Is the old ghetto proverb, “A scary person is dangerous,” applicable to why cops’ propensity to use deadly force has reached epidemic proportions since 9/11? Perish the thought that African-American News&Issues is suggesting that centurions maintaining the thin blue line that protects law-abiding citizens from criminal predators, have become cowardly lions. Nevertheless, there’s a preponderance of evidence that fear must be factored into the equation to explain police officers’ excessive and/or unnecessary use of deadly force.

The mainstream media’s reluctant to reveal that the nation’s police officers appear to have developed a “shoot first and ask questions later” mentality since 9/11, becomes transparent when an alarming number of deadly force incidents, e.g., the death of a Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy felled by “friendly fire,” can no longer be ignored. Naturally, when isolated incidents evolve into controversy, the nation has a cause to pause and ponder why? And, as always that proverbial why demands a logical answer. “We need to throw as much emphasis on training as possible to avoid friendly fire situations,” was an answer offered by Ed Christensen, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization.

“Tactics need to be improved to prepare these officers for the situations they will see on the streets,” concluded Christensen, as he attempted to explain why 40-year-old Craig Thomas, an 18-year veteran HCSD Homicide Detective, was killed by his partner’s ricocheting bullet during a July 29, 2002 shootout. As logical as Christensen’s solution sounds, it raises an even more pertinent question, inasmuch as HCSD Deputy Shane Bennett had been killed by friendly fire in a shootout with two armed suspects during a home invasion on June 12.
For sure, citizens with inquiring minds, who want to know, are pondering just what kind of additional training does law enforcers need? Ironically, AAN&I just happens to be privy to an answer for that salient question, thanks to the late Sgt. Willie Hatchett, who served two campaigns in Vietnam and one in Korea during his 23-year Army career (as a Small Weapons Expert), in the Special Forces. Hatchett, who ran for unsuccessfully twice for Houston’s City Council and worked for the Harris County Appraisal District after retiring, often explained that courage under fire was a soldier’s most treasured asset.

Thus, our Para-military law enforcers need to be trained to have courage under fire.
Unfortunately courage is an intangible characteristic that can’t be taught. Then again, remaining cool in a crisis translates to the kind of courage that the great American writer Mark Twain described as, “Resistance to fear, mastery of fear--- not absence of fear.” It has long been theorized that it takes a special kind of person to be a good cop, however, being special doesn’t exempt them from the same concerns and/or fears that we all share. Thus, 9/11 impacted police officers psychologically, if not emotionally, the same as every other citizen. September 11, 2001 was indeed, a defining moment for the home of the brave.

Ironically, the civil rights related riots in 1960s America, forced the nation’s police departments to initiate psychological studies of police officers. It was discovered that fear played a major role in deadly force by police officers. The fear of being killed by a street punk or whacko that isn’t worth a cop’s bullet. “In all honesty you can’t blame a police officer for being more wary,” Alvin Wright, a HPD spokesman told AAN&I. “The bad guys will attack a police officer just as quickly as they attack the average citizen.”

During the interview we recalled an article in the May 1984 edition of “Psychology Today,” that highlighted HPD’s director of psychology Greg Reide’s “Shoot/Don’t Shoot” training course that he introduced by allowing the media to participate. The training was designed to help officers avoid life-and-death confrontations and half way through the course; it became obvious why many citizens were shot when the officers “saw something in their hands.” Needless to say, after negotiating the course, Houston’s media (that had been battering HPD relentlessly because of an epidemic of police/citizens shootings) softened its stance.

The journalist concluded that suspect’s reactions must also be factored into deadly force encounters. In fact, the ACLU created the following instructions-- If You Are stopped by the Police: (1) You have the right to remain silent and to talk to a lawyer before you talk to the police. Tell the police nothing except your name and address. Don’t give any explanations, excuses or stories. You can make your defense later, in court, based on what you and your lawyer decide is best (2) Ask to see a lawyer immediately. If you can’t pay for a lawyer, you have a right to a free one, and should ask the police how the lawyer can be contacted. Don’t say anything without a lawyer. (3) Within a reasonable time after your arrest, or booking, you have the right to make a local phone call to the lawyer (4) Sometimes you can be released without bail, or have bail lowered. Have your lawyer ask the judge about this possibility. You must be taken before the judges on the next court day after your arrest (5) Do not make any decisions in your case until you have talked with a lawyer.

Hey, what are you supposed to do when some racist cop just pulls up and start messing with you for nothing? “Citizens should submit to police officer’s authority. Even if they think they’re being harassed, they should do exactly what they’re ordered to do when stopped or arrested and I doubt if deadly force will be as big a factor in policing,” Wright said. “Drugs made the street cop’s world crazy enough, but it has become even crazier since 9/11 and all of the related economic and social problems, so police officers don’t know what to expect from citizens when they become aggressive. I’m not excusing officers that panic out of fear and start shooting. I don’t know if cool can be trained, or not. But citizens must realize, once the shooting starts, officers are trained to shoot to kill,” Wright concluded. With that said, AAN&I suggests that we teach our young warriors to treat cops as if they are, indeed, scared to death of them.