In the wake of the tragic execution-style murders of two NYPD police officers by a gunman retaliating against pigs for the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner the question of blame has arisen. Of course, the full legal responsibility is the shooters. He was reportedly mentally disturbed and is now dead by suicide.
Patrolmens Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch has tried to cast blame more broadly, charging there is blood on many hands, from those that incited violence under the guise of protest to try to tear down what police officers do every day. That blood on the hands starts at the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor. Former New York governor George Pataki went even further, tweeting: Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder & #mayordeblasio. #NYPD.
Others can debate whether Mayor Bill de Blasio bears any moral responsibility. In this post, I want to focus on Attorney General Eric Holder asking not the abstract philosophical question of what responsibility he might theoretically share, but rather the concrete practical question of what he can do to help prevent such tragedies in the future.
It seems fair to say that a poisonous environment about police officers appears to have contributed, at least in some measure, to Saturdays shooter believing that the deaths of Brown and Garner had to be avenged. At the very least, the attorney general can help address that environment.
The attorney general is, of course, our nations top law enforcement official. In the wake of the deaths, he released this statement that our nation must always honor the valor and the sacrifices of all law enforcement officers with a steadfast commitment to keeping them safe. Hindsight is always 20/20, so I want to look prospectively at seven specific steps the attorney general can and should take now to help restore confidence in law enforcement and thus honor that steadfast commitment to making officers as safe as possible.
1. Send 30 representatives from the administration to the officers funerals.
Holder should send 30 representatives to the slain officers funerals. Why 30? Symbols matter here. The administration sent three representatives to Browns funeral. That choice was (to put it mildly) a curious one. To give Holder and the administration the benefit of the doubt, the circumstances back in August were not entirely clear. But now the facts are in including reliable physical evidence and credible eyewitness testimony demonstrating that Brown assaulted a police officer and likely tried to kill him twice. I hope the administration regrets sending official representatives to the funeral of young man who may well have attempted to murder a police officer. While all deaths are tragic, a vast difference exists between the death of a robber charging a law enforcement officer and the deaths of two police officers gunned down in the line of duty while monitoring a dangerous neighborhood. The attorney general should make that difference clear by sending ten-fold the number of representatives to Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramoss funerals.
2. Meet with the slain officers families.
Holder should travel to New York and meet with the slain officers families. Here again, this step could help undo fallout from another curious choice Holder made in the wake of Browns shooting. Shortly after that event,Holder met with Browns parents. No one doubts the pain and loss these parents suffered over the loss of their son. But the attorney general was at the time (and since) overseeing an investigation into the circumstances of Browns death including the central issue of whether Brown had tried to murder a police officer. Justice Department prosecutors should have provided Browns parents with notifications and other rights that potential victims of federal crimes receive. To avoid a perception of bias, however, the attorney general should not have met personally with two people so closely linked to one side of the case.
More important now, given that Holder met with the parents of a young man who assaulted a police officer and, quite possibly, tried to kill him, he should meet with the parents of the slain officers. Holder needs to make clear that his personal support for the families of the innocent officers at least matches that he provided to Browns family.
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Seven steps Eric Holder should take to help prevent more ...