‘Bad guy.’ ‘Suspect.’ ‘Criminal.’ Our sons keep dying under current police culture

From the moment an officer-involved shooting occurs, there is a conscious effort by law enforcement to value one life more than another.

Before all evidence is collected and analyzed and the investigation completed — even before the investigation has begun — the civilian is generally referred to as the “suspect” or a “criminal.” Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith called Cameron Lamb a “bad guy” just minutes after one of his officers shot and killed the innocent man in his own backyard. That officer was just found guilty of Lamb’s manslaughter.

In the case of my own son’s shooting death, John was referred to as a suspect throughout the investigation, and the man who fired the gun, former Overland Park police officer Clayton Jenison, was referred to as the victim. John had committed no crime, nor was he suspected of committing one. John was shot six times while pulling our van out of the garage at 2.5 mph in a straight line.

Similarly, Kansas City police described Ryan Stokes, who was shot dead by a Kansas City police officer in 2013, as an armed criminal. Ryan had no criminal history, was completely unarmed, and was shot in the back with his hands in the air.

In John’s case, Overland Park went so far as to pay the officer a $70,000 severance to “resign” and fought to conceal the agreement from the public. In all three cases, a false narrative was spun to justify the lethal use of force.

This gets right to the heart of the culture shift that must occur across American law enforcement. The assumption now is that the officer is always right, and it is therefore acceptable to dehumanize the person he or she killed. No one at the Overland Park Police Department, the Johnson County district attorney’s office or the Kansas City Police Department has done anything to correct the efforts to dehumanize Cameron, Ryan or John. Rather than approach the tragedy with neutrality and compassion, too many leaders jump to a defensive mode.

I don’t question that there are circumstances that require use of lethal force. Police officers do difficult work under dangerous circumstances. But those who fall victim to officer negligence, recklessness or outright corruption should not be debased for the sake of a favorable narrative. The change begins with Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe and Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith.

Condolences ring hollow when you deepen our pain by unfairly treating our sons as suspects, criminals and bad guys. With each false statement and mischaracterization, you kill our sons over and over again. Any hope of changing the culture of policing quickly fades when leaders fail to treat every life with dignity and fairness.

This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.