No accountability, no transparency and little punishment for police who kill

BY STEVEN KASZAB

“Well, some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some have mediocrity thrust upon them,” (Shakespeare)

Five days after the George Floyd incident (murder), the Minneapolis Police Department SWAT were driving to a location where protestors had taken over a corridor of the city.

Sgt Andrew Bittell ordered his men to strike at these protestors saying, “The first f***ers we see, we’re going to hammer em with 40’s,” referring to the police’s 40mm plastic projectiles known as rubber bullets. This is exactly what this group of police did.

One victim of the shooting was Jaleel Stallings. Not knowing the police group who had started shooting from their vehicle were police, defended himself with his permitted side arm. Once he knew they were police he dropped his side arm and lay down on the grounds. Police later claimed he resisted them, and in the process of being arrested his eye socket was fractured.

Pathologists claimed this was the exact type of wound someone who had been beaten would receive. Months later Stallings would receive $1.5 Million plus lawyer’s fees in compensation. In 2019, the city paid 20 million dollars to the family of Justine Ruszczyk who was shot by police as they responded to a 911 call. In 2015 Minneapolis Police paid $200,000 dollars to the family of Jamar Clark who was unlawfully killed by the police.

After the killing of George Floyd many reporters had asked the authorities what type of payouts were made to those killed unjustly by police misconduct. The response was simply they did not know, as there was no database to be found that had that information to share. In fact, present day Minneapolis does have a functioning database for such things that can be accessed online. Back then the game lacked information. Why? Well, if the police authorities and the city payout, they are actually admitting to misconduct, something any P.R. people would say it is unacceptable.

Professor David Schultz of St. Paul’s Hamline University investigated the payouts made by various cities across America, between 2010-2020. There were 495 incidents of police misconduct, and various cities paid out to 177 of these incidents.

Larger cities were more likely to payout (deeper pockets) while smaller cities and towns often simply placed apologies within the jackets of a local newspaper. Swartz found many city administrations unwilling to share the needed information, often saying it was an ongoing investigation, or a process still not verified. Many administrations said they were not required to track such information, and certainly not provide the public with information protected by privacy laws.

Sums of money have been paid out privately, with NDA’s signed hiding police and cities from public accountability, and surely any form of transparency. It is believed that well over 2,000 incidents of police misconduct have been hidden away in the shadows of privacy laws, protecting both those who received payment, and the authorities giving away the public’s tax dollars. No accountability, no transparency and little punishment for those committing these shootings.

Like the military, police authorities apply security laws to the simple revelation of who was guilty of police misconduct, and who was paid for the police errors, as well as how much was paid.

Police authorities and their cities often keep this information to themselves, sharing with those who have a need to know. Such antics happen throughout the world, even in the: Caribbean, Central and Latin America, where the custody of an accused can be hidden for a time. When a narcotic’s collar is done, and the amount of drugs captured should be revealed to the public, a silence is felt within the police department. Information is power it seems, and the police often hold all the cards in this game.

The police department is a paramilitary organization, not centered on the protection of the community, but there to preserve and protect the privileged and their property. Police are trained by former military personnel in military tactics, so it is not surprising that police officers act like soldiers, trained to kill or be killed. Police are not trained to be knights who have taken the pledge to protect the innocent, the lowly, the citizen, neighbour, but rather they are trained to shoot to kill, firing into the center of the person’s mass, not placing themselves in any unnecessary danger. When in doubt, proclaim who you are (the police) and shoot.

What can be said about our police? There are good police out there, in fact there are some great police working for their community’s protection, but many cops are mediocre at best, fearful men with guns at the worst.