A somewhat obscure author of a much-forgotten book struck lexicon gold once with the quote “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Gerald Seymour was writing about the violence and murders during the “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland and Britain when he coined the phrase in Harry’s Game, a fictional story of a police officer’s hunt for an IRA assassin and the sometimes-blurred lines between crime and politics.
Caught between political forces, the police in the United Kingdom and Great Britain found themselves in between the political reality of divided perspectives. To one side they provided law enforcement and to the other, oppression.
Over 3400 people died during The Troubles, a third of whom were British soldiers and RUC constables. This is an astonishing statistic when compared to today and a testament to British restraint and frequent targeted IRA tactics, although I know a few Irish friends who disagree with me.
Regardless though, so damaged was the relationship between the RUC and a significant portion of the Northern Irish population that the historic Good Friday Agreement, masterfully brokered by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell in 1998, required the closing of the RUC. It would take three years before the RUC was fully decommissioned and replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001, which serves all the people of Northern Ireland today.
Unfortunately, the 2020’s have brought a similar polarization and consequentially more politicization of US policing.
The recent inauguration of Donald Trump was on its face a celebration of public safety. His inaugural address included the words “under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the Constitution and the rule of law. And we are going to bring law and order back to our cities”
Later, at the indoor inauguration parade, the lead units were a police color guard followed by a procession of police and firefighters from various departments who were greeted with a standing ovation by President Trump and loud cheers from the crowd.
And yet, a few hours later President Trump issued “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to 1,500 of the individuals convicted for a variety of offenses related to the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 during the Electoral College certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Amongst them were individuals convicted of assaults on 140 police officers from the Capitol Police and District of Columbia Metro Police Department. These were assaults that in most cases the perpetrators both pleaded guilty and allocuted to their involvement as well as acknowledging and showing regret for their actions. In-short, they made a full confession and repudiated their acts.
Despite this, many Trump supporters treat the Jan 6 incident as a sort of political Alamo whose participants are honored while their critics, the police, and prosecutors, are reviled as progressive stooges or members of the DC “swamp”.
Some progressives have their own Alamo, namely the BLM riots in 2020 over the killing of George Floyd by then Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020.
According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association post incident analysis and report, 8700 protests took place in the wake of the Floyd incident including 574 that involved acts of violence. The largest protest included 60,000 participants. 51 percent were deemed by the MCCA to have been “peaceful and lawful,” while the rest were not.
Amongst the violence documented were acts of looting, arson, property destruction, and assaults (including assaults on peace officers, bystanders, protesters, and counter protesters). 2,037 police officers were injured and 97 police cars were torched. In Minneapolis, the Police Department’s 3rd Precinct was destroyed by arson. Even firefighters weren’t spared as in many instances they were forced from the scenes of fires by rock throwing crowds who in some cases even burned firetrucks and equipment.
The Guardian reported that the vast majority of Floyd protestors had their cases dismissed and the Department of Justice reported just 300 cases filed nationwide in 2020. No statistics of convictions have been released.
It appears that for some on both sides, a crime against a public officer is no crime at all if it furthers your cause. The exploitation and use of the police and police function of the state as a political tool is not over.
Next month, the MCCA will hold their winter meeting in Washington, DC. Hopefully, in addition to their closed-door sessions, there will be opportunities to meet with legislative and executive interlocutors to discuss and reevaluate the relationship of the police with the American people.
In short, we need the statesmanship of a 21st century George Mitchell.
Policing in the United States is hard enough already.
Steve Smith is a senior fellow in urban studies at the Pacific Research Institute.
