO’s dying. You’d be wrong, but I could understand the thought process. What you’d be right to note is that police officers are stigmatized in the eyes of many. Even people that “back the blue,” feel their heart quicken when they’re driving and see a police vehicle. Entire websites and communities exist to ridicule cops and chronicle their foibles and wrongdoings, some more barbed than others (r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut comes to mind). Why is that? Why do people despise police officers? It’s simple really: with any story like that of Floyd, Lemp, or Castile, ask yourself, “Could I do that?” “Could I shoot a man dead in his car and get acquitted by saying that I thought he was reaching for a gun he already told me about?” “Could I walk into a man’s house, shoot him, and try to justify it by saying he wouldn’t follow my instructions?”
No, you couldn’t. In either of those cases, you’d rightly be put on trial for some form of homicide and you likely wouldn’t have people on the internet sincerely arguing that you were in the right and producing everything they could to discredit your victim. Realistically, that is what gets so many people so riled up about and resentful of police officers. People feel that they’re held to a different, usually lesser, standard and given protections and deferences that are then abused. Be it concerns about the use of excessive force by police, concerns of intrusiveness by the same, or the implications of militarizing police forces, what this ultimately boils down to for so many, myself included, is the fact that police officers can act in ways that would get anybody else put in prison, or worse, and get off with comparatively light consequences. Some even make the argument that we hold LEO’s to lower standards than soldiers, people we literally send out to fight wars with rules of engagement. This doesn’t even get into federal agencies, which have demonstrated their willingness to cause, directly or otherwise, the death of children, commit entrapment, and facilitate selling guns to cartels. Don’t even worry about the fact that the Department of Education purchases shotguns and sends agents of their own to houses at 6 a.m. to arrest someone who may not even live there anymore (it’s not a SWAT team though, per the Washington Post).

Another Wrinkle

Of course, another component comes into play, that being race. Some will, understandably, claim that race is a major factor in police violence, and I think that argument can be made in good faith. In fact, I think the argument holds water more often than it should. My contention is not that race has no part, but rather, that the question of race-motivated violence by police should, in addition to sincere outcries against racism, naturally lead one to ask, “Wait, cops can do that and get away with it?” A much more effective and tangible response is required than only seeking to uproot racism, as good and right as that cause is. Instead, we should seek to uproot racism, enact intense reform with reference to law enforcement, and insist by all available and good means that those reforms actually have an impact. The reason for this is very simple: if police officers face serious and dire consequences every time they knowingly wrongly kill someone or otherwise abuse their power, racists will lose an avenue to act on their hatred in a “safe” way. We may not be able to infallibly root out evil in people’s hearts, but we can make it difficult and dangerous to act on.

What Can I Do?

If you’ve come this far, you may want practical steps to take. As a Christian, there are some things I simply can’t endorse, such as seeking out and killing police officers or inciting violence against them. Thankfully, there are comparatively simple things that one can immediately do without needing to defile one’s hands or conscience.

  • Pray for LEO’s: this should be obvious, but even with my intense distrust of them, I ought to pray fervently for LEO’s, especially for their safety and for them to be figures of impeccable character.

  • Encourage the LEO’s you know, challenging them in loving ways to be better than the stigmas surrounding their profession. Rather than browbeating them with statistics from dubious sites, befriend them and hold them in high regard and to high standards as many genuinely want to do what is good and right.

  • Always be willing to call malfeasance what it is and refuse to accept it. Sunlight is the best disinfectant and I suspect that instances of excessive force will lessen over time and in proportion to how often they are met with dire legal consequences on one hand and pointed public outcry on the other. You and I can’t will the legal consequences into being, but we can call a spade a spade and demand that it be treated as such. We can take note of people in elected positions who hand-wave abuse or sit on their hands, and replace them when their terms are up (or even recall them, though procedures vary widely).

  • Champion justice whenever possible. As Christians, we have a responsibility to desire justice and do what is within our power to uphold it (Deuteronomy 24:17, Psalm 82:3, Micah 6:8, et al). Whether it looks like offering a helping hand ourselves or connecting people to those who can help, we should always be a people characterized not by any definition of justice the world may produce, but by a rich and Biblical justice.