“You’d have to have a blind eye to see the officers involved have not become targets of retribution or death threats,” Johnson said. “Everything but the specific identity of the officer can be released.”
Johnson said he believes the Arizona Police Bill strikes a good balance between community understanding of what is happening and the physical safety of the officer involved, and the law will protect officers in light of the type of developments in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Even when two police officers are shot, there are protestors still saying they need to go,” Johnson said. “Ironically, the protest was in response to [Ferguson] Police Chief Jackson resigning.”
Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown as he was attempting to stop Brown flee on foot after robbing a store in August 2014, causing protests, often violent, to erupt across the United States.
Johnson said in order to successfully end the dialogue on police brutality in the United States, the US Department of Justice should release an unambiguous statement that Wilson complied with the law when he had been forced to shoot Brown.
Johnson said the Justice Department realized very early on that Wilson did not commit a crime, but felt they needed to show some result for the expenditures in investigation in Ferguson.
“That’s one of the reasons for such a scathing police report against the [Ferguson] police department itself,” Johnson said. “I think the bill will pass, and will be helpful if a situation like this [Ferguson] arises.”
Johnson added that deadly force was something that cannot be ignored when difficult situations like the one in Ferguson emerge.
The National Association of Police Organizations serves to improve the working conditions through legislative issues, awareness and modification of the rights of US law enforcement personnel.
