“If we can’t kill, we won’t bill.” That is a crude rephrasing of a famous phase in the O.J. Simpson case.
But after all, Simpson was a black man who police couldn’t convict of a murder.
That started a notion that race determined outcomes in courts and on the street. A growing number of widely publicized killings of unarmed blacks by police fed the rumor mill. Police did not look good following case after case of gun massacres where they had not intervened to prevent deaths.
Some believe that with the used armored cars the Defense Department gave to police departments the officers believed they got the same immunity deployed soldiers get.
Because the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, has supported some criticisms of police actions after overwhelming evidence that blacks are subjected to cop violence vastly more often than white, cops are on a work slowdown. The number of tickets being issued has declined dramatically.
But no one is telling visitors to avoid the Big Apple, or urging its residents to stay indoors. Foreign governments aren’t warning their nationals to stay away. Indeed, Tea Party and libertarian critics are saying the failure to enforce many laws shows shows the ordinances are unneeded.
It must be remembered that police over-enforcement of laws, particularly stopping and searching blacks and Latinos based on their color, became an year before a police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., started nationwide protests. Critics not only were outraged that blacks were so often the victims of shootings, but that the Pentagon had provided the nation’s police with armored cars and other anti-guerrilla warfare fear that seemed suit more for Iraq than Berkeley.
In reaction to de Blasio defending the rights of protestors to oppose racial bias in the enforcement of law, police turned their back on his twice when two slain officers were buried.
At the same time, according to the New York Times: “For two straight weeks, New York City police officers have sharply cut back on making arrests and issuing summonses throughout the five boroughs, magnifying the growing divide between the city’s police force and its mayor … Officers made half as many arrests in the seven days through Sunday as in the same week a year ago. In the entire city, 347 criminal summonses were written, down from 4,077 a year ago, according to police statistics. Parking and traffic tickets also dropped by more than 90 percent.”
The Times said: The numbers, disclosed on Monday, reveal a downturn in nearly every category of arrest — including gun possession and drunken driving — and all three categories of summons activity, parking violations, (down 93 percent to 1,191 from 16,008); traffic infractions (down 92 percent, to 749 from 9,349); and low-level crimes (down 91 percent).”
There is no sense of fear that the city is becoming sense however.
The reaction, so far, has been to make people believe that along with the used equipment from Afghanistan the cops believe they have the same kind of immunity U.S. troops have who serve in wars foreign countries.
Perhaps Americans can get a better idea of what is going on by turning away from the mainstream news, even Comedy Central. The Cartoon Network’s after-hours Adult Swim Club will release an episode of “Black Dynamite” that is sort of like using police as enforcers on “Animal Farm.” Or is it “The Hunger Pain Games.” Don’t say art didn’t warn you.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/nyregion/decrease-in-new-york-police-arrests-continues-for-a-second-week.html?ref=nyregion
http://youtu.be/fVwiHVdjSgU
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