Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Three Unrelated Stories

In the last day or so I noticed a number of seemingly unrelated headlines – that in fact may be of consequence in the day-to-day lives of African Americans who are living in the poorer neighborhoods.
1. “New Solutions Demanded for San Diego Police Shortage”
2. “Race Was a Factor, Survivors Say”
3. “Two Chicago Policemen Ambushed on South Side”

First of all, the city of San Diego is experiencing a significant shortage of police despite a recent increase in compensation and a stepped up recruiting effort. Vacancies on the police force have increased from 170 (10/2016) to 207 (5/2017), while applications have decreased 36% over the last 2 years. This is all in addition to the fact that about 1/3 of those now on the force are eligible to retire in the next 5 years.

On 4/30/2016 a deranged gunman shot up a pool party at an apartment complex in a somewhat upscale San Diego neighborhood. The gunman was white and 6 of the 7 who were shot were Black or Hispanic. On the day after the shooting, Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman said that there was “zero evidence that the crime was racially motivated”. In addition SDPD Captain Ahern commented that the investigation is likely to take several weeks.
Of course it did not take long for a number of black community leaders, including Shane Harris, the president of the San Diego Action Network (a civil rights organization), to question how Chief Zimmerman could have said such a thing.
Why not compliment the San Diego Police for their rapid response that undoubtedly saved many more African-Americans from getting wounded and perhaps killed? Why not commend the officers who risked their lives while being shot at by the crazed gunman?
My initial response to the “it must be racial” crowd is “at this point what difference does it make!”
Even though this despicable senseless act is a tragedy, whether or not it was racially motivated becomes somewhat of a moot point as the distraught gunman, who acted alone, is dead (killed by the police). What is the point of coming out against Chief Zimmerman – almost accusing her of trying to cover up something – within 24 hours of the crime.
To me, the only reasonable reason why Mr. Harris would verbally attack Chief Zimmerman at this stage is to make himself look good! To Mr. Harris I ask, “do you think that your self-serving comments will improve the lives of African-Americans in the poorer crime ridden neighborhoods?”

Meanwhile two undercover Chicago policemen were ambushed while sitting in a car on the south side of Chicago – which for all intents and purposes is a solidly black area. Why were they there? They were there because this is the area of the city where most of the record number of Chicago murders are occurring. They were there basically to try to make this neighborhood a little safer for the African-Americans that unfortunately have to live there.

At this time the national trend appears to be similar to that in San Diego in that less young people are signing on to be policemen/women. This trend seems to be fueled by greater scrutiny of police work as well as negative media stories about the police.

Does Shane Harris realize is that the good people in the poor black communities need the police? They do not want decreased police response times which will inevitably occur if the police department is not fully staffed. They hope that there will always be enough police to continue proactive policing. If the police force cannot meet its staffing requirements, it is the poorer neighborhoods that will suffer the most.
In my opinion, comments coming from the likes of Shane Harris can potentially dissuade future law-enforcement recruits from signing on, and thus can only further decrease police presence in the poorer black neighborhoods.
I can forgive a “Clueless George” if he does not comprehend the long term consequences of what he is doing, but I suspect that Mr. Harris is fully aware of what he is doing.

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