The problem with law enforcement

Dear Readers, Brave men and women protect us and our ever more fragile democracy.  We live in a community blessed with an Air Force base dedicated to this mission statement.  Hence, we know what it means to be grateful for the family and life sacrifices made for us.

We are also blessed with wonderfully professional county and city law enforcement agencies.  When cringe-worthy stories of rogue officers and deputies cross our consciousness, this is not our experience.  Sadly, the selfless decision by first responders to protect us contrasts with a minority having banal sensibilities about public safety.

Publicly organized “law enforcement” in America has rather dark roots.  In the early 19^th Century, they were a xenophobic reaction to foreigners in Boston or New York and confined immigrants to ghettos.  Later, in the South, there were thuggish enforcers of the institution of slavery and brigands who recaptured escapees of soul-crushing bondage.  

This morphed into exercises of White Power throughout Jim Crow.  Images of “strange fruit” dangling from Southern trees (whether formal or vigilante “justice”), National Guardsmen federalized to protect children matriculating in desegregated schools, and water cannons turned on peaceful marching on the Emmett Pettus Bridge, are hard to forget.  Justice was a myth in the unsolved murders of Emmet Till and Freedom Riders. These are ugly truths from whence law enforcement sprang.

A contrary thread informed our culture.  The Prohibition Era ushered in modern policing in bringing down organized crime.  The idea of “crime” became a federal problem, professionalism became an aspiration.  As the federal government asserted its interstate commerce authority in Labor, Banking, Commerce, and Food and Drug Safety, a society of professional investigators was generated.

Today, we have an amalgam of these historical trends.  Professionalism, sparked by the the federal government’s expansion and also our drug enforcement problem, finds friction with the “cowboy” mentality strain of yesteryear.  The military rejects recruits who fail a psychological examination, as do some local policing departments (if large and sophisticated enough).  Yet, some communities are too tiny to (or disinterested ) engage in this sort of in-depth exploration of personality – there are, literally,  police departments with just a handful of (often underpaid) officers.

This means there is a door for “bad apples” to enter law enforcement; those with a twisted psyche and/or inflated ego – “contempt of cop” is a real phenomenon.  Miscreants have a badge and a gun and the authority to use it almost indiscriminately.  No part of the justice system has a very effective path to expose and disarm officers with a “god complex” – and, they do exist.  Sometimes an entire police agency is infected with it and there is little we can do to weed it out.

This is a meandering rhetorical path to reflecting on what happened this past weekend to Scottie Scheffler in Kentucky, while he was trying to make his tee-time at the PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Club.  Currently, nothing exemplifies White Privilege as much as golf, the greatness of Tiger Woods a trickle of change.  This makes what Mr. Scheffler experienced a primo example of bad policing, as racism is not a part of the narrative for this incident; except, to reflect on the likely horrible result had Mr. Scheffler been darker skinned.

A man was killed when struck by a shuttle bus, which caused traffic to be rerouted.  Mr. Scheffler was confused about what he was asked to do by a Louisville Metro Officer (Det. Bryan Gillis), thinking his competition card was enough, and drove in unintended defiance of him.  Oh boy, did that trigger him!  Mr. Scheffler was violently pulled from his car, handcuffed, verbally abused, arrested, and taken to jail over an innocent traffic oversight.  He was released (without having to post bail), although charged with a felony for assaulting Det. Gillis.

Thankfully, it all ended well and the world’s number one golfer went on to shoot a round of 66 later that same day.  Had Mr. Sheffler been a minority, the result of this arrest would likely have been far uglier, the quick bail alone would not have happened.  Breonna Taylor was not so lucky.  She was murdered by officers employed by the same Metro Louisville Police for having a boyfriend defending her from a faulty search warrant.  

This is the poster child for the necessity of some type of police reform, precisely because its not about race; its about professionalism.  Maybe we can all see that now and talk reform without dividing about race.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.