Law Enforcment

[BigV]

Training officers to shoot first, he will answer questions later.

WASHINGTON — The shooting looked bad. But that is when the professor is at his best. A black motorist, pulled to the side of the road for a turn-signal violation, had stuffed his hand into his pocket. The white officer yelled for him to take it out. When the driver started to comply, the officer shot him dead.

The driver was unarmed.

Taking the stand at a public inquest, William J. Lewinski, the psychology professor, explained that the officer had no choice but to act.

“In simple terms,” the district attorney in Portland, Ore., asked, “if I see the gun, I’m dead?”

“In simple terms, that’s it,” Dr. Lewinski replied.

When police officers shoot people under questionable circumstances, Dr. Lewinski is often there to defend their actions. Among the most influential voices on the subject, he has testified in or consulted in nearly 200 cases over the last decade or so and has helped justify countless shootings around the country.

His conclusions are consistent: The officer acted appropriately, even when shooting an unarmed person. Even when shooting someone in the back. Even when witness testimony, forensic evidence or video footage contradicts the officer’s story.

The police do a hard, dangerous, necessary job that I don't want to do. Thank you, police, for stepping up to do the work, thank you.

I, we, give the police license, authority to take many actions that are prohibited to the general public, notably the legal use of force. At this time, the police also has the hearts at minds of the majority of the public. Witness all the judgements in favor of the police where the actions of the officer are deemed "justifiable".

But I fear that the police's halo effect is diminishing, largely through their own doing. When we give them this additional power and authority, that comes with higher expectations, especially in the area of restraint, calmness, diplomacy, de-escalation. I'm not suggesting that police officers fail to defend themselves. I am saying that excessive force, deadly force, while providing self defense, has a cost in public trust. Cops' lives matter, but the cops' lives will be at greater risk as their stature as fair, public servants diminishes.

We all know the unequal impact negative examples have compared to positive examples. It doesn't take many bad, or even bad appearing incidents of police behavior to outweigh the good and necessary (and largely underappreciated) work they do. I believe it is good for our civil society and in the personal best interests of every police officer to do all they can to avoid deadly and excessive force, in an effort to rebuild the public trust.