I was prepared to see the shooting, and the death, in the video. The ICE agents all stood back a few feet for a moment. Then they all approached the body, got on their hands and knees, and grabbed at him, shoved him, rifled him. It was as though they had no awareness of what they had done, and no respect for a deceased man. It looked like they were desperate to grab evidence and alter the scene.
Police officers are trained to preserve the scene and wait for an analysis of the shooting. These shooters did not appear to conduct themselves like police.
For starters, they are not police. As a citizen: there is a lot of communication between us and the police. We call 911 when in need of help, and depending on the situation, the EMT, the fire department or the police come. So there is no gap between us and police. Ice is different; they make us check that we have proof of citizenship everywhere, that’s all. They are of no use to citizens in daily life. So by default, they should stay away from US citizens.
Second, the police is more than identifiable. They have names, badges, uniforms. They switch on cameras during the communication. That gives them self-awareness in what they are doing.
And then, I seldom see swarms of police. Unless there is an accident. Usually there are two, and when they leave their house in the morning, they are not sure how the day will be. They are risking their lives as humans, and they are taught to never take unnecessary risks. They are taught to de-escalate the events.
So to think of who is hired by ICE…most are not kids. And mind you: I know some highly conservative people who support deportations. I can’t judge them because for starters, the beginning of their lives and experience were very different from that of mine. But, they managed, they are smart, they have steady and stable blue-collar jobs. And, they may be pro-ice but they won’t join it.
So to think of the pool who joins ice…you have to be somewhat “not established” in life, right? Then, to make any group work cohesively, you have to train them.
And here is an issue. Any training in the US is very “algorithmic”, there are rules, crew management systems, codes in hospitals and other facilities. To think of, there are lots of steps we are taught to execute in case of an emergency. I fail to see how one can learn them in 47 days, and also, many of our algorithms are the result of past bad experiences.
So to a degree, it is predictable that things are happening with ice. A huge group of people being present in the city where no one views them as “own”, they feel it, are likely, scared and angry, walk in groups, in the cold on Minnesota, whistle blows around…on the human level, tensions are high. Every day these agents are shown that they are not wanted. It is all incredibly “chaotic”, and untrained group’s reaction to chaos culminates in bad decisions. If we think of how it started that day…they hoped for an arrest (and a reward), but the door to the donut shop closed in their face, so they are already enraged, and then, people come, whistles, a group is formed. Someone not smart (and quite possibly, unfit for the job to start with) reacted. And of course, they have no rules or regulations for “the case one of us killed a US citizen”! Can’t be, it is not their job at all!
Now it is the case that shook the country because give or take, six people killed, for nothing, not only a US citizen, but a highly trained VA ICU nurse, whose job is needed. This is the net result that everyone sees.