The Consent of the Policed

Chris Hernandez, who has a lot of experience both as a soldier and a cop, writes about what the police and the legislatures will need to do in order to repair the widening breach between the cops and the public.

In a functioning republic, people who let the cops know what is going on are "concerned citizens".

In a police state, they are called "informers".

When occupying soldiers are on the street, the term is "collaborators".

There are some serious issues. First off, as has been discussed ad nauseum on this blog, is the issue of police militarization.

Second is that for most of the country, there is no such thing as an independent review of police actions. The same prosecutors who work day in and day out with the cops should not ones who are reviewing the legitimacy of police use of force. You don't have to look far to find where cops shot people in handcuffs and then had the shooting deemed to be justified or a suicide. Even the FBI, which gets involved in lots of cases of local police use of force, whitewashes their own shootings.

Third, the paramilitary mindset has to be broken. Cops call us "civilians". Well, so are they. They are "civilian police", or they are supposed to be. Their departments should prohibit them from wearing camouflage uniforms. They should not be running around in fatigue-style uniforms.

And maybe we all need to do something. If your local police or sheriff's department runs around dressed and acting like a bunch of wannabee militamen, then go to your city council or town meeting or county commission and say something. If they're not responsive, think about finding someone to run for the job who will be.

Ideally, the cops work for us, not just the rich and the powerful. But the only way we can get there is if we, as a people, start applying the heat. For if they feel enough heat, they'll see the light.