Nationwide Law Enforcement Excessive-Force Database

It sounds very “official” and important, right?  Even overdue.  Many policing organizations and jurisdictions already utilize this tool and the information contained therein.

Sounds great.  Sounds like a positive point at which to start.

But… it’s not enough.  It will never be enough. 

How many African-Americans, Black people, people of any color have to give their lives in order for law enforcement officers, police officers, state troopers, county sheriffs to do the right thing?   

Rayshard Brooks is the latest.  Just a few weeks ago it was George Floyd.

Banning one single move, a chokehold, is a start, but right now those moves require mandates and suggestions.

That’s a frame from the police bodycam of the Atlanta officer administering a breathalyzer test on Mr. Brooks, after that same officer already knew who he was dealing with.  He was patted down and no weapons were found, so, Mr. Brooks was unarmed.

The ensuing moments resulted in Rayshard being tased and subsequently shot in the back. He died on scene.

These are the two officers, now charged with murder and aggravated assault:

Neither officer was ever in any imminent danger, as scene in bodycam or surveillance videos, so, they got to go home to their respective families.

Rayshard Brooks was denied that.

The charges came rather quickly within a few days, and hopefully justice will not be displaced or lost on these two – Mr. Brooks deserves justice.  His family and friends deserve justice.  Moving forward, we, as a nation, deserve justice.

Are policing reforms needed and long overdue?  Absolutely.

George Floyd wasn’t placed in a chokehold, but he was pinned down, with a knee on his neck for almost 9 minutes.  EMTs arrived after those 9 minutes, and Mr. Floyd was pronounced dead while en route to the hospital.

Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, was charged with second-degree murder, and the three other officers on scene -- Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng -- have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Officer Thao, it should be noted, stood by, actually keeping bystanders from interfering with a police investigation.  

Left to right: Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao

So, pretty easy to see why, as good as it sounds, that database tracking system just doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the systemic racism occurring regularly, daily by the men and women in blue.

Solutions?  For starters, reaching out to those overlooked and under-served populations – Latinx, Asians, Indigenous, Blacks, and Hispanics.  Making a concerted effort to recruit them into your ranks.  More foot patrols involving community policing.  Involving communities in your decision making processes. 

We can do this list all day, but for me, bottom line, those changes have to come from within that field and recognize that systemic racism exists, Black Lives Matter.