Police shot and killed my white son. I understand the outrage over George Floyd

While the circumstances of their deaths are different, the killings of Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick, Georgia, and George Floyd in Minneapolis clearly had to do with race. It seems obvious that both men were targeted because of the color of their skin. We have heard these stories coming from minority communities for years, often with contradicting statements from the parties involved and little concrete proof as to what really happened.

But thanks to smartphones, doorbell cameras and social media, there is no longer any doubt about what has really been happening across our country. I’m ashamed that it took us so long to see and understand what minorities have been dealing with for decades.

It’s also obvious that there is a lack of transparency from the law enforcement community in many of these cases. To be fully transparent, my opinion on the subject was formed before the deaths of Arbery and Floyd. My son, John Albers, was killed by an Overland Park police officer on Jan. 20, 2018. My son was white and privileged, but had some underlying mental health issues. He was different.

The police were called to our home to conduct a welfare check because John had made suicidal ideation comments on social media. The officer fired his gun 13 times as my son backed a minivan out of our garage at 2.5 mph in a straight line. John had broken no law, wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and the police never announced they had arrived to “help.”

No charges were filed against the officer because he stated he feared for his life — a phrase that has become a literal “get out jail free card” for every officers who have killed someone. Botham Jean was killed by off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger in November 2018. She apparently feared for her life, too — but she was convicted of murder.

What do the killings of my son, Arbery, Floyd, Jean and countless others such as Andrew Finch and Steven Myers have in common? The threads connecting them are a lack of transparency and excessive use of force. The very people who have sworn an oath to protect and serve citizens are also selective in the release of information. In each of these instances, law enforcement lowered the “blue veil” to protect officers, and district attorneys sat on their hands. (We will wait to see what happens in Minnesota.)

Because of the poorly written open records laws in Kansas, the police were actually able to conceal all the statements, investigations and reconstruction reports related to my son’s death. Luckily, they could not conceal the footage from a neighbor’s doorbell camera. The scene captured in that video contradicted Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe’s statement of facts, which he released on live television on Feb. 20, 2018. That statement was riddled with untruths and inaccuracies that were never publicly corrected.

Here is the interesting part: Howe’s office had the same doorbell camera footage my family received, but chose to release only information that fit the narrative it was selling the public. With his statement, Howe was less a district attorney and more a salesman putting on a show.

It’s heartbreaking that Bruswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson let Arbery’s killer walk free for months. Steve Howe let my son’s killer walk free forever — and even retain his peace officer license.

How many statements of facts have we heard over the years that exonerated a police officer after someone was shot? How many were not true? There is no way to answer these questions, but we can make sure it does not happen again.

It is time that communities demand total transparency from government and community-driven use-of-force policies for our police. These are crucial steps to establish trust between law enforcement officials and the public they are supposed to serve.

Steve Albers’ son John was killed by an Overland Park police officer in January 2018.

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.