Blamed if you do and blamed if you don’t
It’s really tough being a cop these days. They are blamed if they do and blamed if they don’t.
Today, there is a strong resistance to almost all authority and especially to someone who is perceived as overstepping his or her responsibilities. The result has been a developing fear among law enforcement personnel and also among people who interact with them.
Recently, when I was returning from a business trip to Lubbock, Texas, I was stopped by a local law enforcement officer. He had me on the radar gun as going 60 mph in a 55 zone. He was well dressed, very polite, and considerate — and obviously doing his job. Since I was on the radar gun, there was no questioning my violation, but given the fact that I was an out-of-town traveler who had immediately begun slowing down upon noticing that the road ahead was not meant for excessive speed, I had to wonder why I was stopped. However, you don’t argue with a law enforcement officer at times like this.
I started to reach for my wallet to obtain my driver’s license, but then remembered how officers like to see our hands. Suddenly, I was nervous and a little scared. I put them on the steering wheel and waited for him to ask me for my license, which he did. While he was watching me, you may bet that I was
watching him to make sure we were working together. I suspect he was looking for a drug runner or someone intoxicated, and since I was neither, he kindly gave me a warning and sent me on my way. No problem. In fact, I would congratulate the officer for doing a good job.
However, I mention the above story not to share my misery about being stopped by a law enforcement officer nor to commend the officer: I mention it only in lieu of what has happened too often during the past few months. The shooting of a man in a similar situation by an officer up in Minnesota recently is a case in point. I don’t like the idea of being shot by anyone, and I am not going to risk being shot by a law enforcement officer if I can avoid it.
It’s easy to play the blame game, but the truth is white people are shooting black people, black people are shooting white people, white people are shooting white people, and black people are shooting black people — and I suspect anyone else is fair game today. It’s not guns that kill people, and it’s not race that precipitates taking someone’s life. When the going gets tough, people just don’t trust anyone who is different. Muslims are not necessarily bad, and the fact still remains that there are more Baptists in prison in the United States than any other group.
Police officers today are scared. Yes, I know they like to put forth a big artificial front suggesting that they are not afraid of anyone or any situation, but that is a false braggadocio. They are human beings and are affected by all of the human emotions, especially fear. Have you noticed how State Patrol officers often approach a stopped vehicle with a hand on their gun? It is now being taught in our police academies. Officers are most vulnerable when they stop a vehicle and approach the driver. They cannot see whether the driver is armed or not. Yes, I know law enforcement officers wear body armor, but I also know a Mississippi officer who was shot point blank by a driver during a traffic stop, and it almost killed him. I also know that the person who shot the officers in Baton Rouge had a weapon that penetrates body armor.
Are law enforcement officers being singled out for killing these days? Maybe. But that probably also is an oversimplification. Concerning Baton Rouge, every media immediately declared that the officers were being singled out, but the testimony of an experienced officer on the scene contradicted that assumption and declared that the man was shooting at everyone and could have done a much better job at a different location had he been singling out police officers. And, concerning the man shot by an officer making a traffic stop while reaching for his wallet, the evidence now suggests that his weapon was located almost at the same place.
Yes, it appears that some police officers have gone beyond what their training dictates, but there is no excuse for agitated individuals to start shooting law enforcement personnel just because they are angry. It is important for us to get behind these actions of a few and search for ways to stop this senseless killing and maiming. Today, people are afraid to go to a shopping mall, a sports event, or even the grocery store or church.
We are just as safe as our neighbors. When we begin to trust one another and to work on the things that develop that trust, there will be less conflict. My neighborhood gets together three or four times a year for fun and fellowship. We know one another and there is no fear of someone going off and doing something stupid. It is time for people in the United States to begin working on the things that bind us together — instead of arguing about the things that divide us.