Of course, like so many of these circumstances, there are always questions about police brutality and their behavior toward the black community.  It is important to acknowledge the long history of the brutal and unfair treatment the black community has received—that’s factual.

Just like the shooting in Ferguson, Missouri (Reported in the NY Times here:  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html?_r=0) where a white cop shot a black man, the same questions remain.

Why weren’t these cops charged with crimes?  Was there any responsibility of the victims?

As for the cop in Ferguson, the U.S. Justice Department did an exhaustive investigation and found he acted according to proper police procedure and the killing was what any “reasonable cop would do under the same circumstances.”

Understandably, people have anger and opinions as to the justice of these decisions.

Here’s my question:  in all the media coverage, all the protests, and all the discussion about these situations, why doesn’t anyone look at the responsibility of the victims?

Of course, it’s tragic when police intervention causes the death of anyone.  But there are actions that people take that can lead to the use of deadly force by the police.  Rarely, do the media or protesters look at the actions of the victim.  Do those actions give the police a reason to react with deadly force?  Many times, they do.

Let’s look not only at the actions of the police, but also at the actions of the deceased to see if there is any responsibility of the victims also.

The post Responsibility of the Victims appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

1.  The level of violence on both sides—the community and the police—has gone up, unfortunately.  We saw that in Ferguson, Missouri with the shooting of the young man and the civil violence that followed.  I first started working in criminal law 30+ years ago.  I remember cops retiring and bragging that during their entire career, they’d never once drawn their gun.  They were proud to have avoided any tragedy as a result of a shooting.  I don’t know why violence has increased.  But cops feel unsafe on the streets and so does the community.  This probably causes the cops to sometimes shoot and “ask questions later.”

2.  Thanks to gifts to local police departments from the federal government, police now have many of the same weapons and armor used by the military in combat.  Perhaps, this equipment would be necessary in the event of a terrorist attack.  But against civilians, do the police really need all the firepower?  Does this give the police the wrong attitude?  Instead of policing neighborhoods cooperatively with citizens, it’s become a potential war zone—which is what happened in Ferguson, Missouri.  The photos I saw looked like combat in Iraq.  I get the feeling that after all the training in the use of these combat weapons, some police are even anxious to use them.  That’s wrong.

3.  The community bears responsibility also.  In my work as a prosecutor with minority communities, I saw tragic things happen.  We all know that minority communities are victimized more than others.  I worked on many cases where the police attempted to investigate serious crime but didn’t get cooperation from these communiites.  Of course, there’s a long-standing suspicion of the police and the system in these communities—for good reason.  But the bottom line is that those people most victimized are not getting help.

4.  The Ferguson, Missouri minority community is unhappy with the racial make-up of the local government and the police force.  The community doesn’t feel fully represented in either institution.  However, even though the minority community is about 2/3 of the population, only 6% of this community votes.  In the history of the United State, many minority groups have been similarly angry about discriminatory treatment.  But many of these groups went to the polls and took power in an effort to correct the problems.  Maybe the people in Ferguson, Missouri should do the same.

What ideas do you have about Ferguson, Missouri and what happened there?

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