Sensationalism for a Month, Inner City Devastation Forever

As May of 2015 concluded, it went down in history as one of Baltimore’s deadliest months, with more homicides than any other since 1972. It took less than half an hour before the city witnessed yet another homicide, its first for the month of June, and then another one occurred just two hours later. Shootings in May have doubled when compared to those during the same month in 2014. While fourteen people were murdered in March, the month preceding the Baltimore riots, that rate has more than tripled this May.

Meanwhile, only 1,177 arrests were made, compared to the 3,801 made that same month just one year ago before both the Ferguson and Baltimore riots.

Who could have possibly imagined that?

Unfortunately, it is impossible to watch the news on mainstream media networks without being wholeheartedly convinced that police officers are cold-blooded killers compelled exclusively by racist intentions. To be sure, I believe as much as anyone out there that any police killing of unarmed, innocent civilians is an inexcusable tragedy that must be prevented. Police departments need to make certain that their officers are well trained and ready to handle any situation properly. However, no one should be surprised by the outcomes of these riots and the demonization of law enforcement that has run rampant through our nation these past ten months.

The death of Michael Brown in Ferguson set off a movement based on a tall tale that the greatest danger for every young black man in America is being gunned down by a police officer simply for being black. Before any evidence could even be examined, every journalist in the mainstream media and politician on the left jumped on the opportunity to exploit the events in Ferguson and the many subsequent others. Few admitted to partaking in this, but MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart bravely apologized for “marching under the banner of a false narrative” and wrote the following in his Washington Post editorial.

“What DOJ found made me ill. Wilson knew about the theft … and had a description of the suspects. Brown fought with the officer and tried to take his gun. And the popular hands-up storyline, which isn’t corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements, was perpetuated by Witness 101.”

It should be no surprise that crime rates in these areas are at an all-time high. As a 12 year law enforcement veteran in Baltimore told CNN about officer morale, “It’s in the sewers. It’s down. It’s the worst I have seen in my career… officers have slowed their response to 911 calls. And when they do answer, they often travel in groups of three or four out of fear for their safety and of being accused of wrongdoing… Officers stopped being proactive, I believe it is the direct result of officers holding back.” As Police Commissioner Anthony Batts explains, every time officers respond to a call, they are faced “with crowds of 30 to 50 people” surrounding them, angrily shouting at them, and “sticking cameras inches away from their faces.” Heather Mac Donald further describes from her investigation that law enforcement agents are worried that “a good-faith error may now lead to a criminal indictment. Cell phone videos may capture only their own use of force and not a suspect’s resistance to an arrest.” And unfortunately, officers recognize that if any incident were to occur, their entire lives would be on the line. Their fates, however, would no longer be decided by due process with an unbiased jury. Instead, their entire futures would be placed in the hands of the half this nation waiting eagerly to capitalize on every opportunity to emotionalize and sensationalize white on black police brutality. Just recently, an officer in Missouri was forced to be shot at several times even though he knew the suspect had a weapon. He would have easily been justified in shooting the suspect, but out of fear of becoming the next Darren Wilson, he explained, his instinct led him to wait until he was shot at first.

Sadly, this crisis is not limited to Baltimore or Ferguson. The overbearing spotlight that has been cast on race relations and policing in our country has affected every part of this nation. As a Los Angeles police officer explains, every officer in the country knows that they are “just one critical incident away” from having their lives ruined – “all it takes is one YouTube video and you’re done. Why risk it?” Understandably, not all officers are willing to be shot at and many will rationally abstain from policing the way they had just months ago. Indeed, as of just mid-May, shootings and other violent felonies in Los Angeles had spiked by 25 percent, murders in Atlanta were up almost one-third, shootings in Chicago had increased 24 percent and homicides 17 percent.