Tony Webster
The scene where office Jeronimo Yanez shot and killed Philando Castile in a car after pulling him over in a suburb outside of St. Paul on July 6, 2016.
Many years ago, during my first week on the street after graduating from the police academy, my partner (also a recent graduate) and I received a bank robbery call. Like most alarm calls, it turned out to be false. So I went back to our squad and picked up my partner, who had positioned himself on the far side of the building.
As we cleared the call and drove away, we saw our sergeant on foot. As we stopped to pick him up, I noticed that my partner was uncontrollably shaking. The sergeant, who had gotten into the back seat, noticed the same thing. He leaned forward and said, “Son, are you sure you want to do this kind of work?”
The next day, my partner resigned. My sergeant knew right away what the recruiting and training systems had failed to reveal—this man should not be a police officer.
When I saw the outcome of the Minnesota trial involving last summer’s shooting of Philando Castile, I thought of my old sergeant and what he would have said to Officer Jeronimo Yanez. Some people just aren’t cut out to do be a cop, because it requires maturity, intelligence, and self-control.
The law today basically says if a police officer fears for their life, they can use deadly force. That works well if police are mature, are self-controlled, and make good judgments in dangerous, fear-provoking situations. Average persons are not asked to do this. But we don’t need average people to be our police—we need those who are above average.
Police shoot and kill about 1,000 persons a year in our nation; that’s two to three each day. Is that too many? Of course it is.
Police get a pass if they “feared for their life,” because the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Graham v. Connor sets the bar quite low. Some have called this decision “lawful, but awful.”
Police, like Officer Yanez, get a pass when and if they are charged with murder or manslaughter. That’s because the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Graham v. Connor sets the bar quite low. Some have called this decision “lawful, but awful.” If a police officer can articulate that he or she “feared for their life” at the time they shot, they are usually exonerated.
As a nation, we should be working to prevent these deaths from happening. Both the recent Task Force on 21st Century Policing and the Police Executive Research Forum (of which I have been a longtime member) has recommended steps toward this end. Communities need to implement these recommendations now.
The focus should be not putting cops in jail but on working to reduce how often they are engaged in fatal shootings. This would build support and trust in communities and make police jobs safer.
One basic question is whether police involved in these questionable shootings should continue to be employed. In Officer Yanez’s case, he was found not guilty by jury, yet fired by his department. Many people in that Minnesota community were outraged by the court’s decision. So work must be done to make sure the wrong people don’t become our police and the right people are properly trained and supervised. We must agree, police and community members alike, what is an effective, community-oriented police officer. Police must lead this discussion.
Watching the dashcam video of Officer Yanez’s deadly encounter with Philando Castile raises some red flags for me as a veteran police officer. Other actions could have been taken by Officer Yanez rather than taking Castile’s life.
Let’s look at this tactically: Yanez, a trained police officer stops, approaches a vehicle and sees a male driver, Castile, a young woman in the front seat, and young child in the back. Castile tells the officer he has a permit and is carrying a firearm. Castile does not respond to the officer’s direction and reaches back to his waist. Every officer should know this is a potentially dangerous situation; dangerous to the officer and three other people.
Now what? What are the officer’s options?
One: The officer responds by pulling out his firearm, pointing it at Castile and yelling commands. Somehow, Castile does not respond. Is he confused? Hard of hearing? He does not heed the officer’s commands and Castile appears to reach back to his waist or pocket. Firearm or driver’s license? The officer’s firearm is already pointed at Castile. The officer is confused, then fearful. He shoots Castile multiple times. Castile dies. The officer goes to trial and loses his job.
Two: The officer immediately makes a tactical retreat for cover and calls for backup. This situation is now a “high-risk felony stop,” which every officer should have been trained to conduct. The officer raises his voice and shouts commands to Castile to exit the vehicle. Castile now senses the dangerous situation he is in and obeys the orders. He throws his ignition keys out of the window, and exits the vehicle as ordered. The officer has stabilized and controlled the situation. No one dies. No trial. No loss of job.
Three: When Castile informs the officer he has a firearm in his possession, the officer immediately realizes this is a time to stabilize a potentially dangerous situation. In a controlled and deliberate manner, the officer asks Castile to place his hands on the steering wheel and keep them there. The officer respectfully tells Castile that he needs to disarm him for everyone’s safety and check out his concealed carry permit before returning the weapon to him. The officer tells Castile what he is going to do before he does it in a calm, yet authoritative voice. Castile complies. No one dies. No trial. No loss of job.
Being a police officer is a difficult job. It always has been. But now millions of Americans have watched our police placed under a public microscope and uploaded into the world of Facebook and YouTube. These videos have demonstrated that being a cop is a tough job and that what was once standard operating procedure can be no more. Things must change and improve and today’s police must commit themselves to making the sanctity of life the core of what they do. And that means slowing things down, deescalating, and not being so quick to shoot.
Today’s police must be solid, educated, well-trained, respectful, and emotionally controlled. Citizens need to demand this and work with their police and community leaders to assure this happens and that they select and train the best and most mature men and women to be their police officers. It’s that important. Our nation deserves a great police—and today’s police deserve the chance to be great officers.
David C. Couper was chief of police in Madison, Wisconsin, from 1972 to 1993. Since his retirement, he has attended seminary and was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. He is the author of Arrested Development: A Veteran Police Chief Sounds Off About Protest, Racism, Corruption and the Seven Steps Necessary to Improve Our Nation’s Police (2012) and How to Rate Your Local Police (2015). He blogs at “Improving Police.”