The Washington Post’s front page for January 4, 2017 featured an article by Janell Ross entitled “Blacks Learn the Nuances of a Police Encounter — Black Parents Take Their Kids To School On How To Deal With the Police”. I’ve got news for these parents. There is nothing nuanced or subtle about a police encounter. […]
COPS, JUST DO YOUR JOB
Once again, spokespersons for police organizations have demonstrated their apparently limitless capacity for poor judgment when they go outside their area of expertise — law enforcement. It was reported in the Thursday, December 22, 2016 Washington Post that Chuck Canterbury, President of the National Fraternal Order of Police Union wrote a letter to the CEO […]
THE TRUTH AT LAST
On October 17, 2016, Terrence M. Cunningham, Chief of Police in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and current President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, speaking to the Association’s convention in San Diego, formally and publicly apologized to the minority communities of the United States “. . . for actions of the past and the role […]
A LESSON STILL NOT LEARNED
The Washington Post reported on December 1, 2016 that District Attorney R. Andrew Murray of Charlotte, North Carolina, will not be bringing criminal charges against the police officer who fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott on September 20, 2016. The Post report once again details little more than excuses for non-performance on the part of the […]
“O COWARD CONSCIENCE . . . ” – Shakespeare
The mistrial in the South Carolina trial of former officer Michael Slager, who shot Walter Scott to death in the back as he was running away from Slager, is difficult to explain, the event having been preserved on camera. The explanation that I have heard having a basis in race — the racial makeup of […]
REAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
The election of Donald Trump has ended any realistic near-term hope of movement toward the goal of criminal justice reform widely discussed before and during the recently concluded 2016 Presidential campaign. In fact, Trump’s resurrection of the classic republican chant, “Law & Order”, which brought us “profiling” instead of evidence, unconstitutionally practiced “stop and frisk”, […]
Justice Delayed is Justice Nonetheless
On Friday, November 18, 2016, it was reported that Officer Jeronimo Yanez of the Minneapolis, Minnesota Police will be prosecuted for crimes committed when he shot to death Philando Castille following a traffic infraction stop on July 9, 2016. This, you may recall, was the shooting that was recorded and broadcast worldwide by Castille’s girlfriend […]
Here We Go Again – Guilt Projection
On October 5, 2016, the Attorney General of the United States, Loretta E. Lynch, wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post entitled “A Better Way of Policing”. Her principal theme to bridge the divide between the police and the policed is a generalized, non-specific urging everyone to be nice, try to understand each other, […]
Power Shift
I grew up professionally during the beginning and growth of three significant social movements of the past half century: the judicial movement which began in the early 60’s with the important civil liberties decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, the Civil Rights Movement, and […]
A Tale of Two Cities
The two latest shootings to receive national attention in the news took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and two days later in Charlotte, North Carolina. The protests in Tulsa were short lived, and were not accompanied by rioting. In Charlotte, nightly protests took place for a week, and there was rioting, looting and property destruction. In […]
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