The NYPD officers who turned their back arguably did a more spectacular job of derailing the funeral service from commemorating Officer Ramos and politicizing the event. But the signification of the act is troubling, and goes beyond disrespecting De Blasio. These cops, under the auspices of their powerful union, showed with their bodies what they do in the face of even reasoned criticism: They turn their backs. It is without question criticism of the NYPD that they were acting out against — specifically mild and reasoned criticism from a mayor, who has also been careful to heap praise on the force, too. Police commissioner Bill Bratton and former mayor and NYPD enthusiast Rudi Giuliani only deemed the cops display inappropriate. This was more than a violation of decorum, though: hundreds of officers, led by their representatives, brazenly dissenting from a reasonably and moderately critical city leader is a worrying display of intransigence and belief in their own unassailable moral stance. It is a message from behind the thin blue line that those hoping to see serious change in New York policing and beyond should take to heart. In the face of disruptive popular protests after numerous police killings of unarmed black men and teens, in disregard of studies showing racist patterns of police harassment and arrests, politicians have finally responded this year to say that something must change. But what hope remains for effective reform, let alone structural change, when in the face of reasoned criticism, police dig in their heels, claim they are under attack and, quite literally, turn their backs? It is the behavior of a bully, tongue out and fingers in ears when reprimanded. But this bully is an armed force. If police impunity accorded by the legal system is a problem, then the fraternal culture of reactionary defensiveness is a corollary obstacle to anything like justice. Consider all the police in Ferguson and elsewhere donning I am Darren Wilson in support of Mike Browns killer. This is frightening, because a force resistant to criticism is immune to change. This is the challenge that efforts to end police brutality face; banging heads against a blue wall. If police officers cannot see how they are read as a force for violence in many communities, then they can only act as enemies to those calling for an end to police violence; cops cannot end a brutality they do not, or will not, see. Even the slightest comprehension that De Blasios very tepid calls for police reform may have some basis would have stopped an officer turning his or her back at that funeral. But hundreds displayed no such comprehension at all.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 02:31:42 +0000
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