The Andy Lopez killing: Justice not served

So it’s case closed on the Andy Lopez killing. That’s the judgment from on high – the DA’s office and the feds (FBI) investigating the matter: a 13-year-old boy rubbed out by cops only seconds after being told to halt and drop his gun, a command yelled from the cops’ car some 65 feet away. What turned out to be a toy gun after Andy bit the dust. Cops were afraid, so they said, and figured best to shoot first, questions later. Okay, seems that’s happening a lot with cops all over the place. Dangerous job being a policeman. Dangerous being a boy on an empty street with a toy gun.

So a Task Force was formed to see what could be done to improve police – public relations to ward off more cop killings of said public. The Task Force studies and works hard to come up with recommendations for solutions to the problem – number one problem being cops too trigger happy and thinking of the public as enemy number one.

I know, it’s not all cops, but it’s far too many. Proof of this is nationwide.

The Task Force is comprised of good, smart, honest and well-meaning people and all their recommendations are needed and necessary steps and procedures to take, but there are two fatal flaws in the formula. There are two key provisions missing that result in the Task Force’s work rendering it without teeth. There is no requirement for the establishment of an independent civilian review board with subpoena power, unassociated with the county and cities’ Police and Sheriff’s Departments, or the DA’s Office, and there is no requirement that there be a state-established special prosecutor to investigate police-involved killings.

The Task Force’s recommendation for the establishment of an independent auditor’s office as an investigative agency to conduct hearings has no power whatsoever to make county law enforcement departments cooperate or comply with its wishes, and therefore it is without any real power at all.

So what we’re left with after more than a year of hard work by all 21 Task Force members, hand-chosen by the Board of Supervisors, are feel-good but powerless recommendations that will not solve the problem at hand, or prevent similar situations in future. . The police cannot and will not be constrained to be much more judicial in the use of deadly force because there is no government-sanctioned agency to enforce that and no way to force the Sheriff to change anything about how deputies do their job.

DA offices and police departments work in tandem and they are politically intertwined and interdependent in supporting and bolstering each other. DA’s need the police unions to get elected and DA’s need police cooperation for prosecutions. In return, police departments need to know that the DA’s have their backs and won’t prosecute officers except in cases of such extreme circumstances whereby avoidance of prosecution would be almost impossible.

We will never know the whole truth about the Andy Lopez killing because there will never be a criminal trial and therefore Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus’ actions, right or wrong, can and will never be determined. This is a sad state of affairs for Andy’s family, his community and our county. And the Task Force’s honest work and efforts will come to little avail. And what happened to a young boy just beginning his life and all its possibilities will occur again. Of that we can be sure.