“Do ya feel lucky, Punk?”
That was a famous punchline of San Francisco super-cop Dectective Harry Callahan back in the day. He was a law enforcement officer who wasn’t to be trifled with, whether it be by criminals or the criminal justice system itself. He saw his duty and “done it”.
Those “Dirty Harry” movies starring Clint Eastwood were a bit hit with Americans who felt that the justice system cared more about the rights of criminals than those of their victims. Callahan was a one-man vigilante squad, who might Mirandize a perp after putting him down with his famous .44 Magnum, “the most powerful handgun in the world…that could blow your head clean off”.
I liked all of the Dirty Harry movies, as did plenty of other Americans. Clint Eastwood made a fortune, and these action movies spawned an entire genre of such stuff. Charles Bronson, Steven Seagal, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone made massive coin by playing tough-guy cops. I remember an Arnold Schwartzeneggar cop movie where he vaporized a couple dozen hoods…in the credits, before the movie even started. That’s what you call “street justice”!
Sure, those movies made us feel good because (presumably) bad guys were being punished on the spot (no courts, no judges, no juries) with “extreme prejudice”. Just like the frontier townspeople who enjoyed a good old fashioned lynching of a horsethief, a bushwhacker, or scallywag of some sort. “Let’s get this done and get back to work”, was the thinking, I guess.
The only problem with street justice is that sometimes the wrong guy gets beat up or strung up. Sometimes it’s an accident (oops!) and sometimes it’s on purpose (to intimidate or exterminate certain populations). In dictatorships it’s the latter.
To some degree, our society can attribute overly aggressive and sometimes brutal police behavior to that era three or four decades back when fictionalized Dirty Harry law enforcement attitudes infiltrated our police departments. The popularity of that genre was that it “green lit” overly aggressive (and selective) informal codes of conduct that excused “forget the rules” behaviors by departmental “cowboys” and supposed-rogue officers. And the belief was that White Americans wanted it that way.
I’m guessing that a lot of schoolyard bullies joined up, envisioning permissible beat-downs and indiscriminate gun play. They were hired, they believed, not just to protect and serve but also to administer on-the-spot justice.
Unfortunately, it only takes one loudmouth to encite a riot or a lynching. Similarly, it only takes a few Dirty Harry “cowboys” to infect a police department. Wrongs are done against citizens, officers lie to cover up the misconduct, the police union exerts pressure on the police chief, the Mayor, and the District Attorney, and the misbehavior is rationalized, excused and forgotten. This emboldens the Dirty Harry’s of the department, and more liberties are taken.
Pretty soon the inmates are running the asylum, so to speak. That is, the rotten apples have good cops “looking the other way” when misconduct occurs, fibbing on after-action reports, not “ratting out” fellow officers when they commit egregious crimes under color of authority.
A culture is created and perpetuated. Anyone who dares to object to this law enforcement model is labeled “soft on crime”, a “Liberal”, or worse, a Democrat.
The next thing you know, a guy like George Floyd is murdered…for no good reason. Or, overzealous cops utilizing a no-knock warrant break into Breonna Taylor’s apartment, where she’s sleeping, and pump her with 8 pistol shots. The murderous assault took place on the wrong apartment…but the police union steadfastly proclaims the innocence of the Dirty Harry’s who shot first and asked questions later.
Question: When did we as a society agree that police officers can use deadly force whenever they want to?
Even soldiers in the U.S. armed forces are governed by “rules of engagement”. They can’t simply shoot, maim, rape, and plunder whomever they encounter…even if they’re angry. Our entire military establishment is governed by the Geneva Conventions, which bar heavy-handed tactics like torture and mistreatment of civilians and even captured soldiers.
However, the Dirty Harry model of law enforcement that is present in many jurisdictions today allows “stopping and frisking” innocent citizens, using tasers on mentally ill people, employing lethal chokeholds while apprehending suspected misdemeanor offenders, and using deadly force when a suspect doesn’t comply with orders or runs in fear from officers with drawn guns.
Video footage of many incidents that have been brought to the public’s attention reveals that often the first action of an officer exiting his patrol car is to draw his weapon. That is a mistake, as a police officer is only supposed to consider deadly force when his life or other lives are threatened by deadly force. Maybe police officers simply assume that every citizen suspected of any crime is “strapped” with a gun?
From the time the first Dirty Harry movie aired (1971) and the year 2000 gun ownership in America doubled. Currently there are more guns in the United States than people; in fact, there are 1.2 guns per person. It’s no wonder the police are jumpy.
In Great Britain, only four households out of 100 own a gun. Not surprisingly, most police officers there do not carry a sidearm. And they have less violent crime…and police-on-citizen deadly encounters.
Machoism by Dirty Harry cops, Dirty Harry wannabe civilians, and Dirty Harry politicians is a serious problem right now in this country. Instead of using brains to resolve issues, more police officers and civilians are using testosterone-fueled rage.
Unfortunately, we have a President who fits into this category.
There can be a fine line between public speech, civil disobedience, and outright anarchy. Most cities where mass protests ensued subsequent to the George Floyd murder by overzealous cops have resumed speed and the protesters have gone home, their initial job done. In a few other communities, where agitators spawned violence, like in Minneapolis, public officials regained control once the rage subsided.
I think that latter approach was being used by Portland officials before things there got real nasty. There was an “Occupy Wall Street”-type endeavor being perpetrated by activists who wanted to keep stirring the pot…focused on the Federal courthouse, which represented (to them) an uncaring and defiant American government and its leaders who were ignoring BLM issues.
The fact that the President of the United States publicly sided with the Dirty Harry police culture fed fuel to the fire. Understanding how Donald Trump’s mind works, it was probably intentional…because he can tout his “law and order” credentials to his MAGA political base and look effective as his small army of Federal goons swept into Portland to “help out”.
The fact that his stormtroopers arrived on scene in full military garb understandably encited the protesters to become further enraged. It was Kent State all over again, a testosterone-fueled show of force by a President who likes to bully opponents and employees.
If deescalating the situation was desirable, it would seem that the city and Feds could coordinate the temporary establishment of a several block restricted zone around the courthouse which would be subject to a curfew, where trespassing would incur immediate arrest, and where any violent activity within the cordon would be dealt with summarily. The serious, violent agitators, who could care less about Black Lives Matter, would realize that the fun and games are over.
That would be the end of it for now.
Of course, that would not achieve the President’s political goals of portraying Democratic leadership as “weak” and “dangerous” and establishing himself as a strongman who loves kicking ass.
Like Dirty Harry.
So, what is more likely in the days to come is escalation of violence…by both sides. It wouldn’t surprise me if tanks are on their way to Portland…
