Last year there were 828 occasions when people being arrested in Jacksonville fought with officers instead of complying, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. This was up from 738 the previous year.
Yet, pro-criminal elements in Jacksonville protest “police brutality” whenever they see an opportunity. The latest is the case of a young man who chose to disobey several laws and resist when arrested.
The more force suspects use in resisting, the more force officers must use to gain control and effect the arrest. Any person with a functioning brain should be able to understand this.
In this case, the State Attorney’s Office did a routine investigation and declined to charge any officer with any crime. The sheriff is conducting an internal review to see if any policy was violated, which also is routine in such cases.
But the media and greedy lawyers can’t wait until the investigations are completed and facts are known. They continue to leap to conclusions and inflame public opinion against the police.
The latest is a screed against the police published in a small local newspaper written by someone who knows nothing about the incident.
Anti-police protesters also try to make such cases a matter of race. But the police are not concerned with what color someone’s skin is when he is fighting them.
There is no viable defense to resisting arrest. You argue about your rights in a courtroom.
Defenders of criminals cite bogus statistics about how many people of a certain skin color are injured by the police without taking into consideration how many people of that skin color commit crimes or choose to resist arrest, often violently.
The lack of respect for law and order also is reflected in the 405 assaults on Jax police officers last year – a 4 percent increase from the previous year.
Also untrue is the allegation that the police take no action in cases where officers are at fault. Of those investigated last year, 250 complaints were sustained, resulting in five terminations, 13 resignations and counseling or reprimands in the other cases.
It is all nonsense and should stop — but it won’t, because it is driven by greed and politics.
The more they make it seem that “victims” deserve sympathy and cash, the more often criminal suspects will decide to resist, and be injured unintentionally.
