by Jim Fotis, President of National Center for Police
In 2015, the fledgling National Center for Defense, Inc. (NCPD) had just received its 501(c)3 status as a nonprofit under Federal Law in September Police 2015. Our first in-crisis law enforcement officer was not a police officer but a sheriff, a famous sheriff who was being charged with a Federal misdemeanor. The Sheriff was Joe Arpaio, known as “America’s Sheriff,” who had been pursued by the Obama Administration’s Justice Department relentlessly for supposed violations concerning the rights of illegal immigrants and illegal border crossings into Arizona. At the time, Sheriff Joe was the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona.
As NCPD was helping Sheriff Joe fight the Feds, another case caught our attention. It was a case out of Ferguson, Missouri, concerning a young officer involved in a shooting incident. The incident caused the halls of justice to shake and left a young man who dreamt of being a police officer all his life out in the cold. By the time Bert Eyler, Vice President of NCPD, and I met Darren Wilson’s friend (who was his representative because Darren had gone dark), the incident had occurred over a year before. Michael Brown, the individual who was shot during the altercation, parents had already received a $1.5 million dollar settlement from the city of Ferguson, and Darren had quit the force for the safety of the Ferguson Police and his own family.
Darren had received many life-threatening calls and threats. After going before a grand jury, it was found that he had performed his job in the way he was trained. Then, being investigated by the St. Louis Special Investigations Unit, the FBI, and found not guilty on all counts with no prejudice, Darren was finally able to resign, knowing that he was clear. However, Ferguson wasn’t; months of protests continued! Attorney General Eric Holder placed the Police Department under a Consent Decree, which meant that the DOJ would manage the Ferguson Police until the DOJ felt the department was ready to stand alone. Life in Ferguson was changed forever. The Michael Brown/Darren Wilson incendiary that lit the flame of BLM and for NCPD and cops around the country, I call it the birth of the “War on Cops.”
Now, ten years later, on the steps of the Ferguson Police Department, on the evening of August 10, 2024, ten years after Michael Brown’s death, the flames of hate still burn and the protesters have returned, bringing chaos to the streets of Ferguson, Missouri once again. On the steps of the Police Department, a Black Police officer was attacked and hit hard. The force of the blow caused severe brain damage, and the Officer may not survive.
The Death of Michael Brown has left behind a legacy of death, violence, and hate, which only helps those behind the scenes, promoting hatred and violence for money and their own glory and destruction. Until the masses wake up to the manipulation of a few, more people will die, more cities will burn, and the “War on Cops” will never end.
