Blue Wall of Shame: St. Louis Sergeant Calls Out Cowardly Cops After George Floyd Killing
In my almost 20 years of law enforcement, I have never witnessed something so heinous and evil as the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department. The indifference former Officer Derek Chauvin and his former colleagues showed Mr. Floyd as he repeatedly said, ‘I can’t breathe’ is something I will never forget. It was surreal and enough to make me cry because once again, the life of a Black man had absolutely no value to law enforcement.
Chauvin kneeled on Mr. Floyd’s neck for eight minutes as Mr. Floyd gasped for the last breath of life. All the while, three other officers and even a medic had no sense of urgency to save him. They took no immediate action to preserve the life of a human being. Most police departments have a protocol in place that deems strikes or force to the neck as deadly force, and neck restraints are no longer used, especially in light of the killing of Eric Garner in New York. The Minneapolis officers should have left George Floyd in the police car, because honestly, that was the safest place for him to be.
Rightfully, protests began in several cities. The Ethical Society of Police Twitter timeline was flooded with videos. Founded in 1972 by Black officers to fight racism in the St. Louis City Police Department and other communities, we've received cell phone videos of officers abusing their authority while other officers around them watched and failed to take action. The Ethical Society of Police have approximately 320 members in the St. Louis area who remain vocal advocates for police accountability locally and nationally. We are also heavily involved in community outreach with local organizations. Unlike most, we don’t often share those moments for photo opportunities.
In 2016, we published a 112-page Comprehensive Evaluation on the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department that outlined the difference in policing in Black neighborhoods compared to white and wealthy communities, bad police policy, structural racism with police discipline, and other biases in the St. Louis City Police Department. We we will not excuse officers, no matter their race, when we fail to take action to help others.
I’m a part of the Ethical Society of Police for several reasons, but first and foremost is because I understand what the relatives of these unarmed Black men and women who have died by the hands of white violence are feeling. My aunt was murdered by a Black Deputy Marshall in 1993. He only received a three year sentence for her death. It is what fuels my fight now as president of the organization.
One of the first egregious actions by law enforcement I’ve seen over the last few days was a video of a young woman violently shoved to the ground, and knocked unconscious by a New York City Police Officer. He walked away after the incident with his commanding officer standing next to him who took no action to help this woman or to correct the behavior of the officer.
I also watched a video of a woman on the ground covering her face. She was kicked in the chest by an unidentified officer, who was surrounded by several other officers who took no action to help the woman or to hold the officer accountable for his use of force to subdue her. After seeing these videos, I was frustrated and infuriated at the officers for being so cowardly. Those same officers often want to be labeled as heros by the public, but none of them intervened on this woman’s behalf.
As the protest around the country continued, there are now other videos of a Louisville Police Officer firing pepper-spray and bullets at news reporters, a Minneapolis Police Officer spraying bystanders with pepper spray who were doing nothing, another Minneapolis Officer opening his car door to strike a pedestrian, and Minnesota State Police arrested a CNN Reporter who was actually doing his job, reporting while on the air and received no explanation of his charges.
When I’ve talked with my colleagues, who are current and retired officers around the country, most were angry by the indifference shown to Mr. Floyd. This was right after the murders of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbery, in Georgia and like many others, we were disgusted and heartbroken, yet again.
Our collective sentiment is that Ahmaud’s only crime was jogging while Black, and for it, he was hunted down and killed by three thugs with guns. Then the inevitable attempt to assassinate his character came with the release of video from petty incidents as if this justified him being killed years later.
The murder of Breonna Taylor by Louisville Police Department during a no-knock warrant was gut-wrenching. And, yes, I wrote murder although charges have yet to be filed against those officers because that’s what it was. No-knock warrants are dangerous, even more so when officers conducting the warrant have not done their homework on the target of the warrant. Reading news reports that stated the target didn’t live in the home and was already in custody places the blame squarely on the Louisville Police Department.
This case immediately made me recall when a Black officer in Houston added false information on a search warrant which resulted in two victims dying. That officer, Gerald Goines, was rightfully charged with two counts of murder and for lying in a search warrant. Why haven’t the officers in Breonna Taylor’s case facing similar murder charges, yet? Is it because they are white?
In the last four days, I’ve seen glimpses of hope with officers who are taking the time and effort to engage the people they encounter. Some have gone so far as to take a knee. My hope is that these aren’t carefully staged photo opps but instead genuine olive branches to calm the public and diffuse tensions. If so, I say kudos to those officers.
However, what is going to help more than anything are officers who are willing to be bold enough to take action in the moment. Officers who will step in to prevent a heartless killer like Derek Chauvin from taking the life of a man who repeatedly pleaded that he could not breathe.
For days I’ve watched video after video of officers behaving inhumanely with no acts of accountability pushed against them. Then to my relief, I saw a Black female officer from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department who was genuinely fed up. One of her officers engaged a crowd of protesters. He was agitated, shouting at them, and pushed a young lady who had her hands up in surrender position. Then something remarkable happened and that Black female officer intervened. She took action, pushing her colleague away before he could do more harm. She did what the officers in Minneapolis should have done, and for that, I have a bit of renewed hope in law enforcement.
I’m still cautious because we are only on the start to a long road of much needed change. We must have more minorities joining the force to provide a perspective that isn’t often at the table when decisions about policies are being made. Even with more minorities, it doesn’t mean we as people of color can’t become someone’s worst nightmare as well. The reality is to dismantle the blue code of silence and in my opinion, this is the way to start:
- Police disciplinary records should be public for all public servants.
- Remove qualified immunity because too many police officers hide behind it to murder citizens.
- Decertify officers fired under internal and criminal charges.
- Give mandatory implicit bias courses before hiring police candidates to remove unfit candidates before they are employed as officers.
- Establish a Minority Recruitment Police Program to attract and hire candidates from underserved communities.
- Establish whistleblower protections that will encourage officers to break the blue code of silence and report police corruption.
- Establish a national database on officer discipline.
- Employ social workers to handle and assist on all mental wellness calls where officers are often too poorly trained to assist.
- Establish on-going psychological examinations; most are only given at the point of hiring.
And finally, we, as officers, hold the answer to police brutality. The change is possible, but we all have to be a part of the solution to make it happen.
Detective Sergeant Heather Taylor has been a member of the St. Louis Police Department for 20 years come September 11, 2020 and the President of the Ethical Society of Police. After retirement, she plans to attend law school and become a civil rights and labor attorney and work in the underserved communities in the St. Louis area.
BET has been covering every angle of George Floyd’s death in police custody, other social justice cases and the subsequent aftermath and protests. For our continuing coverage, click here.
