We do not know the exact sequence that ended with the death of Michael Brown (he was shot six times by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Furguson on August 9). But we do know the exact sequence that ended with the death of Kajieme Powell. This sequence lasted only 15 seconds. The two officers of the St. Louis Police Department arrive, see a problem, and shoot it. That is the extent of the police work that went into this situation. Like Brown, Powell, a young black man, was killed by white officers. As a consequence, and with good reason, we focused on the racial side of this tragedy. But there is another side to this incident that needs more attention, and it is this: The near complete lack of police work on the part of the two officers. Meaning, there is almost no work (doing a job) to be found in the Powell incident. And we have to ask why. Why did the officers avoid working—assessing the situation, making an effort to communicate with the suspect, seeing if he was a danger to others, clearing the area, deciding what kind of force would best solve the crisis for those involved directly and indirectly. The officers only stop the car, draw weapons, and begin shooting. This is not police work.

On July 17, 2014, several officers of the NYPD jumped on Eric Garner and choked him to death. Again, the incident is on video, and again, it is easy to focus on the racial side of the tragedy (black Garner, white cops). But what happened here is similar to what certainly happened in St. Louise and what possibly happened in Ferguson: An ordinary citizen is killed by officers who aren't working, who refuse to do any work, and who, ultimately, have never really learned to do their work. Indeed, the Garner death forced the NYPD to send its officers back to training—sadly, it was only for three days.

Also recall the comments made by former members of the US Army on the Ferguson Police Department's military-like response to the protests in Ferguson. What they saw were cops who did not know how to handle their weapons or how to deal with civilians. They were amateurs. They clearly were wanting in training. They were an embarrassment. From The Nation's "A Former Marine Explains All the Weapons of War Being Used by Police in Ferguson":

There is a growing chorus of military veterans who have chimed in on the absurdity of photographs like this one. Let me join the parade.... There’s at least one line every Marine knows. It’s ingrained at boot camp or Officer Candidate School and follows us to the front lines and back home again. It’s a simple command and it’s the second of the four weapons-safety rules. It says, “Never point a weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot.” The St. Louis County Police Department apparently never received the memo.

The question to ask, then, is: Why no memo, no professionalism, and this general inability to do or resistance to actual work? My guess is budget cuts. Doing real police work costs money, and city budgets are tight because, essentially, the rich do not want to be taxed. Balanced budgets are the only game in town.

Think about it. The fast response in the case of Powell was, in the terms of market values, cheap. And if budgets are tight, we can expect a kind of policing that cuts as many corners as possible. The police work we see on TV shows like Law and Order is now just a fantasy. That kind of procedural business—foot work, communication with the community, testing and following of evidence, and so on—requires a big budget and staff. But we live in an era of austerity and small government. A lean police department can only be a mean and incompetent police department. Remember, in capitalism, you get what you paid for.

My theory is that the three black men in this post were killed by an absence of policing.