We have said it more times than we care to remember but the idea that law enforcement activity is supposed to be exactly equal across racial and ethnic lines is one of the dumbest arguments ever proposed. If affirmative action is supposed to apply to law enforcement then it should probably apply to criminals, since much of police work entails responding to criminal behavior.
The idea that police activity must fall directly along the racial makeup of a city or they are somehow racist is not only one of the biggest lies ever told but it keeps working. Virtually every “accusation” and then the demand for “reform” along with the lawsuits, has started this way.
The most recent outrage has come from a study by the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice that showed that Blacks were stopped “disproportionately” in 2020 by the Michigan State Police. Black motorists accounted for 22.1% of stops in 2020 but were just 13.6% of the population in the state.
Of course Colonel Joe Gasper, the agency’s director, is just as outraged. He has to be in order to keep his job.
“These findings demand immediate action. The people of Michigan deserve unbiased policing, transparency and accountability,” Gasper told the media.
Colonel Gasper outlined a five-point plan to better understand and address the disparities. They include hiring an expert to recommend “systemic” policy changes, listening to communities of color and their leaders, and developing a dashboard with timely data so troopers “can learn about and adjust their own actions.”
We understand why Gasper has to placate to the idiots that actually believe police activity must fall within the same racial lines of a given population but if he fails to tell the truth about the root causes, he may be a manager on paper but no one under his command will see him as a real leader.
Considering no one seems to actually want to explain to the public why police work is not a perfect science where criminals will stop committing crimes once their racial quota for the month is up, we will explain.
Gasper is going to great lengths to keep a few people happy after this study but make no mistake, he will make no one happy in the end. That’s because, in all likelihood, he will never make traffic stops exact among all races. That is until, all races drive, commit crime, travel, etc at the exact rates.
That’s the political beauty of the term “driving while black.” In many places, depending on crime rates, it never gets fixed so thus cops can keep getting called racists and endless reforms continue.
Frankly, we have no idea on the root causes of the numbers in Michigan but the fact it’s basically 7% off tells us it is not some systematic racism out of control but rather items that the police have little to no control of.
To ensure that car stops are even across races, the Colonel will have to ditch his dashboard so troopers “can learn about and adjust their own actions,” and there is much more he will have to do.
- The Michigan State Police will have to pull out of Wayne County. Considering Wayne County is basically Detroit and there are almost 8 times more Blacks in this county by population than the rest of the state, that will create a major problem for the “dashboard.”
Shouldn’t be a big deal for the Colonel. Wayne County is three times larger than the next county and Detroit has one of the highest crime rates in the nation, 153% above the national average.
Policing is not some clean and easy process that always looks perfect on paper and shame on any leader that doesn’t properly explain that to the community.
Colonel Gasper would be failing the citizens of Michigan if he ignored Wayne County and the violence. He would also look pretty stupid if he redeployed cops to the middle of no where, just so the “dashboard” numbers look right.
The issue is much more complicated than a 7% difference in stops and it is important that our leaders talk more about those complications than continuing to “fix” an issue that very well may have nothing to do with a law enforcement agency and everything to do with criminal behavior.
