Whether one is pro-police or anti-police, the recent arrest of five former Memphis police officers in the case of the death of Tyre Nichols has once again brought the issue to light across the U.S. and Canada. In another high profile case this month, two police officers, formerly of the Police Department in Hialeah just outside Miami Florida, face felony charges in connection with the beating of a homeless man whom they detained outside a shopping center and then drove several miles to a remote location. After the killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the historic summer of protest that followed, police killings of American citizens haven’t decreased. Instead they increased. Recorded in 2022, the total number of deadly police shootings at 1,096 was the highest since the Washington Post’s database started. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, which touched off protests and unrest across the U.S., was often seen as a turning point.
However, across the country, even as fatal police encounters have continued apace, many cities have been forced to revisit how they investigate and talk about such cases. These now reflect the reality that cameras are everywhere and that episode after episode of police violence, often involving Black people, has led to distrust of official accounts. As a result, city leaders are being forced to call out police misbehaviour when they see it. Charging decisions that once took months or longer now sometimes happen within days or weeks.
Body camera footage is also more routinely made public, whether it exonerates the officers or raises questions. There are those who support the police use of body cameras and those who oppose the quick release of footage to the public, as was done in the case of Tyre Nichols. Police services in numerous countries, including Canada, now routinely employ body cameras for their officers. Without the availability of such cameras, incidents of obvious savage beatings or killings would most likely not have come to light given past experiences of cover-ups by police services and local politicians. As well, in certain cases the availability of body camera footage can prove that the use of force by officers was warranted. Nevertheless, there are those who believe that official messaging must balance demands for transparency with preserving the integrity of any investigation. That includes ensuring a video release will not compromise the case or the personal security of anyone in the footage.
As Americans and Canadians shift to other priorities like politics and the economy, some experts believe that the broader public has unfortunately become somewhat desensitized to police killings or brutality. They callously have started to see the police killings as regrettable but ultimately acceptable by-products of much-needed increased policing at a time of rising crime. This despite the fact that statistics show violent crime has been on the decline in both the U.S. and Canada. According to a 2021 report by the Statista Research Department, the number of violent crimes in the U.S. dramatically fell over the last two decades, although the number of reported violent crimes rose slightly in the past few years. What really influences public opinion is the fact that mass shootings have become so prevalent in the U.S., with 39 mass shootings already in the last three weeks of 2023. These shootings, especially school shootings, are very high profile, although the actual numbers of their victims represent a very small percentage of the total number of yearly homicide victims.
Unfortunately, cases such as that of Tyre Nichols and the one in Florida have once again tainted the image of the police and created increasing distrust of the public they serve. The horrendous video images have even had an impact on Canadians’ views of police in general. Police chiefs across both countries now are being forced to deal with the fallout. As a result of confirmation bias, such incidents can only lend more support to those seeking the so-called defunding of police services in their communities. Furthermore, one can only hope and pray that the police themselves don’t increasingly become targets of hateful and violent responses. Recently, Canada unfortunately has seen a significant number of police officers being killed while in uniform. Between 2010 and 2021, five relatively young officers were killed in the province of Ontario alone. As Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, declared about this unprecedented number: “To have all of these deaths in such a short period of time is really quite alarming.”
What this all adds up to is that we are in a critical period where police agencies will have to clean shop, get rid of the bad apples so to speak, and become more transparent and accountable if they intend to enhance citizens’ trust in the police. By improving the image of the police and quickly and openly responding to claims of police brutality and intimidation, especially among marginal groups within society, one can only hope that this trust can once again be gained and strengthened.
FROLITICKS 