Jack Bernard
| Opinion contributor
“Beauchamp is promising action to make sure disinformation is not spread through state-sanctioned training after the commission’s staff recently wrapped up its own months-long investigation” — NBC, July 27, 2023
Corpus Christi and San Antonio have the highest ratio of deaths by law enforcement per capita versus other Texas cities, according to data compiled by the website Mapping Police Violence. Over a 10-year period (2013-2022), their rate was 5.8 per million.
For comparison, the Dallas suburb of Plano has the lowest, 1.2 per million. In other words, there are proportionally more than four times as many “deaths by cop” in Corpus Christi versus Plano.
The above quote is from a 2023 NBC DFW investigation into Texas law enforcement. At the time, Mr. Beauchamp was the interim director of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the body charged with training police. He is now general counsel. And there is no doubt that training is sorely needed. Here is just one example.
Last summer, a 46-year-old resident (Melissa Perez) with schizophrenia was having a mental breakdown at her San Antonio apartment. Three officers, all Latino, came to see about her. They ended up shooting her to death because she would not leave her residence and threw a candlestick at officers. All three were subsequently fired. Two have been charged with murder and the other with aggravated assault. But due to questionable procedural issues, the case has not yet been tried.
Last year, there were 5.66 per million shooting deaths in Texas caused by police (seven in Nueces County alone), according to Mapping Police Violence. But in Illinois, which is used by many as an example of a violent state, there were only 1.95 per million. In other words, police in Texas shot and killed citizens at three times the rate of Illinois officers. Further, in 2024 versus 2023, there were 17% more fatal shootings of Texans by law enforcement … so the situation is getting worse. The question is: Why?
I come from a law enforcement family with relatives who have been with the FBI, the New York Police Department and corrections departments. I fully support the appropriate use of force against criminals, regardless of race or ethnicity. And I believe officers should be treated with respect.
But respect goes both ways. We cannot simply assume a police officer is in the right if all the evidence shows him to be wrong, the proverbial “bad egg,” as has been the case in many incidents documented via videos and cameras … including in San Antonio.
Statistics also show that deaths attributable to police actions have increased over time, up 45% between 1999 and 2013. Further, during this time period, the rate of “legal intervention deaths” for whites versus white Hispanics was very concerning. The Hispanic death rate was 89% higher.
Disturbingly, research on these cases is very limited. This situation is no doubt due to several factors, with one key factor being self-interested resistance to information gathering by police departments … for obvious reasons. Confidential reporting of instances of police racial and ethnic bias must be facilitated and required.
Police must receive basic training to understand the history of minorities in the USA and their interactions with police. Bad apples must be weeded out early, at the police academy level. Training for experienced law enforcement officers must occur on a recurring basis. Ethnic and racial profiling, directly leading to the targeting of Latino and Black residents throughout our nation, must be stopped. And, yes, some Black and Latino officers are prejudiced against members of their own race/ethnic group and need appropriate education.
Finally, when instances of police misconduct and brutality are discovered, reasonable punishment must be netted out. Police are not, and should never be, immune from our laws. Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling about presidents, we are a nation built on fairness in its legal system.
This month Scott Leeton, head of the Corpus Christi Police Officers Association, became president of the statewide law enforcement union known as CLEAT (Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas). CLEAT activities include “legal representation, lobbying, local political action, collective bargaining and negotiation support and field-related services.” I would hope that with Mr. Leeton leading the organization, it would take a long, hard look at the training needs of Texas officers, especially regarding diversity.
For many decades Latino and Black ministers have been preaching about overt police violence against minorities. Nothing has come of their good intentions. The time for talk and prayer was yesterday. It’s now past time for action and reform, starting right now in Texas.
