As a white, college-age male, I have nothing of value to say about the Black Lives Matter campaign. I lack the cultural background, the experience, and the thorough understanding of the systemic racial prejudices that lie at the core of the issue to justify an entire article about my limited understanding of the situation. Recently, there have been plenty of white people dolling out their misguided interpretations, so I feel no need to add my two cents on such a complicated issue. However, I was recently inspired to comment on one aspect of the discussion—and a possible solution—by a few videos that are embedded below.
Though the social issues that have sparked the recent protests are complex, the result is simple and tragic. Examples of police brutality and shootings have dominated the news and show no sign of stopping soon. Regardless of the racial issues that still pervade this country, police brutality is a pressing issue that must be stopped as soon as possible. If the training of every police officer in America could include teaching perfect situation awareness, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to see several minutes into the future, then we would never see another wrongful death at the hands of a police officer.
The obvious solution is body cameras on every police officer on duty. This may seem like an expensive step, but the benefits would be immeasurable. Every officer would have video evidence to support any claims they make in the event of an incident and any discrepancies or lies could be examined thoroughly. Until the larger problems of prejudice in this country are solved, this is the only way to make officers accountable in cases of wrongful death, and to make citizens accountable when their actions affect police officers on duty.
This article was inspired by the recent Black Lives Matter campaign as well as the following videos. In 2013, the Police Enforcement Research forum conducted a survey of police departments and found that 75% do not use body cameras in their services. However, the Palestine Police Department in Texas has provided us with a personal look into an incident involving two of their officers. The following footage was taken from body cameras on Sgt. Green and Officer Griffin at the scene of an Applebee's when James Bushey was reported hiding in the restaurant's bathroom after stealing alcohol from a nearby Walmart.
WARNING. THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC CONTENT AND DEPICT A FATAL SHOOTING. PLEASE WATCH AT YOUR DISCRETION.
There is a lot that can be learned from these videos. First and foremost, the professionalism of the officers is commendable. They escort the suspect from the building safely, removing him from a restaurant full of civilians. Notice how Sgt. Green, walking in front of Bushey, moves the silverware on the table out of reach so any movement towards a possible weapon would be obvious and easily prevented by Officer Griffin, following close behind. I would especially like to highlight that Sgt. Green uses the body camera to his advantage, informing Bushey that he is on camera to discourage any attempt to flee. Once outside, things happen very quickly. The time that elapses from the moment Bushey pulls the gun out of his pocket to the moment that he is shot by the officers is less than five seconds. Sgt. Green attempts to detain Bushey physically, but when the man struggled in his grasp, Green was forced to push him away to put him in range of the officer's weapons. The gun is pulled from the pocket, the physical encounter takes place, and both officers draw their weapons and fire within that five seconds. It often takes me longer to decide what to watch on Netflix than it takes these officers to take the actions that could be the difference between life and death.
It is important to note that the gun that Bushey pulled from his pocket was actually a BB gun; if it weren't for these videos, the story of this event would be released under the headline "Man Holding BB Gun Shot Down by Texas Police." This video shows that this headline—and many headlines like it—would be inadequate to describe the events as they actually occurred. Though it is impossible for us to know Bushey's true motives, his decision to pull a BB gun on two officers that were clearly armed in addition to the bizarre theft and subsequent hiding in a public place all seem to indicate that this was a case of suicide by police. It is tragic that this man felt compelled to take his own life and used these public servants to achieve that end. However, we can learn from this tragedy to inform the way police departments handle deadly encounters such as these. More than anything, it is important to realize that body cameras do not prevent police officers from performing their duty and in fact are a useful tool in the field. Making police officers accountable could mean more than ending police corruption and catching prejudice as it happens. Body cameras could be the end of senseless deaths at the hands of the police.
