A reflection on policing: What we got wrong this year

The language of police reform is the language of rehabilitation. Of taking a sick, twisted, and deformed system and restoring it to a new shape, or closer to some platonic ideal. All of the language about “accountability” and finally punishing police officers for acting badly is part of the conversation around reform. The wave of support for body cameras and dashboard cameras, as well as accountability reforms pushed by folks at places like the ACLU and Campaign Zero are part of this conversation, as is the idea of “community policing.”

I joined Daily Kos a few months ago raring to dig deep into these issues, and to keep vigilant and ensure that the daily police beatings, shootings, and killings were not swept under the rug, as they had been in the past. The number of people who have been killed is terrifying and at the same time numbing to some degree, especially to a black man who has faced police violence and still walks in fear of police. However, there were some positive developments to hold on to. The media, long complicit in police violence, has at least begun in some corners to push to hold officers accountable and to track bad policing. Efforts like the Washington Post and The Guardian’s police killing trackers are unprecedented, and even they are pale imitations of the kinds of tracking that should be kept by governing bodies. These efforts show that there is some good momentum, largely spurred by Black Lives Matter activists, that can actually install some measures of accountability. That is one thing to look forward to in 2016.

But the recent decision not to indict Cleveland officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback for the death of Tamir Rice and the long string of non-indictments that this decision joins reinforce a simple, stark fact: Police still kill with near-impunity. There has been some progress, but the progress has involved going from shades of impossible to improbable. Most officers still are not even disciplined for terrible complaints, and those who are receive slaps on the wrist for things like rape and sexual assault. Some officers are treated like heroes for killing people, and at the end of the day, very few are actually charged for anything. While the number of cops charged in killings tripled this year—with the margins all involving video—that number still sits at an absurdly low 16 officers nationally. Out of nearly 1,000 officer-involved killings this year, 100 of which were of unarmed citizens, it is simply unconscionable that fewer than 20 officers even faced charges. In this case, the data helps, but also finally illuminates just how terrible we have been at even beginning to hold cops accountable.