Use the Force

Here are the facts: Police used a robot armed with a pound of C4 to explode shooter Micah Xavier Johnson. Officials claim they could not deploy a sniper to take out Micah, as their position in the parking garage made it impossible. They asked Micah to drop his weapon, and he refused.

Police were fair in assuming this man was not going out without a fight. They could not get to him without causing avoidable risk to their fellow officer. Therefore, Dallas police deployed a robot normally used for disarming bombs. War on the Rocks writer Col. Mike Pietrucha, previously an electronic warfare officer, states:

…having localized the target and assessed the collateral damage potential, Dallas police officers selectively employed a precision weapon to eliminate the threat.

Officers utilized a tool in their arsenal, one that displayed a high-level of tactical restraint. However, this robot delivered a fatal payload, one that showed the world what police believed to be a necessary use of force, which is defined by the National Institute of Justice as: “to control an incident, effect an arrest, or protect themselves or others from harm or death.”

Someone decided to blow up a criminal, and I want to know who gets to make that call and under what grounds. You have a guy who shot several officers, killing five. Is that enough of a justification to rob citizens of their right to due process? It’s easy to justify this excessive use of force because of what preceded it, and what was anticipated to follow. The man was a cop killer, and displayed every intention to kill more. Clearly, he was a danger to others. However, if the police were capable of sending in a robot, could it have been armed with non-lethal munition? Micah was not a direct threat anymore. The officers had him outnumbered, outgunned, and surrounded. It was time to “effect an arrest.”

The police are trained to deescalate a situation, yet their culture fosters the warrior mentality, encouraging the use of force. Now, they bomb people and instigate peaceful demonstrators. Officers are looking for reasons to use force.

We need to continue talking about the surplus military gear police departments receive and the defense contractors marketing and supplying military gear and training to departments, thus creating a cycle of for-profit use of force. This dangerous method of policing is literally killing innocent people. This creates a divide between the police and the community its meant to protect. The hostility on both sides festers and boils over, harming progress and the trust which is crucial to inciting any meaningful change.

In closing, I present a solution so eloquently stated by University of Carolina School of Law Assistant Professor Seth Stoughton:

“It will take more than a couple of isolated changes to heal the longstanding divide between law enforcement agencies and the communities they police, particularly communities of color. Earning public trust will take decades and require rethinking how officers are trained as well as the legal and administrative standards used to review police violence. It will require changing the very culture of policing by reaffirming that policing must be done with a community, not to a community.”