I’ve had the misfortune of covering four police officer shootings in four separate communities.
While the situation is always different, the response is always the same.
Let me assure you, the rules change in an instant. We saw it in Clarksdale last week.
Within minutes, every officer on the Clarksdale Police Department and Coahoma County Sheriff’s Department were on the scene. They were followed closely by the Mississippi Highway Patrol and even the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Park. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrived later and took control of the scene and every officer and civilian in the area.
It was a show of force and the eyes of every law enforcement officer had a hard and serious look in them.
Let the bad boys, and those who think they are bad boy, beware. It will happen every time an officer is shot in any community anywhere in the United States of America.
Asking Questions
Why would anyone want to fight a cop? Why would anyone want to take a police officers’ weapon and shoot at him and anyone else on the parking lot?
Official details of this incident will come out. There is a lot of street talk – some true and some false – about what happened and why.
It’s my job to ask questions. It’s the community’s job to want answers.
Sadly, much of the community’s response is Facebook-based and filled with anger, hate and demands for justice.
Remember the 15-year-old shot on West Second Street last year?
There was a lot of yak, a lot of people showed up at the scene, attorney's held press conferences and there was even a parade a few days later.
Things got strangely quiet once the investigation was underway and the facts were uncovered.
It will happen in this shooting, too.
Power and paperwork
I once lived in a community where if an officer pulled his weapon out of his or her holster, they were required to fill out paperwork explaining why they thought they might have to use deadly force.
I don’t know if that is the policy around here.
I do know incidents like this tell you a lot about your police force.
Under our form of government the state has the right to take a person’s life. That can be an officer confronted by a very serious situation or our justice system that has tried, convicted and sentenced a person to death.
Justice for All
Did you know that old timers around here say Coahoma County juries and judges have never sentenced anyone to death? Please tell me if I am wrong.
I will also ask old timers to tell me how long it has been since a district attorney has gotten a jury trial conviction for murder in Coahoma County. Please tell me the numbers?
Our law enforcement officers can fill up our $12.9 million county jail – it was built to hold 155 inmates – but if juries in this town turn them loose, it does no good.
It costs about $50 a day to house an inmate with the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman has a capacity for 4,548 people and there are 3,454 “beds occupied.”
I do believe the death penalty prevents some crime. I also believe prison rehabilitates some people. I do know that separating those who can’t live by society’s rules from the law-abiding public does make us all safer.
The spin
I was glad to see Police Chief Robbie Linley step forward this week and explain what happened.
Each one of our City Commissioners, and our Mayor, were allowed to express their views.
We then saw them vote on moving forward. I hope you will read how they voted in the story on Page One.
Paying police and sheriff’s deputies more will not bring law and order to this community if our courts don’t do their job.
Forming a task force that is around for a year or two will not solve this problem if they are not allowed to do the hard thing and bust drug dealers and haul gang leaders off to federal court.
The “feds,” undercover operations and the FBI are not going to work with cops they can’t trust and a community that does not appreciate the hard work and hard things they must do for us.
Over the past 30 years in this business I have watched communities and America get tough on crime. It is the roller-coaster of American society.
When things get out of control, the people ask for peace and demand justice. Our lawmen go out and enforce the peace and the courts deliver justice. Once things start to simmer down we – good hearted Americans – seek mercy and other solutions. It works for a little while and then the cycle starts over again.
I think we can see where Clarksdale is in this cycle. I think we need to pray for peace and justice.
Floyd Ingram is Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register. He has chased cops and seen people organize to fight organized crime like gangs and drug dealers. Call him at 662-627-2201 if you want to join the fight.
