I don’t know how many of you follow the television series ‘Scandal’ on ABC but those of you who do follow it – if you also follow politics, will understand why I say that it reminds me of the current situation in Ferguson, Missouri.  As you might know, the U.S. Department of justice (DOJ) recently released a scathing report on that city and its police department.  As a result of the DOJ’s report, Ferguson is trying to negotiate a settlement with the federal government.

It would not be fair if I did not mention that many Ferguson officials disagree with some parts of this report.  They say that some parts of the report’s findings are “a stretch” by the DOJ and they will not agree to a settlement if the two sides cannot come to an agreement to resolve their differences on this.

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But whether or not a settlement can be negotiated is an aside as to why I mentioned the Scandal television series.  I hope that by revealing what I am about to reveal I won’t spoil this episode for those of you who may not have yet watched it.  Having said that; here goes: the policeman in this episode that shot and killed a young Black man and then planted false evidence on him got angry when he was confronted about it by the series star, Olivia Pope, who had been hired to represent the police.  After he became angry he blurted out; and I paraphrase:

For seven years I have kissed my wife and kids good bye and gone deep into these neighborhoods to protect you people and you don’t appreciate it!  The kid that I shot did not respect the badge: he did not respect me!  You don’t respect me! You were hired to represent us; whose side are you on?

I can imagine that this angered any policeman who might have watched this episode of Scandal.  To be honest, I can see why it would have angered them, especially those clean police officers.  It would have angered the dirty cops because they feel that they are the law and therefore can do whatever they choose to do.  And it would have angered the clean cops because they feel that – because of a few bad cops, everyone is painting cops with a broad brush by putting all of them in the same category.

Probably none of us needs to have ‘clean cop’ and ‘dirty cop defined for us.  We all have our idea of what this means.  So since there might be a number of interpretations of these terms out there, allow me to give you mine.

Many of us as civilians might refer to police officers as being good or bad officers.  Many of their fellow police officers refer to them as ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ depending on whether they are doing things within the boundaries of the law or outside of them.  As I think about it, I think that – like their fellow police officers, I would prefer to use the terms clean and dirty.

I think that the terms clean or dirty vs. good or bad can better identify these police officers because there are probably a lot of ‘good’ police officers who make bad decisions.  They do unlawful things in an effort to assure that someone is held accountable for a crime that they have obviously committed but are likely to avoid prosecution for due to things like evidence that, for legal reasons, is not allowed, because of some technicality or employing a highly-paid and highly-skilled lawyer.

Although their intensions might be virtuous, this does not justify what they are doing or make it any less wrong.  My thoughts are these cops are better identified as ‘dirty’ cops than as ‘bad’ cops because the term ‘dirty’ includes all cops who operate outside of the law whether their intentions are good or bad.

Because these cops taint the rest of the police department and destroy the fabric of trust that exists between the police and communities that they serve it is incumbent upon the ‘clean’ cops to help root out the ‘dirty’ ones from top to bottom.  This will not be easy to do because they are a close-knit group that trusts their very lives to one another every day while they are on the job.  To alienate follow officers even if for all of the right reasons is a great risk; but it is one that must be taken if dirty cops are to be effectively dealt with.

The best moniker for this kind of a cop would be “dumb cop.”  But because what they are doing is still wrong; just as wrong – although not as heinous – as a cop who kills an unarmed person and then plants evidence to prove otherwise, they are dirty.  And because they are dirty and just as guilty of breaking the law as the perpetrator that they are trying to get convicted, they must be held accountable.

As hard as this might be for fellow police officers and as much as it might hurt them, they absolutely must come to grips with the fact that this is how things must be if the police and the communities that they serve and protect are ever to again develop respect and trust of one another.  The pain that police officers endure and the pain that the communities that they serve and protect endure will be equally painful to accept; and perhaps this is the way that it should be: in fact, the way that it must be if either side is to be able to move forward and survive!

‘Clean’ cops have to step up and do the right thing.  They can no longer use the ‘blue code’ to protect cops that have broken the law whether they consider the crime they committed to be major or minor.  If they do this it will go a long way in expediting the coming together of the police and communities.

And to community members – especially young people of color, I say, this is not the responsibility of the police departments alone.  Yes, it has already been a long time and you are tired of hearing the same old refrain that ‘it will take time’, but you must also step up to your responsibility.  You, too, must endure the all but impossible to bear pain that it will take to reconcile these two diametrically opposed sides.  Youth leaders and other youth activists must take a courageous step and tell their fellow youth that the effort to reconcile is worth a try.

And finally, I say to our elected officials that you must also be courageous and step up.  You can no longer remain silent when problems like the one that recently occurred with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arise and ignore them because it would not be politically smart to address them.  Problems like the NYPD problem are occurring in police departments throughout the country and they must be addressed and corrected.

This is not to suggest that police departments should be denied due process and the federal government should go in and force them into submission so that they all precisely fit the same mold.  What it means is that our elected officials must figure out some way to assure that under the law, to the greatest extent possible, there is equal justice for all.

Eulus Dennis