An Iraq war veteran
just published a guest editorial for The Daily Beast under an assumed name. It's a powerful, must-read piece.
Having served as a military police officer in Iraq and elsewhere, the veteran, writing as "Clayton Jenkins," is currently enrolled in a rural red state police academy. It was there that he immediately experienced the barrage of lies about the fictional war on police taking place in the United States. Clayton writes:
The War on Cops is a grossly inaccurate response to recent police killings which are on track for another year that will rival the safest on record. Gunfire deaths by police officers are down 27 percent this year, according to the Officer Down memorial page, and police killings in general are at a 20-year low, given current numbers for 2015. Police deaths in Barack Obama’s presidency are lower than the past four administrations, going all the way back to Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
It's deeply troubling when police ignore facts and present propaganda as truth. If they will do it here, what's to stop them from ignoring facts and presenting false evidence elsewhere?
More on this police academy's false narrative below.
Every police killing, like all violence, is unfortunate. It doesn't make it a war, or new, or part of some dramatic uptick. The number of police officers shot and killed on the job is now down 87 percent from its all-time high.
Clayton went on to ask:
"What are they telling us in a post-Michael Brown academy? The culture of police brutality is infrequently addressed, but what is continually mentioned is the notion that there is a War on Police."
We must investigate and ask ourselves: Why are police spreading this misinformation? What are they getting out of doing this? Who does it benefit, and how?
Whatever the answers, it's disturbing and dangerous.