Justification for Denver Cops Acting Badly

Since Denver Manager of Safety, Charles Garcia, found four Sheriff's deputies innocent of any wrongdoing in the Marvin Booker killing the federal government, ACLU, and the media have been digging into the decade long rash of civil rights abuses by Denver law enforcement. Even the pro-law and order Denver Post said it was finally time to change police use of force policies.

This Sunday, however, the Post gave voice to another view, the point of view of the misunderstood victimized police officer.

Joseph D. Unser, a 16-year veteran with the Denver Police Department had his ego bruised and feelings hurt. However, Unser's justification of police violence helps point out the critical thinking errors and police cultural norms that led many like him to abuse their fellow citizens.

To recognize Unser's views as part of the problem rather than part of the solution, I have highlighted some of the officer's main arguments below.

Unser begins his article with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. about, "The ultimate measure of a man," and, "where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." It is odd that Unser would take the words of nonviolence, compassion, and tolerance and twist them to somehow justify the violent abuse of citizens. Taking the civil rights leader's words out of context to attempt to glorify those who have abused civil liberties not only shows a lack of understanding of the man, but also the movement he died for. Unfortunately quoting King has become a popular, if disturbing, trend amongst self-righteous law enforcement looking for social justice credibility inside of violence.

Like many in law enforcement, Unser has the distorted view that they are soldiers combating evil at every street corner.

Unser's article is dripping with militaristic terms, images of warfare, and Gunny Highway (Clint Eastwood's hyper-violent character in the movie Heartbreak Ridge) macho quotes.

This military identification is a particularly disturbing lens through which police view the world. A soldier in combat has few choices and has been given the authority to execute preemptive violence - that's what soldiers do. In Unser's words, "It is easy to sit back and not truly understand the world we operate in. We make split-second decisions, operating off of our perceptions," later he says, "Frequently, we are asked to quickly bring order to chaos. We see a world of violence, with total disregard for the value of life."

In Unser's own words the police perceive a world of frequent chaos, violence, and a disregard for human life. This is the same world all of us live in; do we see the world as such? Granted cops do experience on the job horrors, but those are rare, not frequent as Unser believes. Unser allows these rare events to color his perceptive lens and influence how he makes "split second decision." Given the fact that most initial perceptions are wrong in stressful situations, is it no wonder that Unser and his colleagues react with violence when they have such a skewed view of the world and their distorted need to bring instant "order to chaos." Would it not be better decision making, better policing, to take a step back, take a deep breath and maybe ask some questions before reaching for the taser, billy club, or pistol. Most chaos and difficult decisions become clearer with patience.

I know the argument here, "what happens if a violent criminal attacks a cop or innocent citizen - if the cop hesitates to figure out what's really happening, he or the citizen could get killed.'' This is the same type of "ticking time bomb" argument used to justify indiscriminate torture in the name of the War on Terror. The argument was wrong then and it is wrong in this case as well. Yes, it is possible that such an incident could occur, but in reality this scenario happens so infrequently that it is statistically insignificant...as in, just a little more likely than NEVER.

Unser says that 69 law enforcement officers were killed in the U.S. as of May 2011. He says, "there are husbands and wives not coming home, moms and dads not seeing their children grow, sons and daughters not there to celebrate the holidays." This loss of life is truly tragic. But what about Paul Childs, the l5-yearold developmentally disabled boy gunned down by Denver police, or Frank Lobato, the 64-year-old grandfather shot dead in his bed by Denver cops, or Marvin Booker the 56-year-old street preacher strangled to death by four Denver Sheriff's deputies, these free citizens did not strap on a gun, put on a uniform and go looking for trouble. They did not see a world of violence and chaos, but violence and chaos saw them through the angry distorted perceptive lenses of Unser's colleagues. If officers had taken the time to see these events clearly these three people would still be alive and no citizen or cop would have been put at risk.

In reality, every year hundreds more innocent citizens are murdered or brutalized by police than police are lost in the line of duty. In fact, it is far more dangerous to be a citizen in the presence of law enforcement than a cop immersed in their chaotic violent world. Didn't those hundreds of citizens wrongly killed by police also deserve holidays and families and high school graduations without being murdered by the state? Next Unser compares his colleagues' motivation to wear a badge to a citizen's motivation to become a soldier. To Unser the professions seem to be synonymous. "We answered your call to stand up and provide order and protect society's says Unser.

His words souls like he answered some add with Uncle Sam's picture saying "I Want You..." and Unser and his fellow brave cops stood up to protect the feeble flock and make the world right. But who is protecting the flock from Unser? The law enforcement officers I know, and I know many, joined for one simple reason - the power of the badge and the gun. They like carrying a gun, and do so always. They like being asked by pretty girls in bars if they've ever had to shoot someone.

