Prof Takes Heat for Defending Ferguson Cops in Article
Whether or not you agree, he has a right to his opinion and he is a criminal justice professor.
Dave Huber of the College Fix reported.
Prof Gets Heat for Article Defending Cops in Ferguson
CNN.com reports that Sunil Dutta, a professor of homeland security and criminal justice at Colorado Technical University, has faced a great deal of criticism for his recent Washington Post column titled “I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me.”
“Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you,” he wrote.
Dutta cautions against arguing, insulting, or screaming at officers, “and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?”
If you believe an officer is violating your rights or bullying you, Dutta says, don’t challenge him then — save that for lodging a complaint later. “Do what the officer tells you to and it will end safely for both of you.”
Dutta notes that he doesn’t defend all police, and sides with the ACLU regarding police misconduct. He also makes some popular recommendations, such as cops wearing body cameras.
But some critics are still shaking their heads:
While Dutta comes off as “reasonable,” he is demanding “unresisting submission to police without argument or even legal protest,” J.D. Tuccille writes at Reason.com. “Just how do you ‘refuse consent to search your car or home’ without running afoul of the no-nos Dutta warns may get you ‘shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground?’”
UPDATE: After publication of this article, Colorado Technical University contacted The College Fix to point out that the Washington Post had added an update to the byline of Dutta’s original article:
Sunil Dutta, a professor of homeland security at Colorado Tech University, has been an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for 17 years. The views presented here are his own and do not represent the LAPD or CTU.
Comments
This guys statements about accepting the police are right on. If there is a problem, then address it later. It is nice to come across an intelligent professor these days.
I understand why people feel uncomfortable, but in terms of practical advice to survive an encounter with an armed police officer who knows his own weapon can always be used against him, goodness yes, do what he says. If he crosses some constitutional line, stay alive and complain or sue later. More to the point, behavior that ordinary people might find perfectly fine when directed at other ordinary citizens – loud raised voices, aggressive postures or movements, shouting, even making threats – is a bad, bad idea when a police officer is involved.
As for where you can refuse consent to search, I think you have to refuse. Not argue about the refusal, not hold a constitutional debate, but refuse clearly and then shut up. An officer willing to roll over your refusal is going to do it anyway and any act of resistance makes your odds of a bad outcome higher… and if some take refusal as an admission of guilt in violation of the law, that’s illegal, but it’s for the lawyers to work out.