This week President Trump, in defending overly aggressive policing and denying that there is systemic racism in law enforcement, made the statement that “99 percent of police officers do a great job”.
I’m not sure where he got that statistic but I would agree that the vast majority of law enforcement officers are conscientious public servants who try to do what’s right. I am happy that they are out there protecting me and mine.
However, the remaining one percent (if that’s all it is) represents the problem that our society is concerned with today: overly aggressive, targeted police actions which too often result in brutality against minorities.
Recall the old saw, “One bad apple spoils the bunch”. What this means is that one person’s bad behavior can affect a whole group of people, influencing them to engage in the same bad behavior. That can include doing the bad behavior, excusing the bad behavior, and/or covering up the bad behavior.
If a culture exists in a police department that promotes looking the other way when a rogue officer misuses his shield to abuse the public, or helping coverup that behavior, or pressuring authority so that no reprimand or criminal punishment is forthcoming, then the impact of the Bad Apple/One Percent is magnified exponentially. That is, the bad apple has spoiled the bunch: the whole department is soiled.
One percent doesn’t sound like much, right? That’s why President Trump used that microscopic number, so that he could minimize the issue, marginalize the victims (“not a big problem”), and pander to his “law and order” boosters.
However, one percent of anything can be significant.
Take for example the criminal element in American society. I’m not aware of the exact percentage, but let’s say that one percent of our population are criminals, i.e. apt to do things like burglary, robbery, assault, white collar crime, rape and murder. That one percent has a significant impact on our country. As a matter of fact, law enforcement agencies and corrections facilities eat up an estimated $200 billion in local budgets dealing with this small fraction of our population.
$200 billion. That’s a lot of taxpayer money. In fact, law enforcement can be the largest line item in a local jurisdiction’s annual budget.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota the police department’s budget for this year is about $190 million.
Several weeks ago, Minnesota P.D. officer Derek Chauvin choked to death a black man while being videotaped. The black man, George Floyd, was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20. Three fellow P.D. officers stood by as Chauvin asphyxiated Floyd with his knee against the victim’s throat…for 8 minutes and 56 seconds. Chauvin stared at the videographer with a look of empowered satisfaction, as if he was doing the Lord’s work.
The Police Chief and the County District Attorney attempted to sweep the officers’ misdeeds under the rug (this is where the concept of systemic rears it’s ugly head), but the State intervened after an enormous public outcry.
Chauvin and the other three have been charged with the murder and aiding and abetting the crime. They may or may not be convicted, as police officers often escape punishment, because the legal system protects them.
If that occurs, it would not surprise anyone if full-scale rioting broke out in Minneapolis and other American cities…on a larger scale than we witnessed over the past few weeks. The damage to people and property that could be done by an enraged public could be staggering, like it was in the 1965 Watts Riots and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, both reactions to police brutality against African Americans.
However, regardless of what happens with the criminal charges, a civil lawsuit against the City for “wrongful death” will certainly be filed by the family of George Floyd. And it will succeed and be very costly to the City. Punitive damages will be probably be in the tens of millions of dollars.
There are 800 sworn officers in the Minneapolis P.D. If the bad apples who work there only account for one percent of that total, then we should expect 8 overly aggressive actors like Derek Chauvin to be employed there. That’s right: he’s probably only one of several racist hot-heads dealing with the public on any given day. That’s scary.
Those “cowboys” represent a lot of liability for the citizens of Minneapolis, not to mention the terror that they inflict upon the unfortunate minority citizens of Minneapolis. The damage that those “one percent” can wreak on people’s lives and city budgets is significant.
This is why the argument that “99 percent are good guys” doesn’t cut it.
And, besides, the culture that produced Derek Chauvin, nurtured his aggressive tendencies, and enabled him to hurt people at his whim, with no interference from other officers on the scene, involves the other 99 percent. They may be good guys back in their own neighborhoods and at church on Sunday, but they are bad cops when they participate in a department which looks the other way or covers up misdeeds. By not opposing the felonious acts of their partner cops, they become complicit as a department.
That is why the City Council of Minneapolis is considering “defunding” the Police Department…whatever that means. The City can’t afford to move ahead in a “business as usual” manner, either politically or financially. The Police Department has brought this situation on itself, and now City leaders have the unenviable task of trying to make wine out of water.
The Police Chief, the police union, and the rank-and-file had better come up with a legitimate plan to right the ship ASAP. They need to clearly denounce racial injustice and police brutality toward minorities and identify what specific steps that they will take to change the culture in the Police Department.
If they don’t, I suspect that the City Council will reduce the Department’s budget by 20 percent, for starters. It wouldn’t surprise me if they doubled that cut.
Twenty percent of $190 million is $38 million. That’s probably what the George Floyd wrongful death civil litigation will cost the City of Minneapolis.
Because of that supposed “one percent”.
