(Todd A. Smith)
DISCLAIMER: Hypothetical scenarios in this op-Ed are meant to be as idiotic as the idea of police immunity.
Former President Donald Trump wants police to have immunity from prosecution if re-elected in November.
No, the president does not have authority over such matters.
However, Trump would undoubtedly have influence on red states who often have governors who worship the ground he walks on.
But what would police immunity look like?
Well, police officers would have license to kill at will and get away with it.
No longer would police be used to protect and serve.
But they would now have license to commit murder and get away it.
That is a problem for Black and Brown communities who are often over-policed.
In fact, modern-day policing was created to re-enslave Black people after their emancipation in 1865.
With police brutality, the Black community would just have more Breonna Taylors and Philando Castilles.
The Black community would have more funerals, more marches and more hashtags.
Unfortunately, the Black community would have less equality.
However, all police officers are not White.
Therefore, what if Black and Brown police officers had immunity when it comes to their dealings with the White community?
With Trump’s plan for immunity, Black and Brown officers would be able to terrorize the White community and get away with it.
Black and Brown police officers would have license to kill any, and all, White people that they encounter.
Black and Brown cops would be able to beat the crap out of their White constituents, male and female.
Black and Brown cops would be able to plant drugs and weapons on any White person that they so choose.
Those same cops would be able to fill up the jail cells with innocent White people because they have immunity.
In fact, those cops would be able to do whatever they wanted to elected officials and get away with it because they have immunity.
Some cops have sexually assaulted women that they have pulled over during traffic stops.
Therefore, Black and Brown cops would be able to sexually assault any White female motorist that they pull over and get away it.
If a White school gets shot up by mass murderer, Black and Brown cops should face no punishment if they choose not to come to the rescue of little White kids because they have immunity.
In fact, if police have immunity, they should be able to kill at will if Trump sends more of his supporters to disrupt our democracy like he did on Jan. 6, 2021.
As crazy and ridiculous as those suggestions seem, that is just how outrageous Trump sounds when he suggests police immunity, even presidential immunity.
What we would have is not a return to the good ole days.
But a return to lawlessness, chaos and disorder.
What we would have is just legalized murder because there will be some radical person that signs up for the police academy just so that they could legally murder someone.
In fact, some people sign up for the military just so that they can legally kill someone.
What we would have is more “Goon Squads,” a group of Mississippi cops sentenced to decades in prison for torturing two Black men.
CBS News reported, “The charges followed an Associated Press investigation in March that linked some of the officers to at least four violent encounters since 2019 that left two Black men dead.
“The former lawmen admitted into breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing [Michael Corey] Jenkins and [Eddie Terrell] Parker in an hourslong attack that included beatings, repeated use of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth.”
According to CBS News, the incident began on Jan. 24, 2023, after a White person made a call to Rankin County, Miss. Deputy Brett McAlpin complaining that two Black men were staying with a White woman at a house in the area.
The message was relayed to Christian Dedmon who called up the “Goon Squad” because they were O.K. with excessive force.
Once inside the home in Braxton, Miss., the officers handcuffed the two Black men, showered their faces with milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup while berating them with racial slurs.
The officers forced the two gentlemen to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess, while still berating them with racial slurs and assaulting them with sex toys.
One of the victims had his jaw broken and tongue lacerated after a mock execution went wrong.
To cover up for their crimes, the former police officers planted drugs on them.
The charges against those two Black men stood for months until the truth came out.
The cops were then held accountable for their heinous crimes.
However, under Trump’s immunity plan those officers would have never been held accountable because it would have been legal for the former officers to torture innocent people for no apparent reason.
Trump said that cops need immunity to do their jobs.
The problem that people have with some cops is when they do not do their job, which is to protect and serve.
Who protects and serves the public from lawless and immune police officers?
No one.
Therefore, obtaining a job as a police officer would now give a person a license to kill, rape, rob or whatever else they want to do.
While Black people are often the victim of police misconduct, especially at the hands of White officers, would Trump and his supporters feel so adamant about police immunity if the “Goon Squad” was a group of rogue Black officers terrorizing innocent White people?
