When a violent action takes the life of a child senselessly and perhaps criminally, it fuels our collective anger. 
Violence intrigues us. When violence involves our children it focuses and motivates us. We expect police and prosecutors to act in the interest of justice for all and pursue that justice quickly. That did not happened in the case of Trayvon Martin.
The shooting death of Trayvon Martin on February 26th has focused us on finding answers to such a seeming injustice. But answers have been slow in coming. There’s been near silence from authorities. Angry citizens, partisan operatives and political charlatans have filled the void with their anger and conjecture. The anger has begun boiling over.
What is missing is the pursuit of timely justice. But the risk is that the more hastily we try to find the fix –and fix the blame–the less we will really learn. The lesson should be more about what didn’t happen leading to Trayon’s death than the justice we seek for his family now.
If we settle blame for this awful event on laws such as “Carry Concealed” or “Stand your Ground”, we are just cheating ourselves. We are surely doomed to chase the results of violence; not solve the obvious reasons it happened.
Regardless of the final finding of this investigation into why George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, this fact cannot be ignored: This predictable national firestorm over the death or race– or whatever motivates us– has as much to do with police inaction and prosecutorial politics as it does the act itself. That is not to blame the police for the death of Trayvon Martin but more for not addressing actions of George Zimmerman before he acted out in his misdirected need to protect the neighborhood.
I don’t blame the prosecution for the death of Trayvon Martin, but I blame this national fallout on the decision to not take the facts to a grand jury in a timely manner.
This is not a complicated criminal investigation, at least not on its face. I don’t mean to imply the implications are not complex nor the details unimportant. But even if I don’t have all the facts I have the instincts that come with a 34 year law enforcement career.
If the State’s Attorney believed Florida’s new “Stand Your Ground Law” gave George Zimmerman such clear justification to use deadly force after two or three weeks of investigation, then clearly they should have had the confidence to take those fact to a Grand Jury. If all was legal they would have been presented with a Not True Bill for criminal prosecution.
Without a doubt the Grand Jury should have been convened even with extended investigation timelines. If the facts surrounding the confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin would lead any reasonable person to believe that Zimmerman’s action were outside of the intent of “Stand Your Ground” law or any other self defense measure then the same is true, only this time perhaps with a different Grand Jury result. In either case, Skittles versus a firearm makes the choice to act timely very clear. Authorities needed to preserve the confidence of the community that race was not involved in the decision. Instead Stamford got inaction which led to anger.
Justice for Trayvon Martin depended on it.
Certainly the Sanford Community and it looks to be that the entire nation believes the same.
The greatest blame however may lie at the doorstep of the Sanford Police Department. George Zimmerman, regardless of his guilt or innocence based on whatever rationale in this deadly situation, was a problem waiting for a tragedy. If I am not convinced that he shot Trayvon Martin as an act of racial prejudice, I am confident it was only a matter of time until he patrolled the neighborhood long enough to find a different Trayvon Martin.
I hate to bring superheroes like Batman into this matter, but Riddle Me These:
· What is a person arrested for, Assault on a Police Officer doing with a concealed weapons permit?
· Why after 30 or 40 or 50 calls to 911 or other Emergency Dispatch did the Sanford Police Department not go face to face with Zimmerman in the weeks or months prior to February 26th and, in no uncertain terms, inform him that he was acting outside of the prescribed methods of Neighborhood Watch?
· Is there a doubt that George Zimmerman’s over zealousness stood out and was not known to Sanford Police?
It is beyond obvious to experienced law enforcement that Zimmerman’s enthusiasm as the self appointed neighborhood Green Lantern needed the attention and intervention of the real police in a direct and professional manner.
Justice for George Zimmerman depended on it.
I will never accept the argument that the police are there to react and react alone. This Chief of Police and Sheriff always believe that the first purpose of the Justice System in policing a community is to intervene and intervene appropriately when our developed instinct through experience signals that there is a clearly identified problem needing police action not reaction. Allowing a “problem” situation to go un-policed is not only irresponsible it is dangerous. Intervening does not mean someone necessarily should be arrested. In fact arrest is only a vehicle of justice. However, if we delay the early intervention of the justice process long enough someone will be arrested. In this case young Trayvon’s right to longer life may have been denied.
There will be many take-aways from the death of Trayvon Maartin. We cannot and should not avoid or ignore a just debate about race and its influence in this tragedy. We can imagine we are in pursuit of justice for all or we can actually believe that justice starts long before the demands for retribution.
George Zimmerman will be arrested. Instead of justice dispensed early or even too late by his community, now the federal government will impose a different form of justice. Zimmerman’s rights won’t be denied, they just will be different. Blame Zimmerman for his actions. Blame the police and prosecutors for the disconnect created between the early justice he did not get and the rights that could have been afforded him. …Even the right to make a different decision about February 26th.
From two different centuries we can find insight into this debacle. William E Gladstone, the four-term Prime Minister of England during the 19th century, contributed this quote in pursuit of a just society, “Justice delayed is justice denied”.
Then in the past century Dr. Martin Luther King offered this…”A right delayed is a right denied”. Is it a coincidence that these quotes connect? Is it possible Dr. King knew that the connection between the pursuits of justice means more than getting even and were inextricably linked to our understanding of how best our rights as individuals are protected and preserved?
It is probable these two forward looking leaders of their time would have been connected at the hip in these beliefs? By the way, one is black and the other white.
Bernie Giusto is a 34 year law enforcement professional. He’s the former Multnomah County Sheriff, former Gresham Police Chief and former OSP Trooper.
Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com