Opinion
Sober reflection in the aftermath of police killings in Ferguson, Missouri and New York
By Emmanuel Musaazi
The recent unlawful killings of unarmed black men by white police officers and their subsequent acquittal by a grand jury has brought issues of race relations, justice, equity, freedom, the rule of law, and the grand jury system itself into question.
How for instance can a police officer murder an unarmed man on video seen worldwide and still walk away scot-free as in the case of officer Daniel Pantaleo. This happening not in some far flung third world, banana republic but in these United States of America the so called beacon of hope for the world, the leader of the so called free world and acclaimed standard bearer for principles of freedom, justice, and the rule of law. The extrajudicial killings by police officers certainly belie the aforementioned accolades and cause one to ponder, what went wrong or is going wrong or has been going wrong in the system that resulted in these tragedies.
The first thing to point out is that no system is perfect and these tragic incidents serve to highlight the inherent failures in the system and the need to remedy them. This observation in no way exonerates the offending officers as common sense could have prevented the deadly outcomes in my opinion. Close analysis reveals that in order to forestall a re-occurrence the following issues need to be addressed in the short run:
– scrapping of the grand jury system;
– the demographic makeup in the police departments and
– retraining of police officers in what I call public and race relations.
I cannot for the life of me understand why a public prosecutor would opt for a grand jury hearing in a race-based killing knowing fully well that this is a potentially sensitive situation and would be best resolved by being as transparent as possible. Grand jury proceedings are guided and controlled by the prosecutor with little or no input from a judge. In the cases at hand it is the worst system to deploy because there is a camaraderie that generally exists between police officers and prosecutors because of the complimenting nature of their jobs.
The secret nature of a grand jury lends itself to manipulation of evidence, witness coaching etc. The cliché that “not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done” is not upheld by a grand jury system in this situation, unless of course the prosecutor has an agenda. In fact the Unites States is one of only a handful of countries that still use this system for securing indictments.
Effective policing occurs when the police have a good relationship with the communities they serve. communities are better served and the work of the police officers is made easier. The best way to effect this is to either recruit police officers from the communities being served or maintain a demographic in the police department that reflects the community being served. It has since been revealed in the aftermath of the police killing in Ferguson Missouri that only 4 percent of the police officers are black serving in a community that is 67 percent black. Good yardsticks in this direction are the cities of Boston, MA., and in Atlanta, GA., where you have the demographics of the city mirroring the demographics in the police department.
As a teacher I interface with students from all backgrounds daily and I have come to understand that the best way to obtain trust and attention (which leads to learning) is through respect. As the authority figure in the classroom the onus is on me to lead by example by showing respect to my students first before demanding compliance. By showing my students respect, I earn their respect and as a result a healthy environment for learning is created through mutual respect. Likewise police officers in the troubled cities have to learn (or be trained) in the way they relate to people in the communities they serve. It is not enough to be trained to kill, arrest or subdue people. Situations can be de-escalated through positive communication. Public and race relations training can help in this regard.
