The annual holiday ritual of disparate family members gathering and “discussing” the issues of the day can be as tense as it is revealing. I’ve been through a goodly number of these clashes going back to the days of Vietnam and they always seem to play out in a very predictable manner, with battle lines clearly drawn and perspectives calcified.
But this year at my Thanksgiving dinner the subject was the police shootings in Ferguson and here in Cleveland and, man, did the usual script get flipped. When the police “defenders” started jabbering, they were met by – in addition to my aging-liberal ramblings – the words of a grandmother who, quietly, questioned the cops’ behavior.
Soon other voices were raised criticizing the police’s conduct, and my guess is that all over the country a similar shift in tone – not seismic but certainly significant – was taking place. The sheer ugliness of so many of these white cop/black victim shootings coupled with the across-the-board exoneration of the trigger-pullers by the legal system has jolted the consciousness of millions of “average” God-fearing, law-and-order-loving Americans.
When the Vietnam War was being “lost” at dinner tables in the early 1970s, it marked the beginning of the end of American involvement there. Now, of course, changing the “no accountability, license to kill” police culture that has been in existence for decades is a complex, seemingly impossible task.
But never in my memory has the time been better to make a dent in the vaunted “Thin Blue Line” of cops covering for fellow cops and the justice system enabling them to, at times, get away with murder. Indeed, something’s happening here that may not yet be exactly clear, but you can feel it in the air and see it on your TV screen, iPad and smart phone.
With the Justice Department’s announcement last week that a nearly two-year civil rights investigation into the Cleveland Police Department (CPD) had found a pattern of “unreasonable and unnecessary use of force” that resulted in dangerous and reckless behavior by officers, the stage is set for reform here– that is, if our political and community leadership can work together to make real change happen.
Mayor Frank Jackson no longer has any excuse to continue his unwarranted support of the police. Since so many city chief executives have gone down in flames due to problems with safety forces, mayors respond defensively to criticisms of law enforcement as if it were part of their job description.
But there’s no reason for Jackson, who will likely run for a fourth term in 2017, to play footsie with the Cleveland police union. Not with the Justice Department ready to monitor reforms – with or without the mayor’s support. And not with a totally disgraced police department that is fast becoming a national punch line. And not with a county prosecutor who – incredibly – has been at odds with the CPD.
And not with a state attorney general who has already ruled the insane, 65-car, 137-bullets -fired car chase/execution last year of two unarmed people as being the result of a “systematic failure” by the police department. And, perhaps most importantly, not with a voting public that is becoming more and more acutely aware of law enforcement excesses and more and more ready to –hopefully – throw out a politician viewed as a police apologist.
If ever a mayor had political “cover” for aggressively shaking up local safety forces, it’s Jackson. There’s absolutely no reason for him to allow the pasty faces of public safety administrators Michael McGrath and Martin Flask to show up at yet another questionable police shooting and perform yet another pathetic song and dance absolving this or that cop from responsibility for yet another death. Enough already.
This white-hot issue is not going away and it’s tailor made for television, social media and holiday family gatherings. Each new cop shooting anywhere and everywhere in America will be blasted all over the media, allowing a voracious public to act as a de facto jury deciding whether it was justified or not. During the upcoming presidential campaigns – which will start in earnest in a few months – candidates will have to take stands on this issue over and over again, their words excruciatingly dissected.
And all of this never-ending debate will be back-dropped by video loops of both peaceful protests and potentially ominous street action. The media – which is a monster that must be fed – will eat it up and come back for more.
There will be no hiding from what could very well be a perfect storm of events and images that has the potential to rattle safety forces everywhere. Already, polls are showing a noteworthy shift in the way many Americans are viewing the behavior of the police.
That’s why any person who is concerned about the obscene inequity of the American judicial system and the lack of accountability existing in so many police forces has the opportunity to make a real difference. The door for reform has creaked open and the time is right to kick that door down and make that change happen.
[Photo: The All-Nite Images (Flickr)]
Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. He is the author of the novel The Morning After John Lennon Was Shot. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com
3 Responses to “DURSTIN: The Stage is Set for Police Reform”
Peggy Carter
Perfectly said, Larry. The time for change is upon us. There can be no justice while armed policemen shoot unarmed and mostly black men.
Cicero
More drivel from the hard left.
The video I saw showed the “child” (who was as tall as the average adult) getting up and running toward the police car as it approached while drawing a large pistol from his belt. The cop could not have known that it was a “toy.” What’s the cop supposed to do? Give the perp the first three shots?
Aside from Tamir, the common thread behind all these “shootings of black men” is one of law breakers attempting to evade arrest after committing crimes. in most cases they were threatening the lives of cops and others. Then there’s the large cigarette peddler in New York. After 31 prior arrests, he should have known the drill. And how can anyone call this a “racial incident” when the officer’s supervisor, who happened to be black and also female, was standing about five feet away and supervising him?
As a white, I have been unfairly hassled at least twice by cops. But I did what they told me. Better to be alive than dead and justified. Tamir’s parents should have told him that.
Tanya Vaughn
Perfection! Although I do think that if people do what they are asked it wouldn’t escalate. But I do think also a great reform is needed. Like anything if the system is antiquated then it needs to be revised. I follow William Scott’s blog at williambscott.com. He has first hand knowlege of what it is like to lose a child to police, and his story will almost haunt you and he calls for reform!