George Floyd: A Scottish officer’s opinion of trainee US police – Kenny MacAskill

A protester and a police officer shake hands during a stand-off in New York – but not all US police are as empathetic (Picture: Wong Maye-E/AP)

The US must tackle attitudes about lethal force among its police officers as well as tackling white supremacists and institutionalised racism, writes Kenny MacAskill.

Race divides America as we’re seeing all too graphically with the reaction to George Floyd’s killing. New York and other cities may be the great melting pot, but other communities remain deeply divided.

I recall meeting a Scottish organisation in the Deep South and asking if they had black members. My contact wasn’t racist, but was brutally honest, saying none would seek to join. it was evident all-around.

Enforced segregation may have ended but the races lived apart with separate churches and organisations.

On top of that milieu comes policing. I’ve met many American police officers and they’ve been invariably polite. But the manner of policing is an issue. Policing by consent, it sure ain’t.

It’s closer to enforcement, if not oppression, in many areas. Not just the Swat teams and weapons available but the attitudes many possess.

I recall a Scottish officer who’d been training officers there, telling me there was no proportionality.

Asking trainees how they’d react to various situations, invariably the default position was to shoot – and with lethal effect as it’s real life, not the movies.

It didn’t matter if it was a minor crime or simply that they’d run away, for whatever reason.

Ignore the call to halt and they’d fire. Surrender, as with George Floyd, and you were still a threat, if not the enemy.

It’s a long way back for the USA as it’s not just race, but guns and other cultural attitudes.

But they need to start by expunging white supremacists and confronting institutionalised racism.

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