Summary: This post continues from yesterday’s review of the most common reasons given why we need not reform policing in America. Whatever you think of them, they speak for the great forces in America — the interests of the 1% and the apathy of middle America. Unless people speak loudly demanding reform, we’ll get only minor changes on the road to an even more militarized police. {1st of 2 posts today.}
How will Americans react to the revelations this year about the behavior of police in America? The police are the second most trusted American institution (behind the military), with confidence ratings in the mid-50%s since the survey began in 1993. But this varies strongly by race, with 59% of whites having strong confidence vs. 37% of blacks (average of 2011-2014 polls).
The police will not reform without a strong public pressure, which might not appear. The revelations about NSA surveillance produce carpet-chewing by the chattering class, but no disturbance in the apathetic majority — and so far few reforms. We might see the same with the police (with one exception: crackdowns on serial police offenders, whose legal settlements add up to real money).
We already see the first responses by the police and their defenders. We discussed and refuted the first wave yesterday: that this is nothing new, that nothing has changed, it’s just business as usual in America. This post looks at the second line of defense: only criminals have trouble with police!
Tell it to Tamir Rice
“Only criminals fear the police” is among the oddest delusions given as rebuttals to warnings about the dark evolution of law enforcement in America, given by those who refusal to see the increasing number of videos showing police abusing people committing no crime. Tamir Rice was executed in a playground. The video shows an officer jumping out of his car and immediately shooting him. His sister rushed to him, to be tackled and handcuffed. These videos show only the small fraction of such incidents that happen to get recorded and distributed.
Do we have more criminal children?
“[T]his time it was peanuts, but if we don’t get a handle on it, the next time it could be bodies.”
— Mississippi Sheriff after arresting 5 Black high school students for felony assault: throwing peanuts on a school bus (source).
We see the extreme demonstration of police gone wild in the increasing number of children arrested at school. Lawyers.com has a good article about this, and mentions two examples.
In Howard County, Baltimore, a 7-year old boy was arrested for illegally riding a dirt bike. He was handcuffed to a bench at police headquarters. His mother filed a lawsuit and the jury agreed that the police acted unlawfully by arresting the boy when they never saw him actually riding the bike. The officer caught him sitting on it.
In New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) brought a federal lawsuit after police arrested middle and high school students for activities such as writing on desks or trying to go to the bathroom without a pass. The NYCLU claims that students were handcuffed, arrested, injured, denied medical care, illegally interrogated, intimidated and humiliated by school safety officers.
The Daily Kos advises parents “Teach Your Child How to Survive Being Arrested at School” (the title alone shows how far we’ve come). It opens with some all-too-common examples of over-policing…
… a 5 year old arrested for having a temper tantrum in kindergarten and a 12 year old arrested for scribbling on a desk, a 13 year old boy was arrested for burping, a 5th grader arrested for giving a wedgie …
A nation where 5 year old boys are taken away in handcuffs is a nation in which elements of the police have slipped the reins and run wild. When law enforcement agencies attempt to pin high profile crimes on someone innocent but handy — when armed law enforcement officials raid Gibson Guitars with automatic weapons (the Federal agents misread the regs on importing rare wood), then anyone can have a policeman’s gun in their face. And accidents will happen when loaded guns are brandished.
Good advice on the streets of America
For good advice about life on the streets of New America see Arrest-Proof Yourself
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Changes in law enforcement technique and doctrine that have occurred over the last few years mean that police are making more arrests than ever. You are more likely to get busted today than in the past. “But I’m a good guy,” you protest. If you’re a parent, you may say, “I have nice kids. Why should I worry about them getting arrested?” No matter how upstanding you are, you are likely to have encounters with police that can result in arrest. Here’s why:
(1) Improved technology and training enable police to arrest people for petty crimes that in the past were ignored due to lack of manpower and resources.
(2) A law enforcement doctrine called proactive policing has spread across the land. It calls for zero tolerance of petty offenses, including such things as jaywalking, loitering, and drinking a beer on the street. Proactive policing has reduced crime — no question — but to do so it requires huge numbers of arrests of petty offenders who in years past would never have seen the inside of a jail.
(3) The volume of arrests has caused a boom in jail and court construction and the creation of a criminal justice system that employs hundreds of thousands and requires ever more arrests to justify its existence.
(4) The near universal installation of computers in police cruisers, and their ability to access law enforcement databases instantly, allows police to make more arrests for what I call administrative crimes. These are failure to maintain tags, licenses, and car insurance; outstanding arrest warrants; driving with suspended licenses; failure to appear at court hearings; and violation of probation and parole. None of these crimes involves theft, violence, or injury. They are not offenses against people but against the state.
In the past, paper records made arrests for these crimes difficult, especially when the offender moved to another state. With the advent of computers, the jails are stuffed with people guilty of not paying fees, not doing paperwork, not showing up in court, and in general thumbing their noses at the system.
(5) People are shocked to discover that they can be arrested for things they didn’t even know were illegal. For example, millions of parents chauffeuring the kids in the van or SUV don’t realize that the stimulants and antidepressants prescribed for hyperactive children are scheduled narcotics. Kids carry these pills around in their pockets and book bags. The pills scatter inside the vehicle and can get Mom busted if she cannot produce a written prescription during a routine traffic stop.
(6) Dope, my friends, let’s talk about dope. The magic herb is everywhere, as are the powders and crystals that bliss out millions every day. America may be becoming more tolerant of drugs, but cops, courts, and legislatures are not. Almost any quantity of a controlled substance can get you arrested in most states. Most people have no idea how serious drug possession is.
(7) People have worse manners than in the past. Whether this is due to less effective parenting, a decline in church attendance, increased use of drugs, disorder at public schools, or the pervasive influence of TV shows where everyone is “in your face” is a topic best left to the talk shows. All I know for a fact is that people don’t know how to behave. They act out in front of cops and get busted for being obnoxious.
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This is a follow-up to Do not talk to the police (important advice in New America).
(6) For More Information
For more about of what’s happening on our streets I recommend “The New Age of Counterinsurgency Policing” at TomDispatch.
For deeper understanding I recommend Radley Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about the police, especially these…
- We are alone in the defense of the Republic.
- Do not talk to the police (important advice in New America).
- Police grow more powerful; the Republic slides another step into darkness. Can cellphone cameras save us?
- Shootings by police show their evolution into “security services”, bad news for the Republic.
- News good & bad about the fantastic growth of America’s security services.
- We can’t fix police violence because we don’t know the cause.
