I attended a meeting of the Eureka City Council this afternoon which allowed for public input along with statements from the Eureka Police Department. The rhetoric of the EPD was of the usual indignant self indulgent sort as were the comments of the couple of citizens who stood up for them. That no one should question their actions until all the “facts” are in and that only they are qualified to supply the facts and investigate themselves. That is the sort of simplistic illogic seen in very young children, hard core drug addicts and mental patients. Another argument advanced by the authoritarian side is that the boy was disobedient hence it was all right to kill him. One man advancing that insane notion stated that his children never disobeyed him. That may or may not be true but I’ll bet they learn to lie at a very young age…as a matter of survival. The simplistic nature and audacity of these arguments betray the fact that they are accustomed to never having to answer any dissenting argument, that their statements are automatically accepted as above reproach, no matter how unlikely or even impossible and also that the very honor on which such immunity is based is not deserved. I am fond of saying “Respect; If you don’t command it, don’t demand it.”
On the other side of the issue, the pro-democracy supporters demanded a fair accounting by someone outside of the group of perpetrators of this heinous crime. The idea that only police have the qualifications to investigate themselves is outrageous. The fact that law enforcement operates as an anti-democracy enforcement agency that places itself above the law is made very clear by the statements they make as well as by their actions. That they can put this child on trial in such a hearing after he has already been tried, convicted and executed by some IQ capped* policeman is not only an overwhelming affront to democracy itself but clear evidence that we can not depend on them for protection and strong evidence of why this country has such a huge crime rate while our jails and prisons are filled to the bursting point with petty offenders and the totally innocent that some cop decided he didn’t like the looks of**. Our prisons and jails are filled at a rate that far surpasses that of any other country on earth both per capita and in raw numbers. Several citizens voiced a commonly held idea that police should receive more training, have better negotiating skills and more non lethal forms of defense. It was also noted that they were not protecting anyone when this child was shot, almost certainly including the officer who unloaded the fatal round into young Mr. Burgess’ heart.
*“IQ capped”; The practice of barring intelligent people from becoming police officers. One man sued the New London, Connecticut police department after he was rejected for scoring too high on an IQ test in one high profile case. He lost in federal court which stated that it was not discrimination since it was applied to all police officer applicants. If you go to this link on the story you will also find that the test is standard and given in police departments all over.
**”Profiling”; The practice of targeting people based on a dress code, skin color, economic status or other superficial attribute.