By
While the U of L debate team argued the issue of police brutality vesus citizen empowerment Friday afternoon, many students were deciding which clubs to hit that night. Unless they later got roughly tossed in the drunk tank, they probably didn’t think twice about police misconduct.
Thirteen civilians have been killed by Louisville Metro Police officers since 1998, and a flawed system of investigation and prosecution is blamed for waning public trust. Whether individual cases were justifiable shootings is not the issue. The problem arises when the LMPD investigates its own innocence or guilt.
That seven of the 13 killed were African-American may or may not be due to “institutionalized racism.” Regardless, the police have a responsibility to make all citizens in their care feel safe and comfortable in their own city.
An empowered citizen review board, two debaters argued, would allow civilians a voice in deciding the fate of officers who may be acting well outside basic concern for their safety in the line of duty.
One counter argument was that an outside investigation would not necessarily mean stricter punishment of officers. The officers in question were suspended and tried, but not convicted by civilian juries of their peers. A police department beholden to a civilian review board might also be hog-tied to no good purpose.
But these issues are moot if the public is disaffected. Thin attendance at Friday’s debate was indicative of the lack of interest among students. If college students -— an idealistic and civic-minded lot — aren’t concerned about police shooting civilians at the rate of almost two per year, how much can, say, East End soccer moms or workers at the Ford plant really care? Any further dialogue on LMPD brutality will be fruitless unless it addresses apathy.
