I travel to the United States regularly, whether with my family, alone for work or with my students. I constantly repeat that we should never play tricks on American police officers or provoke them because they act very differently from the police officers in Quebec.
That’s what came to mind when I watched the video of Miami Dolphins player Tyreek Hill’s arrest. Pulled over just before the season opener, Hill refused to comply with the officers’ whims and quickly found himself on the ground.
Not racism, more brutality
What is striking when you dissect the video is how quickly the intensity rises. The Dolphins player is clearly at fault, he was driving much too fast and admits it.
However, at no point does he refuse to show his papers or to cooperate. He does, however, dare not follow the instructions to the letter. Not fully lowering the window of his shiny McLaren, he “disobeys” the officer.
There is nothing in the incident that justifies what we see next. They join forces to pull him out of his car, pin him to the ground and handcuff him. Tyreek Hill saw it as a racial incident, I did not.
In my eyes, it is much less of a “driving while black” (driving while black) – the officers are not white, by the way – than a blatant case of unnecessary police brutality. Rather than defusing a situation, we provoke a crisis.
In addition to my personal experiences, a comment from a friend also came to mind. This former police officer had collaborated on many occasions with the American police forces to accompany prisoners.
He lamented the lack of training of his colleagues south of the border. He told me a few times: “American police officers are cowboys.”
Wrong vision of the role of a police officer
The attitude and behavior of many police officers has its roots in history, both ancient and recent. While I have been fiercely opposed to the slogan Defund the police (cuts in budgets) used by many protesters, I would fully support a reform of the training provided by several police forces.
The FBI tracks incidents of police brutality. The numbers are staggering. Since 2016, law enforcement has killed an average of three people per day in the United States, and 90 percent of those deaths are attributable to the use of firearms.
In 2020, a journalist from The Guardian wrote that it was difficult to reform police departments in the United States because they glorify repression, they model themselves after the military deployed in war zones, and they protect the powerful along with the people.
This judgment may be harsh and exaggerated, but it must be admitted that their approaches often lead to confrontation. Tyreek Hill deserved a ticket, but the brutality could have been avoided.
