Rejoice, For Last Night Cops in Ferguson Didn’t Act Like Psychos

The big news out of the fifth
night of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the police killing of
unarmed 18-year-old Michael
Brown on Saturday afternoon is that the police presence was a
peaceful and decidedly non-militarized one, a stark contrast to the
behavior and appearance of officers from various Ferguson and St.
Louis area law enforcement agencies involved in policing protests
on Wednesday night, when cops acted aggressively toward protesters
and journalists alike, arresting at least 16 people. Ferguson cops,

meanwhile, promised to release later today the name of the
officer who killed Brown.

The change came after Democrat Gov. Jay Nixon
ordered the State Highway Patrol to take over policing of
protests in Ferguson. Photos from the fifth night showed cops
dressed like cops, not
soldiers. Observers on Twitter rejoiced that police stayed
peaceful while monitoring last night’s protest. It’s a depressing
illustration of how we’ve lowered expectations of police behavior.
Ferguson police say they will release the name of the officer who
killed Brown, a demand of protesters since Brown was shot. The
prosecutor’s investigation still has no projected end date, and
there’s not much reassurance available that the investigation won’t
end like so many others in this situation, with a decision that the
use of force was
justified.

Following some of the Ferguson commentary last night, largely
expressing relief that police were remaining calm and weren’t
militarized, I couldn’t help to think of the Lowered Expectations bit from Mad TV.
The story of the killing of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson
remains that an unarmed 18-year-old was killed to end an
interaction that started over him and a friend walking in the
street. In the national news cycle it may have become a story about
riots, and then militarized police, and now about how a calm police
force can relieve some tension in the community. The questions
surrounding the death of Michael Brown, however, and the judicial
process through which his killer will go through, and the
protections his job will offer him, as well as the continuing trend
of militarization of police across America and whether the plethora
of bad actors among the law enforcement agencies swarming Ferguson
until Wednesday night will face any kind of disciplinary action,
are the real issues.