Ferguson riots tell a tale

The visions from Ferguson, Missouri, are frightening.

Auto parts stores, drug stores and other businesses in flames. Threatening crowds, some brandishing bottles and bricks, facing off against police with riot gear.

Even more frightening was the sight of flames and violence met in some cases with little or no resistance.

I have stood in the midst of riots-in-the-making that in some cases took turns for the worse. These instances were mostly in New York.

Many U.S. communities – including some local jurisdictions – have demonstrated that they learned from the mistakes of others. The laudable conduct of local authorities following the tragic death of 14-year-old Cameron Tillman in Houma, keeping a watchful eye but a light hand on impromptu demonstrations that occurred, is a textbook example of some of the good.

Continued dialogue between the police and the community, such as last month’s crime summit, is another example of the good that can occur.

My great fear is that the violence in Ferguson could cause our local authorities as well as police and policy-makers in other places to respond less effectively to lawful protest.

This is particularly important since the State Police report concerning the Tillman shooting has not yet been released, at least not as of this writing. Evidence points to a low likelihood of any finding that the deputy who shot Tillman committed an actual crime. The issue will in all likelihood be pursued in the civil courts.

But people who question the action should know that federal officials have been watching closely nonetheless.

There are key differences between the factors leading to the burning of Ferguson and situations surrounding the Tillman shooting. Those differences explain why the authorities in Missouri were less vigilant than they should have been. Ultimately it was their conduct that determined how far the violence might go. And there is ample evidence that they failed multiple tests.

The most important aspect, speaking for me personally, was the decision by authorities to make their announcement of a no true bill well after dark, on a day when nerves were already frayed just from the waiting.

What official seeking to fairly, impartially and responsibly run a community could decide “we have news that is going to make a lot of people angry. Let’s wait until well after dark, until most of the good people merely exercising their 1st Amendment rights are headed for home, to tell everyone the thing they want to hear least. Also, let’s use our forces to protect areas of the city we might consider more valuable, while letting the place where these people live – and by these people I indeed mean black people – burn if the people decide to make it burn.”

I monitored the police radios in Ferguson that night, and what struck me most was the calmness inherent in most of the transmissions. It was almost as if nobody was really surprised.

Pullouts of cops from specific areas were made, commanders said on the radios, for optimization of officer safety.

They were not done to keep the civilians safe, to keep the property safe, but to keep officers safe. And while most people who know me will tell you that I regard many law enforcement officers to be friends, I for on would not wish to see them putting their own safety before that of the community when possible. That is abdication and violation of their oath. My friends would not do such a thing.

Yes, the actions of the people who did violence should result in accountability. There should be prosecutions and there should be no free rides.

But in dealing with tense situations there also needs to be a degree of intelligence that overcomes the potential for mob violence, not just retreat or – perhaps worse – unchecked violence in return.

The members of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes law enforcement communities, for the most part, have shown themselves to be capable, even-handed and competent.

It is my belief that in the future, we should have no reason not to expect the same.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Times Senior Staff Writer John DeSantis is author of “The New Untouchables: How America Sanctions Police Violence” (Noble Press, Chicago, 1994) which examines police violence and community response to it in communities throughout the U.S.