Fight The Hypo

The murders of Corporal Richard S. Findley and the prime suspect in the case Ronnie L. White have opened some old wounds here in the D.C. area. The Prince George’s County Police department has long had a history of excessive force in its policing, culminating in a 2004 memorandum of understanding between the County and the U.S. Department of Justice requiring the County to revise itsuse of force policies. Anecdotal evidence also suggests racial bias is pervasive in the Department, such that it has even been pointed out by Amnesty International. This is why the first thing my mother told me when I got my driver’s license was “whatever you do, don’t get pulled over there.”

Now my heart goes out to Corporal Findley and his family. I can’t imagine the pain they must be going through. I would love nothing more than to see Mr. White - assuming he was found guilty - get the book thrown at him. At the same time, I can’t imagine what his family must be going through, coming to grips with the fact that their son a) may have killed a cop, and b) was strangled to death while in police custody.

I brought this story up to my boss yesterday, and he noted that while he was on the job (he’s a former Maryland State Police Officer) they once went on a manhunt for a guy who was accused of shooting a West Virginia Trooper. When they found him (in a cave) they discovered that he had committed “suicide” by shooting himself. With a rifle. Four times. I looked up the Bureau of Justices Statistics on Death’s in Custody, and (not surprisingly) couldn’t find anything that suggested that such vigilantism on the part of the police is wide spread. Of course, absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence.

Now anything could have happened in the Prince George’s County Detention Center. The place is over capacity, and has been plagued with all manner of absurd problems in the last couple of years. I would not surprised to find out that a guard with gang connections adverse to those held by Mr. White went in and killed him. I also would not be surprised if one of the guards did him in, or let a cop in to do the deed.

Revenge seems to be a natural human reaction. They get one of yours, you get one of one them. Which begs the question: do we ask too much of the police? In general, the theory behind police work is that you can have dispassionate individuals enforcing the law of the land. Problem is it never seems to work that way. Police make involved hundreds of split second decisions that often involve life and death. Should we really expect people to act at that level? To place there own fears and biases in a box when they strap on a badge?