On Ferguson, and many ideas of "innocence"

Two more people were killed by the police, this time in Chicago. 

In the UK in 2013, the police fired three shots. Total. Across all of the United Kingdom, over 365 days, the police fired off three rounds, and managed not to kill anyone. 

So America has a problem. Maybe it's a race problem, maybe it's a gun problem, maybe it's a police problem. I don't know; I'm inclined to believe it's a combination of all of the above and then some, but particularly the third one. 

I'm a middle-class white female and as such can go through life without being afraid of the police. Intimidated, yes. Distrustful, yes. But I'm not afraid of them, because no police officer is going to glance at me and make a split-second decision that I'm a threat based solely on my appearance. 

I don't know what happened in Ferguson when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, because I was not there. I have no idea what sort of person Michael Brown was, nor do I know what sort of person Darren Wilson is. They may be saints or sinners but probably they're pretty much like the majority of people: generally pretty decent, but not flawless. I'm sure both of them have made mistakes in life. I'm sure there were people who love them both, people who are are absolutely devastated by what's happened and by what's happening. 

What I do know is that Michael Brown is dead, and Darren Wilson is on paid administrative leave. That's not fair, but nor is life. 

Here's what else I know: after shooting and killing a man, Darren Wilson was not handcuffed and put in the back seat of a police car. He, apparently, did not write a report on the incident. He was not fingerprinted, he did not have a mug shot taken, he was not put in a cell. He was taken to the hospital, and then placed on paid administrative leave, and he is now keeping an understandably low profile. 

We're told that this is because of course the police have rights as individuals as well; that Darren Wilson, like anyone, must be assumed innocent until proven guilty. 

Imagine I - an unthreatening, 5'1 tall caucasian female, shot someone or was accused of shooting someone. It's specific to New York, but Legal-Aid kindly outlines what I can expect when I am taken into police custody: I will be handcuffed. I will be taken to a police precinct. I will be searched, and my personal belongings will be taken from me and held until I am released. I will be fingerprinted and photographed. The police may or may not question me. I will, in New York City, likely be in 'processing,' in a cell at the local precinct, for anywhere from four to six hours. Then I will be taken to Central Booking. There will be long waits, up to twenty-four hours, before I go before a judge for my arraignment. 

The difference in those procedures is why parroting that Darren Wilson's treatment is justified under the presumption of innocence is disingenuous. Of course he is to be presumed innocent, just like anyone else. But the treatment of a police officer in his situation is so staggeringly different from the way an average citizen is treated in the same situation that it's impossible not to feel like something has gone very wrong in the system meant to protect us.