Below is a video of Seattle police officers abusing a robbery suspect, a man they later realized was innocent. The suspect appears to be of Mexican descent, at least to one of the officers who threatened to "beat the fucking Mexican piss out of you, homey!"
Predictably, law enforcement apologists will insist: (1) police officers face dangers that non-cops can't understand, and this justifies stomping on the head of seemingly cooperative suspects who engage in the slightest voluntary or involuntary movement while detained, and (2) the "beat the fucking Mexican piss of you, homey" epithet was an aberration, something unlike anything ever uttered by a Seattle police officer.
Yeah, sure. And I'll bet the other four officers nearby were shocked, SHOCKED! by the racist slur, and reported it immediately to their supervisors.
The attitude that leads to this type of behavior isn't usually racism per se, but the us vs. them mentality that pervades so much of law enforcement. When people lacking ethics and human decency have this attitude, it is easy to rationalize abusive behavior, racist comments, and most anything else (including lying in police reports and while testifying under oath) on the basis that "the guy [suspect/arrestee/defendant] is a fucking dirtbag."
I'm not suggesting that the "us vs. them" phenomenon is unique to law enforcement. It isn't. People from all walks of life do it. But it is uniquely dangerous when the "us" side has enormous legal power to arrest, beat, shoot and help convict people from the "them" side.
And even when police officers are decent enough to never personally engage in the worst conduct shown on the video, that doesn't mean they'll be sufficiently outraged when they witness it to do anything but ignore it. Why? As New York blogger Scott Greenfield recently explained, it is simply human nature for people to support their own team:
Sometimes you believe that your team is more right than wrong. Sometimes you believe that your team has to beak a few rules or laws to accomplish the greater good. Other times, you just slough it off when people on your team do wrong because, well, they're your teammates and it's your team. Loyalty to the team is paramount, as you expect that loyalty in return.
Videos like the one in Seattle continue to surface with increasing frequency, thanks largely to ubiquitous recording devices that catch officers unaware, as well as the Internet, which publicizes misconduct without cost or censorship. This is a good thing. People behave better when they know they might get caught. And an informed populace is less likely to excuse bad conduct based on lame, after-the-fact justifications.
I suspect that as these videos are seen with more regularity, our jury pools will be a little more critical of police officer testimony, and less inclined to accept it based solely on the witness's occupation.
you use the word "ubiquitous." That is a long and arduous word. Neemee neemee.