"What happened last night was a pure ambush," Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday, the day after two police officers were shot at a demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. "This wasn't someone trying to bring healing to Ferguson."
That's putting it mildly. The shootings are just the latest violent act in the Ferguson saga, which began last year when Michael Brown was shot by a police officer. Holder's Justice Department has pretty much exonerated the officer who shot Brown in the violent confrontation. The "hands up, don't shoot" version of Brown's story was always a lie — one exploited by hucksters such as Al Sharpton and amplified by the media, with tragic results.
But even so, the Justice Department, separately, also laid bare a troubled municipal police force that has lost the trust of the community it serves. There still exists a legitimate complaint, especially among young black men, about their routine interactions with police. And it all comes down to a government too powerful and too greedy, with too much to hide.
The good news is that at least part of this problem is easy to fix.
It begins with the realization that, unlike Staten Island resident Eric Garner's sale of illegal cigarettes, which incredibly led to his death at the hands of a New York City police officer, big government is not a victimless crime.
As the Justice Department's report highlights, Ferguson, like many other jurisdictions and even the federal government, has been using police powers more aggressively for minor matters that have more to do with raising money than preserving the public order. The city, DOJ noted, "budgets for sizable increases in municipal fines and fees each year, exhorts police and court staff to deliver those revenue increases, and closely monitors whether those increases are achieved ... Partly as a consequence of City and FPD priorities, many officers appear to see some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson's predominantly African-American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue."
This is a sad byproduct of the national trend toward excessive criminalization, egregious use of civil forfeiture and other practices that encourage police to harass citizens like Garner for trifling, victimless offenses. When a police force is used this way, it fosters distrust of law enforcement.
Most cops just want to do their jobs and protect the public. But the trend toward over criminalization undermines their ability to do so. It increases the frequency of police confrontations with citizens who are not really part of the problem. This erodes goodwill. For many, especially those picked on most often, it turns the police into the enemy. It saps the public's willingness to give police the benefit of the doubt when they actually do deserve it.
As a result, when tough judgment calls arise — situations like the one involving Michael Brown, where lethal force may be justified but the evidence is difficult to discern afterward — there is little trust to fall back on between the citizenry and its guardians. This means there will not only be more Eric Garners, but also that the police face greater danger on the job.
This is a lose-lose proposition for everyone. It cries out for reforms that increase police transparency, reduce police militarization and take pressure off police officers to act as the town treasure hunters.
Racial hatred cannot be cured overnight, but appropriate reforms to law enforcement procedure and the criminal justice system are the low-hanging fruit and the appropriate point from which to start. They can help begin the healing.
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