Cops and Black Lives Matter - No Third Way

In a period of 10 days, eight police officers were assassinated by lone wolf snipers.  Amid the outrage that these attacks could occur “on all of us,” there were almost not diagnoses of why the attacks occurred other than the invalidated charge that they were ISIS-inspired.  Of course, Rudy Giuliani and other right-wing observers suggest the attacks on police officers were due to Black Lives Matter and the failure of President Obama to proclaim support for police officers seen on video shooting unarmed blacks.

Lone wolf attacks, however, do not originate in organizations.  Even if there were no Black Lives Matter, there would still be lone wolves.  One of the implications of social media is its guarantee that neither the MSM nor organizations are needed to expose the images that drive lone wolves to act.  Further, the cultural impetus to grabbing an assault rifle to solve problems is stronger in Dallas, and Baton Rouge than in many other parts of the U.S.  And, after almost two decades of continuous foreign war, many people have the skills for taking violent action.

While acquiescence to the demand of vigilantes is never appropriate, ensuring justice for all is a much more important social commitment.  From at least Biblical times, people have recognized the need for the civil society to inflict punishment rather than expecting aggrieved individuals to seek revenge.  Such acts of individual revenge only perpetuate a cycle of escalating revenge and violence.  But, society must be willing to ensure that police officers who use excessive force are punished proportionately to their crime.
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Surprisingly, police officers in the field seem reluctant to avail themselves of community practices that might make their job easier and safer.  Police supervisors and media commentators, on the other hand, insist that the key element of policing is working effectively with all communities.  According to one commentator, the actions of police officers are consistent with their orders from the political establishment.  Regardless of what standards the political establishment wants for police conduct, the establishment certainly is using the police to control excluded groups.  To deter future attacks like Dallas or Baton Rouge, the police can be used to crush excluded groups, or the political establishment can take additional steps to include all of the society’s groups.  The third way, using the police to control excluded groups, is simply not working.