The Doubt Of The Benefit
Does the decision of the president of the eponymous Robert King’s House of Wingnuttery to stay without earshot of the racial profiling discussion mean he should be given “a little credit” and in essence the benefit of the doubt? Matt Davis thinks so, but let’s step into the wayback machine and see why I believe he’s wrong.
The “leadership” of Portland’s police union under Robert King certainly seems to take some very peculiar forms.
It believes that its officers might not be able to do their jobs if they have to fill out paperwork or face public scrutiny. In other words, in the course of allegedly representing its members’ interests, it calls those members too easily distracted to be able to properly perform their duties.
It tries to take advantage of a lack of proper public information about officer-involved shootings in order to conflate real incidents with hypothetical ones, confusing the public away from the truth. In other words, in the course of allegedly representing its members’ interests, it relies upon duping the public.
It argues that its officers move to use greater force simply because they become exhausted (pdf) when dealing with a suspect. In other words, in the course of allegedly representing its members’ interests, it claims that force is justified when officers become tired.
It asserts that any public discussion of why police data suggests a disparity between how people of different races are treated is the same as calling all police racists. In other words, in the course of allegedly representing its members’ interests, it refuses to see that even the appearance of impropriety is damaging to its officers.
It tries to deflect attention from its officers’ actions by lying about the family of someone who was killed in police custody. In other words, in the course of allegedly representing its members’ interests, it will smear and slander the families of victims.
It finds it appropriate to provide gift certificates to officers determined by local news outlets to be responsible for most of the uses of force in the Portland Police Bureau.
So suddenly King decides to involve himself in discussions of racial profiling, and his water carrier, Rap Sheet editor Detective Peter Simpson, says that “if we aren’t at least within earshot, we could find that policies or procedures are put into place that aren’t supported by our members”.
That’s not about real participation. That’s about continuing along the long and sordid path detailed above. And somehow, given this history, and given what Simpson says about the reasons for being involved in racial profiling discussions, Matt Davis thinks I should be giving King “a little credit where it’s due”?
Sorry, but experience has shown that there’s no reason to give the benefit of the doubt to the leadership of Robert King’s House of Wingnuttery, and every reason to doubt the benefit — and the motives — of its participation.