There Is No “But” In Stop Killing Us

Editorial Note:  The following piece was written last night about 2:00 or 3:00 am while my mind was fighting with itself to stop thinking and go to sleep.  If you have read previous posts of mine, you will see some grammatical and spelling errors, and I am sure this one will have no exceptions to that high probability.  I try to go over it before I post, but I am usually still quite tired due to little sleep.  Please forgive these errors unless they end up making a sentence completely unintelligible.  I try to communicate the raw essence of what is going on in my head, and if I edit too much I lose that rawness, even if it ends up rambling.

Time to throw my opinions out and see how many people I offend.

If you didn’t know or weren’t sure, once upon a lifetime ago, I was a police officer.  It was a job I loved and a profession which I still support in many ways.  I can easily recall a lot of the interactions where I was seen as nothing more than a uniform and a mouthpiece of a system that was not allowing someone to get away with doing something they wanted to do, regardless of the rule, ordinance, statute, law or just plain courtesy and sense would dictate.  

I didn’t take any of that personally though.  I didn’t take it personally when I had my foot ran over by a minivan driver who didn’t like the traffic ticket I just handed her, not when my shoulder got injured from the robbery suspect who blew past me, nor the other shoulder injury from wrestling with another individual who was trying harm herself, nor when the guy who I just wanted to go home and sleep his drunk off, spent 10 minutes convincing me he wanted to go to jail, until I put the cuffs on and he ran, then landing on my right (dominant) hand breaking one finger and dislocating another.

No I let my emotions get riled up and I would let my mouth become my weapon of choice.  I left that job because my then undiagnosed PTSD and the personal problems I was involved in were just too much for me to be able to keep my emotions in check, and while it was unlikely I would do something physical the small possibility that in an adrenaline induced state of high emotions, I might do something unforgivable and regrettable and stupid.

What I’m trying to say is, that between the ever present sense of being demonized and dehumanized, coupled with the stupid amounts of adrenaline and other chemicals dumped, people get amped up and do stupid things.  

That doesn’t excuse the act.  Especially when your actions cause extreme harm or death to someone whom you are legally and morally responsible for once you have them in custody.  Until there is a conviction in a court of law, that person under arrest is only a suspect, even if you witness them commit the crime.

This profession I love has a habit of closing ranks and trying to correct the problems within.  Sometimes this may work.  But at some point we have to wonder what within the training process, the screening and hiring process or the process of evaluations of performance are we failing to recognize, educate, and eliminate (or at least significantly mitigate) the problems that law enforcement faces today.

What problems would those be, you say.  Well, first off, the ever widening gap of public-police relations.  Community policing was all the rage when I was still in that field of work.  In both theory and in practice, it had the potential to salve many of the wounds and bridge the divides that separated the members of a community from the individuals who had sworn an oath to protect those community members.  

While there was a lot of attention given this return to a time when neighborhoods knew the officers who walked the streets and the officers knew those families and business owners by name and face, government in its infinite wisdom threw money at it and with a certain amount of strings that could easily be manipulated to indicate that they were using towards “community policing” initiatives, really just hired more bodies and paid lip service to the principles.  So, the bridges weren’t built.  The divides widened.

Couple this with the systemic biases that exist within our current society and its systems, and then throw in those few individuals who were either a) able to suppress their racist tendencies enough to get past the hiring screens, or worse those individuals who became so jaded, that they allowed their prejudices to become the only “sense” of how they perceived the world into seeing only an Us versus everyone who isn’t Us.

Taken as isolated incidents without other factors these various interactions that have precipitated the current state of affairs would seem to be over reaction to rare occurrences.  But, when you have Persons of Color (POC), who will tell you that time and again, interactions with police are not minor inconveniences, but heart-pounding experiences of life or death consequence, and begin to put these incidents together you see that it isn’t some scam, some way to shine the spotlight or distract from other issues, but a real and valid issue all of its own accord.  That should be concerning to everyone, especially those who don’t have that experience.

I may get a little nervous when I have an officer approach me, or be a little perturbed that I got caught speeding or pushing the envelope on whether a light was yellow or red, but I have no worries that I won’t make it home to my family, ever.  The way I experience those interactions should be the norm across the board unless you did just commit a crime.  But when the level of melanin suddenly determines that you are guilty until the officer decides they don’t have enough to arrest you on at any encounter you have with them...something is wrong with the police.

Again, if this were just a few isolated incidents from a small number of individuals, I could understand skepticism.  But when you begin to hear from numerous and varied POC the numerous stories they have of encounters in which they felt afraid of going to jail or getting injured/killed simply because they have a skin tone that is darker than the average Caucasian, that should indicate a systemic problem.  Suddenly, these isolated incidents of  police encounters becoming lethal do not appear to be isolated incidents.

Don’t get me wrong, I am sure there have been a lot of white folks who have had bad encounters with the police.  However, I am sure that you skin color was not one of the factors that made that interaction thus.

I love my brothers and sisters behind the badge.  The vast majority of them do a spectacular job and really do just want to do right by the people whom they swore an oath to serve.  But it is time to recognize that diversity, inclusion, equality and “the blindness of justice” are only words and not actions in the overall scheme of modern law enforcement and that needs to end now.

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In semi-related circumstances, I want to address two things.  

One, I have spoken on this topic before either here in my blog or in particular posts on social media...that of civility.  I do not care what the issue is, there is absolutely no need to denigrate and belittle another individual simply because their thoughts, ideas, opinions and/or beliefs differ from yours.  Doing so is equivalent to being the rioter who tarnishes and diminishes a peaceful protest.  The mayhem and chaos caused does not facilitate dialogue, debate nor building consensus towards an equitable resolution.  So, be civil or be gone.

Second, and lastly, which ties into the first above; a person is entitled to their opinion.  It does not matter whether they have any experience or expertise on any topic, they can have an opinion.  Telling them that their opinion doesn’t matter in any way shape or form, is dismissive, belittling and on par with being uncivil.  Provide facts and counterpoints and attempt to discuss and educate in a civil manner.  If you have some expertise or specialized knowledge that you are able to share, do so, but by all means a) don’t rub people’s noses in that expertise and b) don’t be discourteous in explaining.  Attacking an individual does not foster dialogue, attacking their opinions because of what they do to earn a living or outdated (or false) ideas around a particular topic only entrenched them, not promote an environment conducive to learning and educational potential.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.  Comments (civil) are appreciated.