Not the Public, Not the Police

In the 1830s Prime Minister Robert Peel founded the first modern police force. In his nine rules of policing, Peel declared, 'The police are the public and the public are the police.'

There are two interesting trials of the police here in the United States.

We have the trial Officer Philip Brailsford who murdered Daniel Shaver while he lay on the floor, and Michael Slager, who murdered a man as he was running away after a routine traffic stop. Both happened on camera.

In both cases the footage is horrifying.  Brailsford makes one's blood boil. He screams commands, curses, tells the late Mr. Shaver that if he makes a mistake he will die. Shaver made a mistake and he died, or was murdered really.

One of the things our professors taught us early on in the study of military history is that 'I wasn't there, I could never judge the actions of a general' is unacceptable.

We'll apply that rule here with both officers. In Slager's case a suspect running away cannot be a threat to the police officer. In Brailsford's case, neither can a man lying prone on the floor.  It almost seems like Brailsford was looking for an excuse to blow away the late Mr. Shaver. He scrawled, 'Sorry you're fucked,' on his AR-15 dust cover.

Brailsford, who we hope the Shaver family sues into oblivion, does not strike this civilian as the kind of man he wants on his police force.

It seems to us that in these situations police  are obsessed with 'officer safety'.

Hence the corpses.

Officer Philip Brailsford, beat cop?