It’s frustrating beyond measure when I continue to see
people, especially friends, perpetuate this narrative that cops are out hunting minorities.
This is a most insane conspiracy theory that every day, Officers across our
country put on their uniforms and then go out to kill people. If that were the
case I must be a really piss-poor cop. 13 years, thousands of contacts, and I’ve
yet to kill anyone…
In this day and age of Law Enforcement we have the highest educated,
best trained, and most thoroughly vetted Peace Officers out there on our
streets. Most states have standards for Officer certification and training. All
departments should have thoughtful – researched policies and procedures. This isn’t
to say that there are not “bad cops”, or loopholes like – lateral hires who are
trying to outrun their problems. But gone are the days where an Officer could “tune
up” someone who was a wise ass to them; I’ve heard firsthand accounts the from
the 70s and 80s.
So how does this narrative that cops are out there running rogue continue? I think it is a mixture of several factors.
·
TV and the media:
I don’t really care for cop shows because they’re so very unrealistic, so
much so that they pretty much drive me crazy. However shows like Hawaii 5-0, NCIS, and Law & Order, still rule the prime-time
TV market; for most people their perceptions of Law Enforcement are derived from
the television. I know firsthand how peoples’ expectations of even merely crime
scene processing are influenced by TV (no we don’t have all these fancy gadgets
to determine who broke into your house and finding fingerprints is art &
science).
When I watch these cop shows I see things that trouble me, I see the “good”
cops doing illegal things: Cops ignoring search and seizure rules. Cops
creating their own exigency to avoid getting a warrant. Cops threatening/coercing
suspects and victims. Cops immediately telling someone their Miranda Rights (it’s
not required until questioning).
Aside from fictional shows, “the media” aka “the news” also harms Law
Enforcement’s image because they derive their viewership (hence income) from
telling a story that is intriguing, that sucks us in due to the depravity of
man. We just cannot help but want to know the terrible things that are taking
place in our communities and across the world. The media isn’t going to tell
you about how many plane flights made it safely, but they’ll bombard you with
videos and images of the latest crash. The same goes with Law Enforcement
stories; the media isn’t going to remind you how many millions of Police
contacts were made today without incident, that were courteous and professional.
They will however show you the video of a cop who did something questionable.
·
The idea that cops are assholes:
Former Police Officer and now Police Psychologist, Kevin Gilmartin (Ph.D.)
explains this phenomena well. When I’ve had the pleasure to hear him speak he
talks about how Officers are trained to be distrusting of people and that the
best Officers are those who are most skeptical of others. A naïve cop or one
that cannot detect deception is a highly unsafe cop. However a seasoned Officer should
know the time and place to be skeptical, “hard”, etc. I see it time and time
again though where veteran cops have lost the ability to turn that off and on,
they’re just hard asses all the time. They’re not bad cops and I wish they’re
self-aware enough to look to bring that compassion back or hang it up. Also,
remember cops go from call to call, all of which are someone’s crisis. If you
spent your day dealing with drama, chaos, the worst things in life – you’d be a
little jaded too.
·
That cops can stop you for anything:
This simply isn’t true. Specifically for traffic enforcement - Probable Cause has to exist.
Meaning… That a violation has to have occurred. Here’s the thing, there are
hundreds and hundreds of vehicle code violations which you can be stopped for.
Petty things like a license plate light out stop can lead to large drug seizures,
multiple arrests, etc. and it can also inconvenience you on your way somewhere.
If you think Officers should be doing other things than traffic enforcement,
maybe it’s time to start campaigning to slowly weed out the traffic code and
simplify things. I’ve heard it said, “If you give a cop and hammer they’ll look
for the nails.”
Back to my first sentence on this topic – if cops are stopping people on
a whim/because they’re a minority/without Probable Cause… They’re bad cops and
that’s illegal.
Other contacts/stops outside of traffic are a whole different animal that
requires Probable Cause/Reasonable Suspicion. That’s a very long winded topic,
one with much case law behind it. I will say that NYPD’s “stop and frisk” in my
opinion is very unconstitutional.
·
Community relations:
There is a huge push for Officers to get to know the people in their
communities. I’m definitely not opposed to this, however increasingly
departments have become more reactive because their call volume increases as
their staffing remains the same or even diminishes. That means Officers have
less time to rub elbows with the general public.
I would love to see the community being encouraged to engage with their
departments. Most agencies allow community members to do ride-alongs, many have
a citizen academy and or volunteer opportunities. Law Enforcement has its own
culture, understanding it from the outside is hard to do; much like
understanding any culture from the outside.
·
Snap judgments:
Misinformed comments and unthoughtful social media posts perpetuate lies
about anyone, let alone cops. Somehow it seems ok, if not a “must” to rant
about Law Enforcement from a place of ignorance. There are all sorts of
professions out there where people are mistreated or even die, prime example –
emergency room doctors. I would be remiss to rant about ER docs because I have
no idea what they do, have none of their training, and have not spent anytime “in
their shoes”. Officers typically start their career with 6 months of intensive
instruction, some departments or states even require more than that. Once the
Officer hits the road they have several more months of on-the-job training,
before they are ok’d to work on their own.
All I ask is that before you share
your opinion of an encounter with a Law Enforcement Officer: check your
motivation, try to understand their perspective, look into policy/procedure,
and lastly, remember they’re a human much like yourself.
