In the hours before at least one sniper shot and killed five Dallas
police officers during a stunning ambush the night of July 7,
demonstrators marched peacefully and mingled cordially with officers
patrolling the downtown streets.
It was one of several demonstrations in cities across the country,
where hundreds gathered to protest the recent shooting deaths of two
black men by white police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Earlier in the evening, the Dallas Police Department tweeted a photo of
a demonstrator smiling with police in a crowded park. The protester
carried a sign reading: “No Justice, No Peace,” but he looked at ease
with the officers on duty.
It was one of the tragic ironies of the horror that followed: Shootings
by police officers in Dallas have dropped by 40 percent in the last
year. And complaints of excessive force dropped to a nearly 20-year low.
(In 2009, the department recorded 147 complaints. Near the end of last
year, it reported 13.)
Last fall, Chief David Brown said police accomplished the feat by
focusing on reality-based training: Trainers simulate real-life
exchanges recorded by officers’ dashboard and body cameras, and with
video captured by citizens. They aim to teach officers to de-escalate
tense encounters and reduce the need for deadly force.
Brown told The Dallas Morning News the results were “the most dramatic development in policing anywhere in the country.”
Other factors likely contributed to the decline in excessive force as
well. Some police said a drop in the number of officers limited their
ability to get to crime scenes in time to intervene in some cases, and
Brown acknowledged the dilemma. At least one criminologist told the
newspaper a more formal study might show how much the training affected
the statistics.
Still, at least one thing seemed clear: The Dallas PD was actively
trying to improve its record on shootings and on community relations,
and it was having some success.
No police department is perfect, but even in its extreme grief, the
Dallas PD may offer an example for other departments grappling with
officers involved in a rash of controversial shootings.
In Baton Rouge, La., federal authorities are investigating the death of
Alton Sterling, a black man shot multiple times by police officers on
July 5.
In Minnesota, a white police officer shot Philando Castile five times
in his car after pulling him over for a traffic stop. Castile’s
fiancee—sitting in the passengers’ seat—caught the aftermath on video.
Castile was a cafeteria supervisor at a local elementary school. Outside
the school, parents grieved his death and a somber dad held a sign:
“Mr. Phil fed my children.”
Back in Dallas, police said the gunmen told them he targeted officers
that night because they were white, and because he was upset by the
recent shootings in other states.
Brown struggled for a response: “Our profession is hurting. Dallas
officers are hurting. We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe
the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is that this must
stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens.”
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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