Re-imagining law enforcement (Part 2)

By Kent R. Kroeger (April 27, 2021)

In a previous essay, I received in response a number of strongly-worded, negative responses for my referencing a quote by Irish poet Brendan Behan which suggested the police sometimes make bad situations worse.

Regrettably, I chose to include a quote more for its acerbic flourish than its relevance to my underlying argument.

While I’ve observed, firsthand, instances when police officers escalated tensions, it was not because of any flaws in their character or training, but due (in my opinion) to the institutional norms and rules governing how they interact with the public and to the culture of violence in which the police and public are brought together.

A legal summary by a non-lawyer (me)

U.S. police officers have broad legal authority to arrest individuals suspected of a crime, and resisting such an arrest can bring an additional criminal charge. Even in cases where citizens believe they are being unlawfully arrested, their right to resist arrest is generally minimal.

“In most of the United States there is absolutely no right to resist an unlawful arrest, and even in the minority of states where the law allows for the possibility of such a right, that right is limited,” according to…