By RICHARD NEBEL
Los Alamos

I noticed from the recent Post article on the Black Lives Matter protest (link) that they read the names of black individuals who died in police custody.

I have a few questions for the BLM protestors.

Was Rodrigo Garcia on the list? He was an unarmed suspect in a stolen SUV. The police shot at him 82 times, and hit him in the head 7 times. He now has the functional capacity of a 5 or 6 year old.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1328176/city-pays-out-3-75-million-in-2015-police-shooting.html

Was Kenneth Ellis on the list? He was an Iraq war veteran with PTSD. He was holding a gun to his own head outside a convenience store when police shot him in the neck killing him.

https://www.abqjournal.com/344029/city-would-pay-8m-to-settle-ellis-shooting-case.html

How about Mary Hawkes? Was she on the list? She was shot in the back and killed by police during a foot chase. The police officer claimed she aimed a gun at him. Neither her DNA nor her fingerprints were found on the gun and the ballistics indicate that the officers account of the shooting was implausible. His lapel camera was also disconnected.

https://www.abqjournal.com/610827/albuquerque-reaches-settlement-in-lawsuit-over-james-boyds-death.html

What about James Boyd? Was he on the list? He was a schizophrenic homeless man who was carrying two knives in a standoff with police. As he started to surrender, police escalated the situation and shot him to death.

https://www.abqjournal.com/610827/albuquerque-reaches-settlement-in-lawsuit-over-james-boyds-death.html

So why weren’t these people on the BLM list? Probably because three of the victims were white and the fourth was Hispanic. They don’t fit the narrative being promoted by Black Lives Matter. Also, these incidents didn’t happen nationwide in some far off cities. They happened in Albuquerque in the past 6 years. The taxpayers in Albuquerque paid out $21.7 million in damages for these 4 incidents alone.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/06/18/four-cases-21-7-million-paid-for-apds-excessive-use-of-force-and-deadly-force-64-million-for-42-police-officer-shootings-in-10-years-apd-evolves-with-casa-reforms-training-and-incre/

So, if you think that “white privilege” protects white people from excessive use of force by the police, you are woefully mistaken. If racism were completely eliminated, we would still have this problem. There is more here than racism.

So what is going on? It may be that this has been going on all along and we’re just seeing more of it on camera. Another possibility is that it is the result of the increasing militarization of police departments since 9-11. I suspect it is some of both.

Last week PBS ran a show on D-Day. They interviewed soldiers who had been there and one of the things they asked them was what scared them the most. The answer was the same from all of them:  It was letting their fellow soldiers down. Soldiers don’t fight for their country. They fight for each other.

While this is fine for the military, it isn’t acceptable for police departments. Their job is to protect and serve the public, not to fight for their fellow policemen. The fact that three policemen stood by nonchalantly as George Floyd was killed speaks volumes.

Since 9-11 police have been receiving military-style tactics training (SWAT, for instance) and military equipment. This includes AR-15s as well as armored vehicles. The next time that the BLM people meet with the police chief, they should ask him about this.

Does the LAPD have AR-15s squirreled away in the LAPS schools? If they do, do they have policies/training in place to prevent their officers from spraying a lot of bullets around a crowded school? Do they really need firearms with high capacity magazines and armor piercing bullets?

The BLM people should also ask the chief what types of firearms the police are carrying in their patrol cars. AR-15s work fine for taking down multiple shooters, but they probably aren’t appropriate for a traffic stop. Do the police have armored vehicles? What other military equipment do they have?

Finally, the James Boyd case has some cautionary warnings about police reform. After the shooting, the district attorney charged two police officers with murder. Neither was convicted, but the police department quit cooperating with the district attorney. She and her staff were barred from attending police meetings on subsequent police shootings and policemen quit showing up for trials. Crime soared.

Police reform has a lot of potential perils if it isn’t done correctly.