Originally published on The Industry Cosign April 10, 2015
One of the main reasons police feel they can get away with abusing, murdering and harassing Black people is, in part, because of the justice system and the police force themselves. Yes, it also falls on the individuals as well, but, when you feel like you can get away with something, more than likely, you’ll do it, it’s human nature. When you look throughout history, there has never been any real justice for Black people when it comes to being abused by cops. It’s mostly racial, but there are also minority police officers who enjoy that abuse of power that they feel they are entitled to.
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Will it ever stop? In my opinion, not anytime soon as the mindset is a cancer within most police departments across the nation. Take away modern technology and we would never have proof it actually exists. Even when there is documented proof of police misconduct towards Black people, more than likely, justice is still not served in favor of Black victims. I feel that most police officers know that, not only will the police department vigorously defend them, despite compelling evidence stating otherwise, the court system will more likely rule in their favor.
What needs to change, outside the prejudices of the police officers, is having an independent voice that is neither for or against police, but, on the side of equal justice. I feel that if police officers know that a neutral entity is overseeing the cases of anything that is in dispute, they might think twice about actually committing crimes they can get away with. And make NO mistake, these officers who do this ARE committing crimes and literally getting away with murder.
I also feel that police officers as well as prosecutors, should, not only be held to a higher standard, but, should be penalized for knowingly assisting in the proper execution of the crime being committed by police officers (Example: Ex-Police Officer, Michael Thomas Slager, lying about the Black victim, Walter Scott, grabbing his taser, when, in actuality, he shot a running, unarmed Black man, in the back and if not for a bystander recording video, another crime by a police officer would have been successfully carried out.). In fact, the parties involved in any cover-up by the police department should receive twice the penalty for fabricating under oath in order to assist in helping a police officer who has committed the crime.
The North Charleston Police Department got it right by acting swiftly in, not only arresting the murdering police officer, but also firing and distancing themselves from the murderer. If more police departments had this mindset that wrong is wrong, then the injustices committed against Blacks wouldn’t be as widespread and justice may actually have a chance of being equal when a party is definitely wrong for the actions they perform.