In the spring of 1968, a platoon of American soldiers stormed the Vietnamese village of My Lai. By the time the dust settled, 504 Vietnamese civilians were dead – murdered by American soldiers.

The massacre of My Lai rightfully remains a dark, dark stain on the American military. And while it is easy to to become singularly focused on the barbaric actions taken by American soldiers, what would happen in the following weeks, months and years revealed a systematic problem regarding institutional accountability.

For over a year the massacre was covered up. In a study of the My Lai massacre and the investigation that followed, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Ricks writes that, “Once accountability had been compromised by the deflection of focus onto what was good for the army, it was a short step to a corrosive focus on what was good for present company.”

In the last six months our nation has witnessed the killing of two African American men. The first, Ahmaud Arbery, perpetrated in Georgia by a former police officer, and the second, George Floyd, perpetrated by a uniformed, on duty police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While these deaths are not the only unjust ones during that time, I believe they are two of the most important.

As a white police officer the truth is I don’t know where to start with this. I just know that, in this case, saying nothing makes me complicit in the the injustices and abuses that happen in the future, and even though I’m unsure of where to begin now, I want to be clear that this dialogue will never trump action. We must stand up for what is right. When the boundaries are clear and the lines firmly drawn moral courage must be swift and decisive.

We must reform, because even if things have been changing, they aren’t changing fast enough.

In reading Ricks’ study of the My Lai massacre his quote struck me deeply. I’m not here to quantify the reoccurring theme of abuse of power by law enforcement, specifically on persons of color. I’m here to call myself out. I’m here too acknowledge that if I change some words in Ricks’ quote, I too become part of the corrosion.

Once accountability had been compromised by the deflection of focus onto what was good for law enforcement, it was a short step to a corrosive focus on what was good for present company

Too many times I have found myself countering anti-law enforcement sentiment. Instead of acknowledging the injustices, I indirectly defend them, citing the “majority of good cops”, or the “good stories they don’t show on the news.”

Maybe there was a time when the deflection of focus was good for law enforcement, but that time is no more. Now is the time for us to stand up and enact change.

We need more internal accountability. We need more transparency. We need better training. And most importantly we need justice, for every American.

What we have witnessed over the last 10 years is the culmination of decades of abuse of power with limited accountability. This mistrust and hate was not built overnight nor was it built because of one single death. It is the result of several abuses, spanning every geographical and racial region across our country over several decades.

I love my profession and there are great police officers within it. The truth is though, law enforcement and criminal justice have been utilized as a tool to further an evil, racist agenda rooted in white supremacy. For far too long we have served in a profession that has allowed and even in some cases protected individuals who are racist, abusive, and evil.

When it comes to law enforcement and criminal justice in the United States we have a problem with institutional accountability. We have a problem with internal accountability.

References:

Officer convictions in fatal shootings: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/police-officers-convicted-fatal-shootings-are-exception-not-rule-n982741

Race and wrongful convictions:
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/Race_and_Wrongful_Convictions.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2_IuG_IVUvurZpMeJHvqzqH0ZiVk0jmZtjxivkIHgNQFo9gGAZhCJxk_w

Wrongful convictions:
https://research.msu.edu/innocent-african-americans-more-likely-to-be-wrongfully-convicted/?fbclid=IwAR0jfS4YcU8C2IScVXECP2br_ZL3-Ynju55pPBxsNC4EUDp4DVNRC7bFllQ

Crime by officers:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/06/22/study-finds-1100-police-officers-per-year-or-3-per-day-are-arrested-nationwide/

NIJ Study: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/249850.pdf