NYC's Sean Bell police shooting: Can blacks shot by NYPD officers ever have justice?

[thatcrazycajun]

CNN's reporting of the acquittal of New York police detectives in the shooting death of Sean Bell got me thinking. The Rev. Al Sharptongue involved himself yet again, which will predictably lead to the usual accusations from the right of his being a "race hustler" trying to profit off others' tragedy. (Exactly how does one hustle race? I've always wondered about that.)

Hearing that New York's Finest not only killed, but emptied their weapons into Bell (50 bullets in all) took me back to my days of living in the wormy Big Apple during the late 1990s and early '00s, when Amadou Diallo's and Abner Louima's cases were in the news. (The former was killed in a hail of 41 bullets and the latter sodomized with a bathroom plunger handle in interrogation, both at the hands of the NYPD.) In this context, one can understand the outrage of black folks like Mr. Bell's poor bereaved fiancée, who said that her dead husband-to-be had been "shot all over again" with yesterday's verdict. One can also understand the feelings of some that white men wearing badges will always and inevitably get away with shooting black people to death, whether with excessive amounts of ammunition or not.

What is the fix for our obviously broken justice system? And how do we keep police officers from committing this kind of needless violence? How do we safeguard the vast majority of good, conscientious officers from legitimate danger while weeding out the bad cops who shoot first and ask questions later, especially where race is involved? I don't know for the life of me. But something has got to be fixed...before something else gives and we start having Watts-style riots again.

Comments

[wolfette]

I understand that some of the officers involved in this incident were also African-American, which the press seems to think negates any "racism" potential.

The police spokesman said "this sends a message to all police officers in NYC"


yes, the message seems to be "shoot who you like, you won't be punished".

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

We're the police.
Trust us!

how?

[singlemaltsilk.livejournal.com]

One way is to weed them out before they get a badge and a gun.

The psychology practice for which I'm case manager does mental and emotional fitness testing on police and fire candidates for a number of municipalities in Illinois (not Chicago), and occasionally special requests from out of state. They must undergo and pass a battery of tests with us before Dr. K. will recommend they be accepted by their respective academies. The police candidates we see are generally also required to pass a polygraph administered by an independent agency before academy acceptance.

We can rate a candidate 'recommended' or 'not recommended'; we cannot 'reject'. But the police boards and commissions with whom we work DO listen.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

In this case, the surviving victims testified they didn't know the officers were officers. One of the officers testified he had his badge out. Unfortunately, the prosecution witnesses had criminal records and are parties to the civil suit.

The judge (the defendants waived jury trial) believed the officers. I suspect a civil jury in Queens won't.

What frustrates me about this ruling is that the fact that one officer reloaded during the shooting was not mentioned in the judge's decision.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

While I was appalled at the incident, and the verdict, I am equally appalled at Al Sharpton's threat to "close this city." The last time he tried that, the result was the Crown Heights pogrom. I was on the ground during that one, doing escort duty for terrified residents who needed to get to the supermarket or the subway through the shouts of "Kill the Jews!" when one Jew had already been murdered by Sharpton's mob. It takes a lot to shut down New York, but a good deal of damage can be done by a mob that tries.

All this has happened before and it will happen again.

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the cowboy/combat zone mentality continues for cops in high-pressure scenarios. In a crisis, they still think with their glands, fears and prejudices no matter what they're taught at the Academy. Nobody wants to be the red-shirt so they shoot first and think up excuses once their back-up arrives. It was so in the 60s; it is so now.

Best advice: in the presence of cops, move very slowly and speak clearly. You don't want to trigger them.