Written by Eric Z. Lucas   

“We are having a difficult time at night especially discerning… between those who wish to peacefully assemble…and those who wish to infiltrate and cause problems…” Ferguson Mayor James Knowles


Another Racially Motivated Shooting

Saturday, August 9th, a City of Ferguson police officer shot and killed a young black male, named Michael Brown. The shooting led to street protests and confrontations with the police. Accusations are flying that this is just another racially motivated shooting. But is that all there is to it? Isn’t there a deeper problem related to how our police forces operate? In America today the militarization of our police forces threatens to destroy the essence of our communities. And it is unnecessary.

The Mayor’s Plea

Thursday, August 14, 2014 on the MSNBC show News Nation, reporter Alex Witt interviewed City of Ferguson Mayor James Knowles. She asked a question suggesting that the root cause of the problem was “trouble between citizens and a predominantly white police force.” The Mayor, in responding to the question, denied that racial animus was the root of the problem. He said:

“You know the problem that we have in our community, and it’s a problem all across North St. Louis County and probably the country, is that there is a housing crisis in which people are moving from community to community you know every six months. And this - this apartment complex is very transient. We don’t have many of those citizens who…set down roots in Ferguson and become part of the community before they move on. So it’s really hard to establish a good community relationship with the people in this apartment complex. And so you know that’s something we have been working on. Something we are going to have to really strive harder to do but we have to get people to settle down and have stability in their life so that we can make them part of this community….”




Telling the good guys from the bad guys

In other words, the Mayor sees the problem as being unable to tell the good law abiding citizens from the unlawful ones because of the transient nature of their living requirements. And in part he is right. But in another real sense he is wrong.

This is exemplified by the story of Zebedee Cobbs, a black man who lives in my city of Everett, Washington.

Zeb Cobbs is a model citizen. He has been in business since 1970 and owner of “Zebedee’s” a hair salon business, at its current location since 1980. He is a member of the prestigious downtown Rotary club. He has been a church Deacon and a family friend most of my adult life.

But almost ten years ago, officers from the Everett police department accosted him. An article from the Everett Herald described it like this:

“In 1995, he was subject to a dreadful indignity when police officers entered Zebedee's early one Saturday as Cobbs was opening his shop.

In a Herald article about the incident, Zebedee Cobbs was quoted as saying, "One of them kind of got next to me, and said, 'We just want to find out if you belong here or not.' I said, 'Yes, I own the building, I own the business, I've been in this town for 23 years.'

"They saw a black man from the road, and assumed I was going through the till and robbing the place," Cobbs said in '95. ”

Zeb’s daily routine when opening his shop was to count the money in the till. Two Everett Police Officers saw this, entered his business guns drawn and demanded that he identify himself. But the infuriating thing about this incident is that Zeb had been the owner of that business, at the time, for 15 years in the very same location.

Why didn’t the officers on that beat know that? Why was Zeb treated as a threat in a town he had lived in for nearly quarter of a century? And why did Zeb, a longtime community member, get treated as a stranger like Michael Brown?

The key to the answer lies in Zeb’s observation that “from the road” they looked in and saw a suspect: as they patrolled they saw a stranger who was black. And in my view this scenario is an essential part of the problem.


Community Policing

Police officers cannot safely police the communities they serve by merely patrolling in their cars. It has been known for many years that effective policing requires officers to be familiar with the communities they serve. And this idea is known as: Community Policing.

The dictionary definition says:

“Community policing allocates police officers to particular areas so that they become familiar with the local inhabitants.”

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 established the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). Its policy manual discusses the principle as follows:

“Geographic assignment of officers: With community policing, there is a shift to the long-term assignment of officers to specific neighborhoods or areas. Geographic deployment plans can help enhance customer service and facilitate more contact between police and citizens, thus establishing a strong relationship and mutual accountability. Beat boundaries should correspond to neighborhood boundaries.... ”

This policy returns to the old idea of officers having a “beat.” When I was a kid, officers walked a beat. Everyone knew the officer and everyone knew they could call that officer if trouble occurred.

The “long term assignment to specific neighborhoods” or “beats” recognizes that police officers cannot be effective if they are strangers confronting strangers. Such confrontations increase the likelihood of a violent result.

The Apartment Complex

We won’t have a de-militarized, community friendly, police force until we get officers out of their cars and back to walking a beat: until we eliminate the “us versus them” mentality that exists when human individuals are locked away in their cars.

The Mayor’s problem with Michael Brown was not that he was an apartment-living transient “stranger.” Because the same “stranger” problem existed with Zeb Cobbs who was the furthest thing from being transient.

Citizens do not cause the “stranger” problem. It is caused by the police and how they view their jobs as police officers.

Imagine that same apartment complex. Image the beat officers and their sergeant walking up to the complex to welcome each new family moving in. They introduce themselves, give the new occupants their business cards and let them know that they are there to keep them safe and to call them if they need any help. They get to know the people they serve and the people get to know them.

Would Michael Brown have been shot dead if he, his friend, the on-looking neighbors, and the officer all knew each other?