Police Misconduct — The Worst Case in August

Over at Cato’s Police Misconduct web site, we have identified the ‘worst case’ for August.


As you may have already guessed, it was the Ferguson Police Department. As the events in Ferguson played out during August, the police department there put on a clinic on how not to police a community. From the withholding of Darren Wilson’s name (he was the officer who shot Michael Brown six times), to brandishing weapons of war against a community expressing its anger and mourning through protest, and blatantly targeting journalists for arrest and assault, the events in Ferguson have shown just how disastrous poor policing can be to a community. If there is any silver lining to the situation, it is that people across the country have been presented with a good look at the consequences of when police misconduct goes unchecked and bad policies, like militarizing local police forces, are allowed to continue. Things were bad enough in Ferguson for them to collectively qualify as the worst police misconduct of August, but the situation will be much worse if the lessons of Ferguson are not learned and the mistakes not corrected in the future—and not just in Ferguson, but in similar towns around the country.


This week, Cato will be hosting two events related to Ferguson. More info on those here and here.


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Finally, a not-so-’honorable mention’ goes to the Denver police officer who tried to get out of his DUI arrest by telling the arresting officer “Bro, I’m a cop.” That he would even attempt such a ploy tells us something about the police subculture–where too many law enforcement officers come to believe that they are above the law. They aren’t, and the arresting officer did the right thing by getting a dangerous drunk driver off the streets—cop or not.