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Editorial: Not a time for irresponsible talk
Op-Ed · July 14, 2016
The violence in the nation this past week regarding tensions between police, the Black Lives Matter movement and citizens trouble us quite a bit, but we cannot allow ourselves to talk or act rashly while others yell and scream for knee-jerk action.
The graphic videos regarding the shootings by police of Philando Castile, 32, in Minnesota and Alton Sterling, 37, in Louisiana are relatively brief yet terribly disturbing. In both cases, the recordings leave a lot of questions unanswered, particularly how the conflicts escalated and what each person saw or believed.
The videos of the shootings in Dallas, that left five officers dead and 10 others injured, are also disturbing, with the major difference in this incident being that there were many more witnesses and many more cameras rolling before things escalated.
Yet to sort out these incidents, and others of similar nature, we need time, patience and sober judgment.
The internet is a fantastic tool, but many who use it exhibit little patience and unqualified judgment. They exhibit plenty of judgment, for sure, but not fact-based, clear-headed and honest judgment.
May we first suggest stopping to look at the community we inhabit.
We have high regard for our West Branch Police Department, from our full-time to part-time to auxiliary officers. We feel safe around them. They are our starting point for understanding the attitudes of other police officers.
Next, let us acknowledge that both sides in the controversy over citizen deaths have facts in their favor.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are about 18,000 federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies employing, as of 2012, 750,000 sworn officers with arresting powers. That comes to about 2.4 officers for every 1,000 U.S. citizens.
According to a Washington Post article dated Dec. 26, fewer than 0.13 percent of those police shot and killed 965 people in 2015. Of those, 58.4 percent (564) were armed with a gun, 29.1 percent (281) were armed with another weapon and 9.3 percent (90) were unarmed. In light of the 319 million U.S. population, these deaths make up about 3 ten-thousandths of 1 percent.
βThe Post found that the great majority of people who died at the hands of the police fit at least one of three categories: they were wielding weapons, they were suicidal or mentally troubled, or they ran when officers told them to halt,β read the article.
Yet the article goes on to point out that black men make up 40 percent of the unarmed men β unarmed β shot to death by police, even though black men only make up 6 percent of the U.S. population.
So both sides can say they have evidence for their positions. By and large, police do not shoot to kill without justification. Yet there are times when police shoot the unarmed, and the inordinate percentage of black men deserves closer investigation.
West Branch officers wear cameras, and Chief Mike Horihan likes the fact that they can cut through a lot of false accusations against officers. With smartphones so common, citizens can use video the same way: For justice. And while video can be very helpful, but we also must understand that it should not always serve as the determining factor. There is a lot cameras do not catch.
For that reason alone we need time, patience and sober judgment to investigate these cases, gather the evidence and lay out the best explanation.
We do not need hasty, emotional reactions. Outrage has its place, but only when giving due consideration to all relevant information.
To see these tensions eased while also addressing what problems exist, both sides need to sit down for an honest yet frank discussion.
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