As American citizens we face a grave problem. Crime is rampant, guns are commonplace, violence threatens us all. We desperately need a strong, well trained, confident and physically capable police force to enforce laws. Remember these are the laws we citizens and our representatives debate and then pass into legislation. We make the laws and then send police officers out onto the streets and byways to enforce these laws. We can not task these men and women with this difficult job, then, when opposition and violence erupts —as they attempt to follow our dictates,—we remove our support and charge the police— with criminality.
Qualified immunity (legal principle that grants officials of government qualified immunity from criminal or civil suit while in the performance of their duty) is an essential component of any police reform program. Without this there is no hope for effective policing. Police officers are not automatons. They react to circumstances as the rest of us do. They are tasked with dealing with the most difficult and violent situations in society.
When community support is weakened or withdrawn police respond. Faced with the potential loss of their job, their income and the real threat of criminal charges, and perhaps jail….they react logically. Yes, they will daily burnish their badge, but when conflict looms, they will, perhaps with regrets, turn away. Potential violence and conflicts, are avoided, particularly in circumstances where these representatives of the law are most needed—in the black and brown communities —where too often crime is rampant . Functional policing disappears when qualified immunity for officers is weakened or removed. Law abiding citizens are left bereft of protection and must fend for themselves. Vigilantism, chaos and violence result.
Our police must be well trained, both legally and physically. A police officer should be well versed in the law, have the physical confidence to enforce the law, subdue a perpetrator or felon, and ability to de-escalate confrontations. But at the most basic the job requires an officer to be physically capable of subduing and arresting those who are breaking the law. They must enforce the laws. Yes, police officers, must be trained in those physical skills that, at minimum, permit the officer to restrain and subdue and arrest a violent perpetrator who is danger to him or herself or the community at large. The officer should be able to make an arrested without having to resort to deadly force. Yes, size and physical strength are a factor.
Let us not ignore that the primary responsibility of state and municipal authorities is to insure the safety of its law abiding citizens so they can carry on their lives and businesses in safety.
The alternative is chaos, rising crime, vigilantism, an armed citizenry and decline of our cities.
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