Handcuffing the Police

That self-appointed know-it-all, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, once described the New York City Police Department as “racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety.” He later specifically called to “Defund the NYPD."

Darializa Avila Chevalier, a DSA congressional candidate endorsed by Mamdani, deleted an X account, which included thousands of posts and reposts showing support for abolishing the police along with prisons and our national border.

Defeated gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, as a Wisconsin state assembly member, posted that she supported "defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.” Later she elaborated, “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund, then abolish. Reform can't be an option.” 

Other DSA politicians? Not much better. They can change their tune during campaigns, but they can’t change their stripes. Regardless, when police are intentionally hindered, everyone suffers.

In blue cities across the country, it has become axiomatic that the police are viewed as inadequate to serve the community. If officers respond quickly and put down a disturbance, they are accused of overreacting. This is especially true if the disturbance involves black Americans. If they are slow to arrive, or are lenient in their administration of the law, they are accused of being ineffectual.

In other words, they are criticized no matter what they do. Local reporting on police activity virtually never results in favorable press. Indeed, much of the fakestream media, particularly in blue cities, appears eager to criticize municipal police forces whenever possible. As coverage of Donald Trump in the media is overwhelmingly negative, police departments fare little better.

The continual criticism of police in maintaining law and order discourages veteran officers. Many seek early retirement or transfer to less demanding, administrative positions. Worse, the constant drumbeat against law enforcement discourages young men and women who might otherwise consider the profession. After all, who seeks to join an organization whose members are criticized daily, regardless of how hard-working, impartial, or dedicated they might be?

In urban areas, when police are summoned to restore order, they often face hostility from bystanders. People from the neighborhood might taunt them, scream at them, throw objects, or otherwise interfere with their ability to do their jobs effectively.

Today, because nearly everyone carries a cell phone capable of recording high-quality video, almost every police encounter can be filmed. The clips most likely to be shared often are but a few seconds extracted from a much longer sequence. An officer dealing with a dangerous or chaotic situation might be visually depicted as out of context – to have acted improperly or used excessive force, even if the full video tells a more complete story.

Such video snippets are used to criticize officers, particularly when sent to fakestream media outlets. If reporters capture video footage themselves, then 100 percent of the segments aired portray the officers in the least favorable light.

Continuously, police departments, from the police chief to newbies, are accused of racism, even if the officer is black. And, when police respond to incidents in predominantly minority neighborhoods, whatever transpires will be presented in the most negative terms possible.

As police face an overwhelming number of assailants, the situation becomes even more difficult. Today, "teen takeovers" – a shorter label for “black teen takeovers” – can easily overwhelm police resources. A mere handful of officers responding to a mall or shopping district cannot reasonably be expected to control large groups of marauding youths engaging in vandalism, graffiti, theft, or assault.

Every police officer who has responded to such situations knows it is a no-win scenario. If officers restore order, they’ll be labeled as militant, overbearing, authoritarian, or the cancel culture’s word of the decade, racist. If they fail to restore order quickly, they are described as ineffective, a burden on the city's budget, or prime examples of why they should be de-funded.

Consider what transpires when officers are called to a scene involving an armed and violent suspect who appears to be armed, or poses an immediate threat. If officers use deadly force to protect others or themselves, they again face a no-win situation.

If the suspect is killed, expect prolonged media coverage about police brutality, racism, and broader societal issues. If the suspect survives and is taken into custody, accusations of police brutality, racism, and misconduct still follow.

Could this perpetual Catch-22 in which police find themselves end? Perhaps, only if the media actually cared about balance in its reporting. Whether that could happen in five years or before the end of the century remains an open question.

Given the long-standing editorial direction of The New York Times, along with similar approaches by The Washington Post and the major television networks, police officers will continue to intentionally be portrayed in a highly unfavorable light.

The lack of community accountability is also crippling. Professor Thomas Sowell wrote extensively about this in "Black Rednecks and White Liberals". Communities are strongest when they are willing to acknowledge wrongdoing within their own ranks, rather than automatically defending it.

If community members consistently condemned criminal behavior regardless of the offender's race, it would improve relations between police and the public while allowing officers to perform their duties more effectively. Too often, neighborhoods rally around individuals who have committed violent or socially reprehensible acts, portraying them as victims of unfair treatment.

As long as such patterns continue, police officers will continue to be denied a fair hearing from both the media and the public. This is such a sad state of affairs with exceedingly slim chances of resolution for the foreseeable future.

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