Legitimate concerns about police tactics, locally and nationally

Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, September 25, 2014.

Whether Wilmington Police Cpl. James C. Johnson's actions during an April arrest constituted criminal behavior is a matter before the court. He will be well represented – his lawyer specializes in representing police officers in personnel and criminal matters – and will get every benefit of the doubt available in our justice system. The prosecution will have to prove its case, in which a veteran police officer is the accused and a teenage suspect with a criminal record is the alleged victim. That's a high bar to clear.

But there is more here than whether a crime was committed. Police deal with suspects, victims and the general public every day. In doing their jobs they often are subject to verbal abuse and physical violence, but are expected to maintain professional demeanor.

That is difficult, particularly when a suspect aggressively resists arrest, as Johnson's lawyer contends the young suspect in this case did. The officer's conduct came to light during review of the dashcam video. District Attorney Ben David was concerned enough by what he saw to call in the State Bureau of Investigation. A New Hanover County grand jury indicted Johnson in June.

Based on a written account of the as-yet-unreleased video, Johnson placed his hands on the back of 16-year-old Tyrell Rivers' neck while the suspect was seated and handcuffed in the patrol car and then asked him, "Do you want to die tonight?" His lawyer, J. Michael McGuinness, contends the action was appropriate but could be misconstrued by untrained eyes as a choking. Rivers, he said, was out of control.

If the account is accurate, the officer's statement was threatening and unquestionably unprofessional. "Dirty Harry" should not be the model for dealing with suspects, even belligerent ones.

This incident is part of a troubling pattern in which Wilmington police officers have been more aggressive in their use of force. WPD officers have been involved in a number of shootings, several of them fatal, since last October. While criminal charges were not filed, legitimate questions have been raised about what type of training police have in alternatives to deadly force, which should be a last resort.

This summer the department took disciplinary action in a case involving excessive force in the arrest of an intoxicated and uncooperative suspect whose head was slammed against a patrol car. And the department made some changes in its canine unit after an officer pushed his police dog through a car window to attack a car-chase suspect who appeared to be surrendering.

These cases and others are local examples of a national call to review training and conduct of police officers in dealing with suspects.

They also lend credence to calls for more personal and dash-mounted cameras, which could protect officers from false accusations as well as identify police who overstep their authority.

Police officers are entrusted with considerable responsibility and must do their jobs under difficult and potentially dangerous circumstances. But in facing those challenges they must not resort to bully tactics, or worse.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20140925/ARTICLES/140929814/1108/editorial?template=printart