Submitted by Peter Denison

In 1964 my local chapter of the NAACP participated in a march held in Worcester protesting police brutality, probably aimed at that time against Bull Connor in Birmingham.  Ironically we marchers were protected by the Worcester police.  Fifty years later we have marchers protesting the very same issue. Is it true that nothing has changed?  There have been improvements in certain areas.  Commissioner Bratton apparently greatly improved the situation in Los Angeles, and perhaps he can now make similar progress in New York.  Yet on the whole there has by no means been sufficient progress if there has even been any.  Why has this been so?

One reason, of course, has been persistent racism.  Despite considerable progress in general, much latent racism remains.  The election of Barack Obama actually hardened the views of many.  Racism has become more explicit.  Myths about Obama’s birth certificate, thus  questioning his legitimacy as president, is due to underlying racism.  But racism is not the only cause.  Many Caucasians, especially when young or poor, have also suffered from police brutality.

The personality characteristics of policemen also add to the problem.  An ideal policeman should be physically strong and fearless in a crisis.  He also has to be able to control his emotions when he is dealing with criminals, aggressively violent drunks, or domestic quarrels, all of which can put a policeman’s life at risk.  At the same time police need to have the virtues of a good social worker, helping to defuse violent situations and showing empathy for those who are victims or are simply angry.

This is a pretty tall order.  I heard a professor of criminality speaking on public radio.  He had taken a year’s sabbatical to serve as a policemen on the local force.  He admitted that at times he became so angry that his fellow officers had to tell him to calm down.  Back at the university he definitely made changes in his course curriculum. Besides better training, officers should have emotional backup when necessary.  Unremitting hatred directed at the police only hardens feelings on both sides.  Daily Kos is constantly recounting violence by police in a manner which can only inflame their “liberal” readers.  But then one hears about a young policeman who killed a young man whom he feared was pulling a gun.  When he found out that the fellow had emotional problems and was unarmed, he was so upset that he broke down crying.  We can wonder how many police who have killed while on duty suffer psychological pain.  To my knowledge, Daily Kos didn’t bother to mention that particular officer.

I was disappointed by the reactions of New York policemen who spoke so violently against Mayor de Blasio. They and all our police should be asking what can be done to make such killings far less frequent.

What can and should humanists do? We should stick to the principles printed in our newsletter:  “Our commitment is to the worth and dignity of the individual and to treating each human being so as to bring out the best in him or her.”  How can we do this?   We should try to understand their feelings and problems as well as those of oppressed minorities.  A person who feels in danger is likely to take action even if there is really no threat.  I am certain that police officers in general don’t really like to kill.  Most probably feel remorse, although they may deny it if they feel unfairly criticized.  A better system would be to investigate each police killing with the intention of finding out if it could have been prevented, and if so, how.   Then there should be planning to prevent errors in the future.  Would it work to have police armed with tasers or something like them, instead of a gun?  Or could a cop also have a gun but try the taser first whenever possible?  Ironically, I noticed that the police in the movie Selma, using clubs, at least killed far fewer people no matter how vicious they were at the time.  How many different weapons is it practical for a policeman to carry at the same time?  There are many other issues.

We need much more research on these issues taking into account the emotional needs of people on all sides even though research is not enough.  We must do more on the underlying issues of race and class.