This past Friday, April 25, 2008, the three police officers involved in the Sean Bell case were acquitted of all charges. I was immediately repulsed at the way such criminal cases involving the police are treated. Crimes against the police offer increased mandatory sentencing but crimes from the police towards civilians do not. I do know that the specifics of this particular case may have been unclear, particularly on what started the tension between both parties, but the amount of police force used was excessive. I think that is indeed undeniable, especially for one office that fired 31 shots, and had time to reload.
I know many are seeing this as a race issue as well as a power issue. Yes, two of the cops are Black, but one of those fired only 4 shots, and the other if I am not mistaken was supposedly undercover with alcohol in his system? I am not exactly sure. But either way, working for the police as a Black man is a tricky issue in and of itself. Often Black cops feel that they have to raise the bar with certain issues to prove their allegiance to the police system which often results in stiffer treatment of Black criminals or suspected criminals. In addition, if the victim’s were White I strongly don’t think that these cops would have gotten off regardless of the race of the cops who did the shooting. Although the case was very unclear in some ways, the cops weren’t even charged of being reckless. One bullet even hit the AirTran platform. Now if these charges aren’t criminal and we are blaming it on police training then maybe police training should be altered. My mother is a correction officer and an Air Force Reservist, I am aware that law enforcement officers are trained to shoot to kill. But in the same notion, I wonder if they are taught to use excessive force. It definitely takes my mind back to the Diallo case where the trial was moved to Albany and the cops were acquitted of all charges. Sean Bell’s trial was seen by a judge without a jury, which is something that should be definitely be mentioned.
It definitely presents an issue of whose lives we value. As a state we definitely value the lives of our law enforcement, especially cops but yet they are the lowest paid. I would like to say we value the lives of our citizens but in some realms we probably value the lives of our pets more. In the case of Michael Vick, and the illegal dog fighting ring, which included some deaths and malnutrition, he was given two years jail time. Some of the dogs were also given ‘rehab’ care afterwards. But in the case of human lives, since the police are involved, it isn’t criminal and they are only protecting themselves. I definitely think some things have to change. It sends a horrible message. Naturally, there will be a civil suit, but even that doesn’t overturn to what me seems like an injustice.
