My brother has this running joke. Whenever a police car goes by (with or without sirens blaring) he says ‘Oh look it’s the police; they’re here for you’ or ‘Get down! What have you done now?’ I am now at the age that I do realise that eating an extra chocolate bar will not put me behind bars. However, I do remember the feeling. Confusion, dread and then confusion again; my eyes would expand to saucers, a deer in the headlights.

As this is written, hundreds of protesters stand outside the Ferguson police station in St. Louis,Missouri, America., 17 of which have been arrested for unlawful behaviour. The controversy over Michael Brown’s death still echoes (as it should). The African American, 18 year old was shot by a white policemen or cop on the 9th of August this year.

Under similar circumstances African American, 18 year old Vonderrmit Meyers Junior was killed by a white policeman two months after Brown.

There is a striking difference between these two; without considerable doubt Brown was unarmed, hardly a threat. Meyers was believed to be armed. However, accounts vary; Teeyona Meyers (cousin of Vonderrmit) reports ‘He had a sandwich, and they thought it was a gun. It’s Michael Brown all over again’.

The UN has condemned the militaristic and discriminatory approach to the riots following these killings. The police have been issued with dogs, MD helicopters, Long Range Acoustic Devices (sonic weaponry), BEARCAT (a SWAT mine resistant vehicle), bean bag projectiles, wooden bullets, rubber bullets, pepper spray projectiles, Triple Chaser CS (tear gas), riot guns (ARWEN 37, SL6 from the family of grenade launchers), stun grenades, smoke bombs and combat load (kevlar helmets, gas masks, combat gloves and knee pads, marine pattern utility trousers, body armour vests, 120 to 180 rounds per man, semiautomatic pistols, disposable handcuff, close-quarter-battle receivers for their M4 carbine rifles and advanced combat optical gun sight).

The people of Ferguson are the deer and the police are becoming the hunters.

Moving away from Ferguson, recently many polls have been published regarding police behaviour and attitudes with ethnic minorities. Closer to home (in the UK) a poll (from 2009/2010) states: if you’re black you will be 6 times more likely to be stopped and searched for drugs.

The NYPD stopped and frisked (or searched) 601,285 people in 2010. 51% of these people were African American and 98% did not have any contraband on them. 33% were hispanic people from the same poll, which proves the point that police now have a bias; a bias towards anyone not of the majority, which is essentially racism. Discrimination in the police is not new. There are grey areas that surround issues with race and abuse. Race can be used as an excuse for inexplicable behaviour on both sides of the law.

In the case of Vonderrmit Meyers it becomes a competition of who said what; definitive proof is a rare commodity in any incident.

The most popular proposed solution is installing wireless camera on officers. The camera’s would capture all proof needed to convict either the officer or the perpetrator. Admittedly the sheer amount of footage would overwhelm the system and a workforce would be needed to filter through the recordings.

Apps have been made such as Five-0 to rate the public’s experience with local officers but the problem is not with specific officers.

“The system is broken” is a phrase our society is far too familiar with. Law enforcement isn’t trained sufficiently in non-violent situations, minorities are specifically targeted and police themselves do not always report misconduct among their colleagues.

If we let this bigotry continue everyone will feel vulnerable and defenceless. The image of our law enforces will be one of tyranny. 20 years ago you would ask the police for help - be it arbitrary or life threatening. Today some of the police seem to have an air of hostility about them, as if dealing with conflict is their only job. The Metropolitan Police’ motto is ‘Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity’. In the future will we lose the core message to ‘by any means necessary’? There is a beautiful collection of images by Shirin Barghi that sums up the idea of perilous racism in people with power. Barghi focuses on the victim’s last words but also the officer’s words to the victims. The untainted words I believe portray the truth of situation in the purest way possible; pure confusion, pure fear, in these moments they were all deer in the headlights.

 

Ailsa Clark Reigate Grammar School - Young Reporter