I am a huge supporter of professional, competent, trained, and accountable law enforcement agencies. In particular, city law enforcement personnel who are often tasked with confronting volatile and, at times, dangerous situations.
In my experience, the vast majority of law enforcement professionals are honorable individuals doing their job to the best of their abilities. We have seen exemplary examples of this by the responses of the Capitol Police during the Jan. 6 terrorist attack and the recent responses of Minneapolis law enforcement personnel to the executions of American citizens by ICE.
Which is why I find those who believe law enforcement professionals are above reproach to be not only an exercise in cognitive dissonance but dangerous to our democracy.
We have seen numerous examples to disprove this alarming belief. On Sept. 19, an ICE agent fired pepper balls at a Presbyterian pastor who was peacefully demonstrating. On Sept. 30, masked, unidentifiable federal agents, without warrants or probable cause, descend on a Chicago apartment building. The agents broke down the doors, removed babies, young children, and American citizens. Numerous reports state both American citizens and children were zip-tied. On Oct. 7, an ICE agent is caught on camera aiming a weapon at a resident peacefully documenting ICE activity. Within the last two weeks in Minneapolis we have seen a peacefully protesting pastor handcuffed, taunted and had a gun pointed in his face, and two American citizens executed at point-blank range.
Sadly, instances of law enforcement misconduct are not limited to ICE. It was widely reported the White House border czar and head of ICE accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents. Moreover, over a six-year period, 1,643 Chicago police officers (roughly 7% of the force) had engaged in misconduct, including excessive force and false arrest, costing city taxpayers $419.7 million. Failure to hold law enforcement accountable mocks the American belief that no one is above the law.
I believe our country has already crossed the Rubicon. Poorly trained and ill-tempered ICE agents have resulted in widespread accusations of misconduct and at least two dead Americans. According to the conservative Cato Institute, of those people detained by ICE, “nearly three in four (73%) had no criminal conviction.”
The most effective way to defend the integrity of law enforcement agencies is for those 90-95% of professional and competent law enforcement personnel to hold their unfit colleagues accountable. Failure to do so will continue America’s descent into authoritarianism. The actions of poorly trained and unaccountable ICE agents resemble Pinochet’s Chile and Duterte’s Philippines rather than the America that was the light on the hill.
We expect a level of competency, professionalism, and accountability from our educators, government employees, medical professionals, and every other person we engage with in a professional capacity. Why wouldn’t we expect the same from the people who have the guns?
Support SB2820.
Shawn Lewis
