Police ‘Use of force’ is state-sanctioned violence

June 7, 2020 by Fred Allebach

Before “law and order” there was the age of honor and revenge killing. “Use of force” was in our own hands and the toughest guys prevailed. In the revenge era, there was no objective standard for use of force agreed to by everybody. Generally, those with the most force and the biggest alliances won.

Enter “law and order.” Citizens and members of society voluntarily gave up settling disputes through personal use of force and delegated enforcement to policing entities and judgment to courts of law. State-sanctioned use of force is an agreement to base enforcement on fair laws everyone has to obey.

In the U.S., laws are based on the federal and state constitutions. These constitutions appear as fair documents that outline the rights of all. The only trouble is that these constitutions elided slavery and disenfranchised women, and men without property. The law and use of force were biased right from the start. Take-home point: the law enforcement needs ongoing oversight to keep it fair for all, if all men were created equal… 

 In history, authoritarians have usurped the law, destroyed its fairness, tipped the scales of justice, and used it for personal and partisan gain. This is an age-old human tradition. US history is not exempt and has been an unfortunate, 400-year saga of overt discrimination against people of color, culminating with a president whose strategy to keep power is to divide the country against itself based on racial antagonisms.

 In the Post WWII Nixonian law-and-order period, blacks and other people of color have been unfairly abused and singled out for police enforcement and incarcerated at extreme, disproportionate rates. Use of force has been a terrible tool used not in service of justice but of racial discrimination. Simply walking down the street, birding, or driving while black can result in death. As if a person’s skin color signifies something about their essential character as human beings.

Frankly, justice has not been blind in the U.S., and use of force (state-sanctioned violence) has served to subjugate and terrorize people of color for centuries. This reign of terror holds for all the former colonial powers. The history of colonialism is a shameful stain on western civilization. Today, those whites (liberal and conservative) who have benefited from systemic racism are firmly in control of the system and see all, including police status quo, as normal. This tacit, unexamined privilege has to change now. Justice, power, and good jobs must be shared equitably. Real comity must be cultivated around the dinner tables of all.  

This essay is leading up to the horrific murder of George Floyd. We need increased citizen oversight of police powers. Sonoma County has already had the Andy Lopez shooting. Based on this tragedy the county Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach or IOLERO was created. 

It turns out the Sheriff’s Office and a Board of Supervisors majority did not really want to cooperate with or delegate power to IOLERO. Citizens oversight was seen as a burden; the need for reform was minimized. In light of George Floyd and Andy Lopez, the existing signature campaign for a ballot initiative to strengthen IOLERO’s mandate takes on more urgency. Please sign this petition. What this effort amounts to is that citizens are demanding their rightful and proper oversight role on police powers and use of force. Citizens and society members are, after all, the ones who grant and delegate this power. It’s time.  

 On a related track, with the imbroglio of Sheriff Essick’s on and off non-enforcement of C-19 legal health orders, it is unclear if the Sheriff is part of the Constitutional Sheriff’s movement that supports ignoring select state laws, and perhaps adhering to racially biased and Nativist interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. Do we want a Joe Arpaio-type Sheriff in the liberal North Bay? Do we want a Sheriff who will strictly adhere to and enforce state law like the SB-54 California Values Act to protect immigrants from a racist ICE? Do we want the Sheriff to be a selective interpreter or an impartial enforcer of state laws? Does the Sheriff’s Office need more legal oversight? If you think so, please sign the IOLERO petition.     

 At the end of the day, we at the county, state, and federal levels need to shift our priorities away from crime, surveillance, and punishment, and more towards common humanity, fostering systemic equity, and health, and safety in our communities.