Of course, decent human beings worldwide are outraged over the brutality unleashed by Memphis police on 29-year-old Tyre Nichols that culminated in his death three days later.
There is no way the five officers involved can justify their behavior! So why on earth did they do it? I am convinced it all has to do with their pride and perhaps an unconscious desire for peer approval.
It seems that Nichols’ disobedience of the police, all Black like him, became instantly personal for them. It was time to teach Nichols a lesson he would not forget, body cameras be damned.
Once the beating started, it was as if each officer sealed a pact by each landing a blow that screamed, “Remember me? I’m the guy you thought you could punk down by outrunning me!”
There’s that word again: Me.
I am no expert on police training, but I suspect that not enough emphasis is placed on upholding the law without responding as if officers themselves are being personally attacked. Certain atrocities will make one empathize, fueling determination to find the culprits. That is not a bad thing.
So how should police officers handle those who resist their authority? What should they do when the offender ignores them and runs away?
What should officers do to a suspect who, for example, spits in their face while being handcuffed or calls one of their mothers a whore? To be honest, I’d be severely tempted to look the other way should the officer backhand such a taunter. But even that is the wrong response.
We all have to wonder if police are sufficiently put through the rigors of not taking resistance personally. It may even look like they are expected to not be human in order to proceed by the book. Yet, upholding the law by the book is their job.
Does their training go well beyond building stamina, using deadly weapons, studying law and filing reports that will hold up in court?
What about the money needed for expanded training? There are people who claim it can be found if some or all funding for police departments is cut and diverted to community programs better suited to addressing non-policing forms of public safety before they lead to crime. Hence the slogan “defund the police.”
Popularized when George Floyd was murdered, “defund the police” originated long before then when a particular police department misappropriated funds specifically earmarked for community programs.
Suppose funding is found to beef up community services. What is society going to do about hardened criminals already out there killing, sexually assaulting, robbing, destroying lives by promoting drug addiction and committing sophisticated cybercrimes?
I like what former President Barack Obama said when cautioning social justice advocates against using the slogan “defund the police” because such a message could sabotage their efforts. In a 2020 interview with CBS, Obama said, “If you instead say, ‘Let’s reform the police department,’ so that everyone’s being treated fairly, divert young people from getting into crime, and if there’s a homeless guy, … send a mental health worker there instead of an armed unit, … suddenly a whole bunch of folks who might not otherwise listen to you are listening to you.”
I’d have to underscore that intensified training on how to handle resistance without taking it personally is a must going forward.
Those of us who value the service of law enforcement should constantly pray for their strength in discerning how best to respond to troubling situations, some of which could be life threatening.
It is the key to keeping good cops from becoming criminals themselves.
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