SPIKE IN
MAJOR CRIMES
PROMPTS INFORMAL “SUMMIT”
D.C. Police
Chief Cathy L. Lanier listens to Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas
Manger
speak during
a news conference following a meeting of the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
(Matt
McClain/The Washington Post)
TAGS:
POLICE CHIEFS SUMMIT, UPSURGE IN VIOLENT CRIME,
BIG
CITIES SEEING HIGHEST HOMICIDE RATES IN DECADES,
DRUG
AND GANG WARS, ILLEGAL GUNS IN THE HANDS OF CRIMINALS,
A
BLOODY SUMMER COAST TO COAST,
POLICE
OFFICERS UNDER ATTACK
(Tuesday August 4, 2015 NYC) Yesterday Washington, DC Police Chief Cathy
Lanier hosted a hastily arranged meeting with many other Police Chiefs from
some of our largest cities. The
unofficial ‘summit’ was called to discuss the recent spike in shootings and
firearm related deaths as well as other major crimes such as armed robbery,
aggravated assault, gang and illicit drug associated activity, and the overall sense
of foreboding that has descended upon the Members of Service (MOS) of some of
the Police Departments represented at the summit.
Awash in statistical proof of
this sudden escalation of primarily inner city violence, the gathered Chiefs
sought to identify common trends that may suggest reasons for the upsurge in
crime that has infected cities from Philadelphia to Baltimore, from Chicago to
St. Louis, Atlanta to Houston, Milwaukee to Memphis, and many other large urban
centers. What, if anything positive,
came out of their meeting remains hazy at best.
Clearly all participants expressed their jurisdiction’s statistical and
anecdotal evidence with the focus on the numbers of illegal firearms, many that
operate with high-capacity magazines, as the prime concern. Another factor that received some serious
attention is the prevalent use of K2, commonly known as “synthetic marijuana”
which can result in the users experiencing abnormal strength, resistance to
pain, and extreme violence. Other street
and “club” drugs including heroin and MDMA, popularly known as ecstasy or as
Molly, has also been cited as a causative agent in street violence and
territorial turf wars among rival drug dealing gangs. While none of these factors are new, there
appears to be an odd confluence of elements that have led to the amount of raw
violence on our streets.
THE SO CALLED “FERGUSON EFFECT”
This past twelve months has
seen the advent of a new phenomenon within the inner city and predominately
Black communities across the country that has been dubbed The Ferguson Effect
after the events that transpired last August when an unarmed young Black man,
Michael Brown was shot and killed by White Police Officer Darren Wilson. In the immediate aftermath of that episode,
the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson saw several nights of violent protests,
looting, arson and criminal civil disorder.
Brown’s untimely death was the first of several other high profile
deaths of unarmed Black men by White Officers.
There followed a nationwide protest movement that was predominately
peaceful demonstrations but violence flared again in Baltimore after Freddy
Grey died while in Police custody. There
were several other cases that seemed to suggest a pattern that the Black
community coalesced under in the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
The Ferguson Effect seems to imply
that in the wake of these incidents Police Officers have adopted a passive
posture to policing the communities they serve and that has contributed heavily
to the upsurge in violent crime. The corollary
to this notion is that young Black men now feel empowered to challenge the
authority of the Police by any means necessary which serves only to perpetuate
the cycle of Black men being charged and arrested after a routine interaction
with an MOS is escalated by the feeling of empowerment. How much, if any of the Ferguson Effect is a
real prime mover within our inner city communities that are predominately Black
and policed by predominately White Officers is difficult, perhaps impossible to
ascertain. Whatever causative factors
are conspiring to create the high level of tension and distrust on the streets
between the Police and the Black community, this is certainly NOT the time when
the Law Enforcement Community (LEC) be it a Sheriff’s Office, a State, County
or City Police Department to “stand down” and step away from the tried and true
methods of policing that have been so widely effective over the last 20 years. Despite condemnation from academics and
“activists”, politicians and pundits, the “Broken Windows” approach to
community policing led to the unprecedented, sustained drops in crimes across
all categories over the past two decades.
To abandon that philosophy now would be grossly misguided.
SOME COMMONALITIES
Atlanta Police Chief George
Turner made some salient points during the summit that were echoed by other
participants. He commented that a
“small” number of known repeat offenders perpetrate most of the violent crime
in his city. He also noted that often
there are “50 to 60 cartridge shells at a crime scene” indicating the use of
high-capacity magazines as well as multiple shooters. In Atlanta, he continued, there are currently
150 “known individuals” who appear to be involved in 99% of the shootings and
firearm deaths. Relevant or not he added
that only one of the alleged murderers arrested this year finished high school
while one in three of the victims managed to complete their high school
education. Yes, employment opportunities
for those who so happen to be born into the lowest rung of the socioeconomic
ladder, are scarce indeed. This also
begs the question: had these young men been employed in entry level, minimum
wage jobs, would they not have participated in their criminal endeavors? This hypothetical question cannot be
answered.
