.... by Mar Preston
I write crime fiction about a cop and his world, a homicide
detective in the Santa Monica Police Department.
Detective Dave Mason has his faults, of course, but try as I
might, I do not have the imagination to fit him into being a member of the
Ferguson Police Department. I’ve written before about worrying that I have too
rosy a view of cops because I only interact with the good ones. I know there
are cops who like making DWB (Driving While Black) busts, cops who like busting
heads, cops who should be kept on a chain at the back of the station.
Knowing that, I still believe there are few of them, and
others in the department know who they are. The vast majority of cops still
have a broad streak of protect and serve built into them.
I also know that law enforcement is set up as a paramilitary
organization. Militarization of police forces has filtered down from big
cities, to suburb, even small towns. Today’s riot police officers wear
military-style camouflage and carry military-style rifles, their heads and
faces obscured by black helmets and gas masks sitting atop an armored vehicle.
SWAT teams generally came to prominence in the 1970s as an
answer to quelling urban demonstrations, but
those paramilitary tactics and equipment have spread almost everywhere
in America through the 1033 program. This program makes available surplus
Department of Defense equipment, meant to defend against a terrorist attack. Not peaceful demonstrations.
The number of SWAT deployments has exploded since 1980, and
the growing militarization of U.S. policing (even to make routine search
warrants) seems to have overcome all the precepts of community policing. What’s
happening to Officer Friendly?
I’ve read police bogs and commentary stating that this tactical
equipment obtained from the Department of Justice is not accepted and used
without local consideration of their impact. But not in Ferguson. I have read
the statement and seen the video the Ferguson police have issued and I’m skeptical.
However, this is a story that may unroll in ways that we cannot imagine now.
Yet we cannot help to form perceptions on the way things
look. The military gear looks damn scary to me and to everybody else. I dread
to see the day when sniper rifles are pointed in the face of peaceful
demonstrators (like the people I know and demonstrations that have been part
of) in Santa Monica.
I’m glad I write fiction and don’t have to decide what is
truth in an increasingly complex world in which I have very little, if any,
impact.
Tell me what you think about this as crime writers?
2 comments:
I have a couple of observations.
The first is, we don't have all the facts. The Factual Facts. We have been given bits and pieces by the media and the Ferguson PD which have been spun.
The police have a right to protect themselves, in order to protect us. Why is it illegal for a patrol officer to have a certain type of firearm in his or her car, but it's perfectly legal for the bad guy to go down the street to the gun store and purchase it?
But really, for this case, I'm back to the Factual Facts concept. Even if it was a good shoot, it was handled badly. You simply don't withhold information. And please, Media, give me all of the facts and let me make up my own mind.
Oh, one more... I do find it curious that Eric Holder came into this one so quickly. In my mind, that seems to imply knowledge that this was a bad shoot.
Please don't think I'm arguing against cops arming themselves or even wearing body cameras. I have friends who have made up their mind collectively, and because my fictional detective is one of the good guys, I've been defensive. This shooting too will pass and we'll learn more.
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