Band Performs Skit About Shooting Police During Halftime of Football Game

According to the Tribunist, October 6, 2018, students during a half-time show at a high school football game between Forest Hill High School their rivals from Brookhaven High School in Mississippi performed a skit showing them shooting police officers.  The move would be controversial at any game, but is even more shocking as two Brookhaven police officers were killed in the line of duty last week. (In addition to Moak and White, Trooper Josh Smith was killed in Alcorn County Sept. 30. If his death is shown to be in the line of duty, it will have been the bloodiest 24 hours for police officers in Mississippi's history.)

Jackson Public Schools officials are apologizing for an "insensitive" halftime performance in Brookhaven by the Forest Hill High School Band depicting guns being held on police.
 
Gov. Phil Bryant condemned the performance, tweeting "This is unacceptable in a civilized society. Someone should be held accountable."

"I will be making a complaint to the Mississippi High School Activities Association as well as to Forest Hill and JPS administration. How could any administrator think that halftime show was appropriate?" wrote Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven.

"I have had a ton of messages on this completely despicable, disgusting, & disrespectful act from last night. I’ve been told Mississippi Department of Education has been notified & will be launching an investigation into this. Many of us including myself will be following up to make sure that this doesn’t happen again," posted Rep. Tom Miles, D-Forest.
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There is a strong division between law enforcement and the people in the communities where they work. Too many people believe that the police are the enemy, and at the same time police tend to view people in the community as untrustworthy and only worthy of prison for any type of violation of the law.

Communities do not trust the police and police do not trust the citizens in the communities where they work. (A 2015 Gallup Poll found that confidence in the police was lowest that it has been in 22 Years.) Police lack compassion and understanding for the people in the community and the community hates and fears the police, believing them to be the enemy. This is something that must change.

We rely on the police to keep our communities safe, and to treat us fairly regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or residence. The police have a difficult job, a job that most of them - almost certainly the vast majority of them - do very well, day after day.

Dr. David J. Thomas, writing for the National Police Foundation has a well-written article Law Enforcement Must Regain the Public’s Trust that I think is worth reading.