Dad on Wal-Mart death: Some police 'want to shoot'

John Crawford Jr. told members of a state task force Monday night that he doesn't need to see their report in April to understand the relationship between police and the communities they serve.

He said his dead son is proof enough that it's broken. It's so bad, he said, that he believes some officers want to shoot suspects they encounter.

"We've got work to do," an emotional Crawford told the task force, which met for the final time Monday in Cincinnati. "It's not about black and white. It should be about right and wrong."

Crawford's 22-year-old son, John Crawford III, was shot and killed last August while holding a BB gun in a Beavercreek Wal-Mart. The Fairfield man's death is among several across the state and the nation that prompted Gov. John Kasich to create the Ohio Task Force on Police-Community Relations.

Kasich wants the task force, which has met in cities around the state, to send him a report by the end of April with strategies to improve the relationship.

More than 50 people turned out for the meeting Monday at the Kingsgate Marriott at the University of Cincinnati, and dozens of them shared their thoughts with the 18 task force members.

No one spoke more passionately than Crawford, who said he still struggles to understand how the officer who shot his son was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a grand jury. He said the legal system is built to protect police rather than victims of unjustified shootings, and that the special prosecutor who handled the case was more interested in defending the officers than his son.

"I don't see accountability," Crawford said. "We have to see the individuals with the gun and wearing the shield with the same accountability."

Though some speakers said most officers are just trying to do a good job under difficult circumstances, Crawford said he thinks otherwise. He said some become so desensitized to the people they encounter on the job that they're too willing to use lethal force.

"Some of them do want to shoot people," he said. "You have some officers out there that cannot wait to pull the trigger."

Crawford's view contrasted sharply from those of other invited speakers, who acknowledged problems but said many police are working toward better practices and training that will improve their relationship with their communities, particularly African-Americans.

Cincinnati civil rights attorney Al Gerhardstein said the city's experience after the riots and unrest in 2001 can be a model for other police departments, which could use the city's collaborative agreement between police and civil rights groups to usher in their own police reforms.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said he's also working to improve his officers' relationship with the people they serve. He said he's put more officers on the beat and fewer on special units that rarely spend time in neighborhoods. The approach, he said, has helped lower crime as well as complaints against officers.

"We can reduce crime by building trust in the community," McCarthy said.