St. Louis police spokesman tells his side in 'Ferghanistan'

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St. Louis police spokesman tells his side in 'Ferghanistan'
Jane Henderson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

After the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, viewers of cable television news got familiar with Jeff Roorda — former Missouri legislator, former cop in Arnold, former police chief of Kimmswick and current business manager of the St. Louis Police Officers Association.

The cable networks pressed Roorda for the police side of the story behind the death of Brown, killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson. In “Ferghanistan: The War on Police,” Roorda expands on his take on the case — The Blue View, as it were.

About that title: Early in his book, Roorda writes that the violence that followed Brown’s death “was most certainly a war. That’s why cops on the ground dubbed it ‘Ferghanistan.’”

About Roorda’s take on the case: He calls his book “a cop’s-eye view of things, and I do not purport it to be counterbalanced by, or fairly representative of other viewpoints.”

In other words, the book is a 209-page editorial, although one written with more linguistic gusto (if a touch less copy-editing precision) than most editorial pages display.

Among his many observations and conclusions is a warning about what has come to be called “the Ferguson Effect.” As Roorda puts it, “Cops under the constant siege of violent assaults against them, along with the threat of criminal prosecution or civil litigation suddenly become reluctant to do their jobs.”

As a result, he adds, crime jumps up as more people conclude that they have little to lose when police are passive. (This theory has been contradicted by many, including President Barack Obama.)

Roorda heaps blame on the likes of St. Louis Aldermen Antonio French and Terry Kennedy and the Rev. Al Sharpton — in the author’s eyes, the real bad guys. Other targets are Gov. Jay Nixon, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, sent in to control the police operation against violent protesters. Coming under more of Roorda’s fire are much of the media, including Mika Brzezinski, her MSNBC network and the Post-Dispatch.

Still, Roorda has praise for others in the media who interviewed him, including Don Lemon, Michael Smerconish and Jake Tapper of CNN and Joe Scarborough of (yes) MSNBC. CNN’s Anderson Cooper gets both a pat on the head and a boot in the butt.

Roorda has salutes for St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch for his handling of the grand jury that declined to indict officer Wilson — “Bob was in a no-win situation, but he handled it like a champ” — and for St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson and then-Ferguson Chief Tom Jackson.

Despite his praise for those wearing badges, Roorda has some tut-tut suggestions for police departments facing the threat of similar fracases. He says that “one of the big post-Ferguson lessons for police is to tell the press what you know when you know it.”

Despite Roorda’s hard-nosed tone, he writes an emotional account of getting to know and cherish an elderly black woman in Kimmswick. He makes a strong case that stronger schools in black neighborhoods are the crucial first step in washing away the poverty that he says inflicts a sense of hopelessness on young black men.

At book’s end, he has advice for both sides in the debate:

“If you want to do something to diminish the use of deadly force by cops, do something about poverty. If you want to do something about police officer safety, do something about poverty.”

And if you want to be better informed about the debate — no matter which side you’re on — read this book.