Police need to notify the media of the circumstances under which a person was killed by the cops just as soon as they’ve gathered the pertinent facts
The withholding of information from the public engenders distrust of the police and allows false rumors to grow and to become imbedded in people’s minds.
SouthCoastToday.com is a Massachusetts news website.
OUR VIEW: TEEN’S DEATH CRIES FOR ACTION FROM POLICE AND COMMUNITY
SouthCoastToday.com
May 20, 2012
It was perhaps understandable that law enforcement authorities provided relatively little information Friday about the sequence of events leading up to the death of Malcolm Gracia, the 15-year-old who was shot to death after police said he repeatedly stabbed a police officer Thursday night.
At a press conference Friday morning, they wouldn't say how many police were involved, how many shots were fired or what started the argument that led to the fatal moment. They wouldn't say whether or not wounded officer Tyson Barnes was wearing a protective vest, how many times he was stabbed, what other officers were with him. They did not answer a lot of questions in the hours after Malcolm Gracia's death.
That might be understandable on the day after a tragedy like this one, but it will not serve for long.
Law enforcement authorities need to move quickly and get complete answers to the community, whose members are deeply saddened, troubled and worried about what happened Thursday night at the newly renovated Temple Landing housing development, where millions of dollars have been spent to upgrade the property and change the culture of a place that long had been connected to violent troubles.
Already there have been rumors that police, guns drawn, were seen chasing Gracia moments before they brought him down in a hail of fire.
That does not quite square with the initial report from authorities, who said Gracia argued with police, then stabbed Officer Barnes, was shot by police, then got to his feet and ignored orders to halt and drop the knife he still was holding, prompting officers to fire another round of shots that killed him.
The New Bedford Police Department and the Bristol County District Attorney's Office need to provide a comprehensive series of answers to citizens' legitimate questions about this terrible incident — soon.
Most people understand that police in this city have a very difficult job. It is dangerous and frightening work, and officers like Barnes on the gang unit regularly engage with members of notorious street gangs that account for much of the violence here. We all should be grateful that people like Tyson Barnes are willing to do these hard jobs on our behalf.
Every parent and guardian in this city should speak with their youngsters and instruct them that when they engage with police, under no circumstances should they react with defiance — or a weapon. Like any of us, police officers should and must defend themselves when they are in the midst of an armed conflict with anyone, regardless of that person's age.
But other answers need to come from us, the people who live here and who are the parents and guardians of our city's young men.
Despite a troubled upbringing, Gracia had family and friends who cared about him, to be sure. Some of them spoke to reporters from this newspaper and poured out their hurt and their grief over the teenager's death.
Even the most troubled of young men have people who love them; yet again and again, young men continue to die violently.
We all know that too many of them walk around with weapons — guns or knives — so that when there is a conflict with rivals or police, there is always the possibility that someone will end up dead and another family and neighborhood will find themselves grieving.
Too many of our young men have no father or respected uncle or coach in their lives, so they never really learn the essential lessons that manhood requires; and until we face that problem as a community, there will always be another Malcolm Gracia to grieve, and our community will never have the peace we all desire.
Police and judges alone cannot teach young men what they need to know. That's all our job, and until we do it, neither they nor we will be safe from harm.
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