AN UNDERSTATEMENT STATED
If Americans have learned
nothing from the violent events of the last year, they have certainly had their
collective eyes opened to the harsh reality that the relationship between the
Black community and those who police their neighborhoods are awful, to say the
least. The level of distrust, the
animosity towards and the embedded biases on both sides of the LEC/racial
divide are as pronounced today arguably as they were 40 or 50 years ago; this
is actually an understatement. The Black
community typically perceives the LEC as an “occupying force” as Police
Officers too often are seen to treat Black people differently than White
people. Some Officers come to their jobs with long held racial bias, overt
bigotry and do not perceive Black people as equals. Many in the Black community
believe wholeheartedly that the Police are free to act with impunity. They feel
that justice in a tangible sense has always and will always be denied them by a
criminal justice system that is multi-tiered; White perpetrators are treated
far differently than Black perpetrators. The historical basis for each of those
stances is deep and wide. This seems to
be the most challenging chasm to span; there are no easy or ready
solutions. These ingrained mindsets are
virtually indelible.
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
If one truth emerged from the
summit it was that there are no easy answers, no quick fixes to what is a
societal-cultural divide and a criminal justice system that is admittedly often
inequitable regarding how it handles Black perpetrators and suspects. As a burgeoning movement for jail and prison
reform is taking shape the reality of the streets is unchanging.
Those Police Chiefs who
participated in yesterday’s meeting were unanimous in their assessment that it
is the repeat offenders who are responsible for the majority of the violent
crimes plaguing our inner city neighborhoods.
Some of the most egregious of recent violent crimes have been
perpetrated by individuals with long criminal records, lengthy histories of
arrests and incarcerations that leave the public wondering how these men ever
got out of prison. Recent efforts in
some states to cull nonviolent offenders from the inmate populations and
nascent initiatives to “divert” younger, first time non-violent offenders to
jail/prison alternatives are noble but ill-conceived. Our penal system is not
designed towards rehabilitation despite some high-minded lip service to the
contrary. The real crux of the matter is
that by the time young boys and men end up incarcerated they have fallen
through all the structural cracks. The
dropout rates for violent and non-violent offenders alike is startling but, how
do you keep boys in school who clearly have no desire to be there and see little
or no value in obtaining an education?
The blunt answer is, you can’t. There is also the undue influence of
some of our pop culture that celebrates “thug life” portraying criminal
pursuits such as drug dealing as a viable lifestyle that leads to riches and a
life of ease. Such a belief system is
virtually impossible to correct and far too many Black men wind up in some of
our country’s most notorious prisons as no more than post-adolescent boys and
they usually are “lost” forever. The Darwinian
environment of prison life serves only to harden young offenders and, once they
are released which assuredly the majority of them will be, they return to their
neighborhoods to resume the very same activities that landed them in prison,
angry, bitter, and better schooled in the life of crime. This is a terribly vicious cycle because
every child, Black, Brown and White is born a blank slate and only with proper nurturing
and a healthy home life can they have an equal chance.
PRIORITIES
Returning to the specifics
addressed at yesterday’s summit, how to halt the surge in violent, gun and drug
related crime is the top priority. It
will be only after the bloodletting on our streets begins to ebb that the
etiology of the social pathologies present in our inner city neighborhoods can
begin to be discussed.
One of the most disturbing
elements of the current violent crime wave is the “war” against the
Police. Police Officers are being killed
at a rate never before seen in our country in modern times. The use of the word “war” is not hyperbolic
considering the daily headlines and the perpetrators braggadocio on social
media. It is a twisted street culture “badge
of honor” to kill a Cop and, as long as the LEC is under assault as it is there
can be no discussion about sentencing and prison reform of any kind.
The all too real price that
all of society will pay in the long run is in the reality that we are losing a
generation, in particular, a generation of young Black men. The cycle of violence will be passed on via
osmosis to the children of the children killing each other, innocent bystanders
and Cops. For all the alarm expressed by
“community activists” and self-appointed spokesmen for the African American
community, they need to get down to work.
The fixes or any meager efforts to begin to help the youth trapped in
the vicious cycle must start in the neighborhoods; a micro approach not a macro
approach is the only viable point of intercession.
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