CELLPHONE VIDEOS ARE DISCOURAGING COPS FROM MAKING ARRESTS

Cellphone videos go viral whenever an officer busts someone who is resisting arrest and what people see on the internet is some poor citizen being brutalized by the cops

Nowadays it is getting hard for cops to do their job without fear of getting fired, or worse yet, fear of facing criminal charges. And that is because every Tom, Dick and harry is out there taking video pictures of police actions with their cellphones.

A good example is the quick firing of Richland County Senior Deputy Sheriff Ben Fields after videos of him struggling with a black female student in Columbia, South Carolina’s Spring Valley High School sparked outrage after going viral on the internet.

On October 26, Deputy Fields was called to a classroom by a teacher and a school administrator to remove an unruly sophomore student. The black female student had not been paying attention in Algebra 1 class and got caught texting on her cellphone, a violation of school rules. When she refused to give up the cellphone or leave the room, school authorities called the cops.

In the presence of the teacher and administrator, Deputy Fields asked the girl to leave the room. She refused. Fields then told her she was under arrest and tried to remove her from her desk. She resisted and a struggle broke out during which she punched Fields and he slung her across the room.

Videos taken by several students show Fields standing over the student while she was seated at her desk. He grabs her arm. She resists his attempts to place her in custody and throws several punches at him, one of which strikes him in the head. Then he yanks her backward. The chair tips over and the student crashes backward onto the floor. Fields then pulled her slightly off the ground. She flies out of her desk and slides several feet across the floor.

When the videos went viral, it took Sheriff Leon Lott only two days to fire Fields. "The fact that he picked the student up and he threw the student across the room -- that is not a proper technique, and should not be used in law enforcement," Lott said.

It did not matter to the Sheriff that the teacher and school administer present during the fracas both said Fields, given the circumstances, acted in a proper manner. And it did not matter either that Fields had received the school district’s ‘Culture of Excellence Award’ as an officer “proven to be an exceptional role model to the students he serves and protects.”

Fields joined the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in 2004 and became a school resource officer in 2008. The department has 28 school resource officers.

Sheriff Lott caved in to the outrage generated by the videos. It did not help Fields that he was white and the student was black. While the deputy’s action may not have been proper, did it merit the firing of an officer who had been a school resource officer for seven years? I say most definitely not! A short suspension of no more than 10 days without pay would have been an appropriate and adequate punishment. Anything beyond that would constitute uber-punishment.

Fields has not only been fired, but the state and the FBI is investigating to determine if the fired officer will also face criminal charges.

It looks to me like with all those cellphone cameras out there, a cop would be better off getting on his knees and pleading with a lawbreaker to come along peacefully, lest he be videoed and seen as brutalizing some poor soul, thereby facing the prospect of getting fired and facing criminal charges.

By no means whatsoever do I condone the use of excessive force. But what constitutes excessive force? The answer is simple. It’s all in the eye of the beholder! Many, if not most citizens will see a cop who is using only the force necessary to take someone into custody who is resisting arrest, as using excessive force, with many seeing him brutalizing the subject

Then, if videos of that arrest go viral on the internet, week kneed police administrators will see it the same way. In other words, the officer is fucked for simply doing his job. And if the cop is white and the subject is black, here come the Black Lives Matter protesters.

Those cellphone cameras make are discouraging cops from making arrests. One incident that sparks internet outrage is all it takes, and – poof – the cop is vilified by the public and fired by gutless police administrators. Because those videos can make any cop look guilty of police brutality, you will see more and more officers reluctant to do their jobs.