Dear Editor,
There is a typical police response when events like the shootingof Michael McKinney occur, and it boils down to blaming the victim.The police will try to justify what is obviously excessive andunnecessary force (or just plain incompetence) by attempting toshift the focus from the actions of the officer to the "guilt" ofthe victim. In the case of Michael McKinney, the police havede-emphasized the fact that McKinney had no weapon; they insteadhave focused on the statement that he "charged" or "lunged" at theofficer, but despite McKinney's actions, the officer clearlyoverreacted by using deadly force.
Police has also focused on his erratic behavior as evidence ofhis inebriation and brought up his negligible arrest history. Yes,McKinney's behavior indicates something was wrong, but he did notdeserve to be shot and killed as a result. He did nothing towarrant the deadly response that was issued from the four bulletsfired from Officer Duplain's gun.
Here's what the officer did wrong:
1) He yelled. Any competent officer should know that, especiallywith the mentally ill and the intoxicated, one does not escalatethe situation by raising the volume of one's voice. He should havetried to de-escalate the situation by talking soothingly toMcKinney.
2) He moved too close to McKinney. The officer has to maintain azone of safety between himself and the suspect. He was so closethat when McKinney moved toward him, he immediately feltthreatened
3) He used an inappropriate amount of force. Deadly force wasnot necessary. The officer panicked and felt that deadly force washis only protection.
4) Officer Duplain limited the options by committing errors ofincompetence at every stage of his "investigation" andconfrontation with McKinney.
These errors are indications that Duplain is either whollyincompetent as a police officer or is inadequately trained. Ibelieve the latter is more likely.
In a recent article in The Indianapolis Star, Scott Mellinger,the director of the training academy in Plainfield, stated that,"Smaller departments ... don't have the luxury of leaving aposition vacant for three months while a rookie takes thoseclasses."
I would hardly call placing adequately trained officers on thestreet a "luxury."
The BSU police department must take the responsibility for thistragedy. A rookie officer should NEVER be assigned to overnightduty on a college campus without adequate training to deal with thekind of circumstances in which officer Duplain found himself in theearly morning hours of Saturday.
One is tempted to respond, "But we don't know how scared officerDuplain was; he didn't know what he was getting into; we would havereacted the same way."
But we are not police officers. They should be trained tominimize the risk to the public, the suspects and themselves whenthey enter a situation.
Had officer Duplain been adequately trained, he might havespeculated less about the circumstances and reacted not from fearfor his own life, but from his duty to protect and serve.
John Prince,
Assistant Professor of English
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