Our country is reeling from the pain and frustration of injustice.  We’ve seen the videos and read the news stories of young black men shot dead by police officers with what too often seems too little provocation.  And then begins a predictable process, culminating in no charges against the officers while those close or sympathetic to the dead are left reeling with confusion and anger.

The collective accretion of outrage has morphed into a movement.  People are gathering, raising their voices demanding to be heard above the deafening lull of everyday life, because indignation without action is acceptance.  We’ve seen protests and demonstrations, civil disobedience, and sometimes violence.  Some of the efforts have been clumsy and unhelpful, but there’s no exact procedure for social change.  A movement must crawl before it can march.

On Sunday night, 1000+ marchers shut down the I-40 bridge for nearly 4 hours in protest of recent killings.  Cool heads on both sides prevented the action from turning violent the way we’ve seen in other cities.  There were various gatherings on Monday for city officials to hear from the protest organizers.  What emerged was a short list of demands, but what is crucially missing is transparency and justice when police officers resort to force.  Sensitivity training is important, as are community outreach efforts made by police departments, but the safety of suspects must not depend on an officer’s attitude and mood.

Accountability requires impartial oversight.  The proliferation of camera phones and dash cams has brought violent police encounters out of the shadows and into the light of public scrutiny. Every time people believe they see police brutality go unpunished, they become more skeptical of the oversight, and of the system overall. When the investigation records are then sealed, the decisions of investigators cannot be scrutinized by the public.  We witness the incident, but rarely gain any meaningful access to the legal resolution.

We need a new structure of accountability oversight for law enforcement.  DA’s offices work closely with police departments they’re expected to prosecute.  I do not know what a better system would look like, but I know the current one is broken.

Ultimately, citizens must have reasonable assurance that no one is above the law.  There must be a trustworthy authority above police officers to hold them to the standards of conduct the office requires and there should be transparency for the good of all, to properly exonerate in some cases, not just in the eyes of the law, but also those of the public.

Police officers have incredibly dangerous and often unpredictable jobs.  I don’t know what it’s like to be grappling with a suspect who might have a gun, or knocking at the door of a violent criminal.  Their occupation is to keep people safe.  As public servants, they deserve our cooperation, respect, and appreciation.  They should also be compensated like the professionals we expect them to be.  Accountability keeps the poor performances of the few from tainting the respectability of the many.

The Black Lives Matter protesters chose a bridge for their protest here Sunday night.  At one point interim Police Chief Mike Rallings joined arms with protesters in a show of solidarity.  There are gaps in our communities that often seem unbridgeable.  But this cooperative spirit has the potential to build bridges and unite people, not by our differences, but through our shared humanity.  Young black men are dying through misunderstandings and bad judgement.  This problem does not need a bridge to connect two sides.  We should all be on the same side of this effort.