They thrive on the power of being able to tell anyone - ANYONE - to "shut the fuck up" or risk going to jail, and how quickly they can take a verbal disagreement and make it end with the words - "stop resisting."   Most cops that see the world as Unser does became cops to get paid to legally bully people. You see it in their walk, with their chest puffed out over their belly, their arms slightly bent at the elbows and six inches from their hips, like their massive muscled air tats keep their arms from resting neutrally at their side. Oakley ballistic sunglasses always lats like the Terminator, they talk to you in short condescending commands with an undercurrent of contempt. They do this job not for some noble cause, because the way they do it there isn't any, they do the job because it is a paycheck that lets them act out their anger and power issues on a defenseless society. That's all.

One police officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of prosecution, told me how he and his partner once recognized a public defender who had successfully defended a man the officers had arrested. They spotted him during a civil demonstration in the city and waited for the man to get close enough to the crowd, then the officers maced him and threw him into the street. The cop told the story laughing about how the attorney looked in the dirty street with his eyes burned from the chemical spray. These are not actions of soldiers as Unser wants us to believe, these are not the actions of someone motivated by justice, compassion, or the desire to serve society. These are the actions of thugs with a badge.

Unser continues with his use of military bravado by channeling his inner Clint Eastwood from the war movie Heartbreak Ridge.

Unser quotes password's character Gunny Highway saying, "When they (training) don't work, we improvise, adapt and overcome."

This attitude would be great if we were asking Unser to take a hill or bomb a village maybe, but we are asking Unser and his colleagues to keep the peace, not escalate the violence.

Unfortunately, these days, our pseudo-paramilitary police are armed and armored like soldiers and they think of themselves as such. Tragically officers with multiple leather weapons have little incentive to "overcome" using a nonviolent solution; it is much easier to compel compliance through overwhelming violence.

In Unser's view there is no alternative to violence, he says, "We are asked to be assertive, which in turn requires us to utilize force....Unfortunately, we do make mistakes, due to the volatility of society. We can succumb to our tempers during highly stressful and emotional times.'' Through Unser's experienced perceptive lenses assertiveness can only result in the use of force and it is society's fault that he loses his temper resulting in violence. His views and blaming society for police anger and violence is greatly disturbing.

Unser believes that there are no alternatives to violence, yet our unarmed cousins in England seem to maintain the peace just fine without weapons and without escalating brutality. A recent article in the Economist points to the dramatic difference in wrongful deaths caused by law enforcement from the two countries.

The article also highlighted the great difference in gun related violence - sorry Second Amendment advocates (and NRA), but no guns does equal no gun violence. When British law enforcement were asked if they would like to carry a gun on duty the overwhelming response was "NO." The officers believed that guns would only escalate violence in the country and that armed officers would be less likely to develop a given situation and more likely to use violence in unwarranted situations. The English officers pointed to the hyper-violent U.S. police behavior and the high rate of violent death in the states to prove their point.

Unser is hurt, the profession he ties his identity to is being shown for what it really is and Unser is taking the criticism personally. He justifies brutality because a volatile society makes him do it and he is a soldier at war. He thinks that he has answered some glorious soldier's call to serve a public besieged by bogeymen when in reality he is getting paid a very good living to stroke his ego at the expense of taxpayer treasure and blood. In Unser's disturbing words we find the delusions that explain the problem - and should terrify a free society.

In related news:

More abuse in Denver County Jail

Days after four Sheriff's deputies working in the county jail were cleared of wrongdoing in the excessive use of force death of Marvin Booker, a 56-year-old street preacher killed while retrieving his shoes, another deputy in the jail faces assault charges for slapping a woman.

On March 25 Felicity Tierney, 41, was arrested on drunken driving charges and taken to the Denver County Jail. Sheriff's Deputy Anne Kelly, 51, an eight-year veteran of the department is accused of assaulting Tierney for being uncooperative. Further details of the assault have not been released.

Wednesday Kelly was charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor for third-degree assault and a lesser misdemeanor for harassment. If convicted Kelly could receive up to 18 months in jail and a fine up to $5,000. She was placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an investigation.

 Man charged for giving the bird to a Colorado State Trooper

Shane Boor, 35, flipped off a state trooper who had just pulled a motorist over for a traffics violation in Jefferson County on the morning of April 19. According to The Denver Post, Boor said he just wanted to express his disapproval of the trooper and those in his profession.

The ACLU has agreed to represent Boor in the misdemeanor harassment charge saying, "Our client engaged in peaceful, silent symbolic expression that is protected by the First Amendment. The protection of the Constitution is not limited to speech that is acceptable in polite society."

Boor told The Post that when the trooper asked him why he flipped him off Boor said, because you're thieves and you harass people." Boor then asked the trooper, "if he thought using two squad cars and an airplane to track down someone who insulted you in traffic was a good use of taxpayer dollars?'' Boor's arraignment is June 13, he faces up to six months in jail if convicted.