Police deserve respect – but so do we
ONLY after yet another deadly police shooting was I made aware of that sage piece of advice American parents have for generations passed down to their children: “Obey the instructions of a police officer. Under no circumstances engage in an argument.”
“Yes Sir”, “No Sir” is the norm. A citation or traffic dispute should be taken up with the courts. It’s respect for law enforcement.
I had a similar conversation with my own children, after calling the US home for a decade.
Following the recent and often very violent confrontations between police and the community it swore to “serve and protect”, I had to have that conversation sooner than later.
“It’s a conversation all parents ought to be having with family members,” a colleague said. “It’s a basic civic lesson. It’s also a conversation delving into respect for law enforcement.”
The far-too-many police clashes got social media ablaze, not to mention 24-hour commentary on radio and TV networks, and the visceral reaction from the mainly black community.
It was, after all, mainly black or other minority communities that appeared to be targets of police profiling for minor offenses, including a non-functioning brake or tail light.
It was at this period that I became aware that almost everything is now public.
“Prior to this it was mainly a conversation that took place privately,” my colleague said.
Enter smartphone technology – an immediate aid to capturing police/community interactions, so the world now witnesses events almost instantaneously. The narrative changes.
That once-sage advice is thrown out the window, replaced by bombastic in-your-face confrontations.
The once-feared officer in uniform is reduced to tears, sobbing in court when confronted by the dramatic citizen journalist video clips – a now common feature on American television.
And then that hilarious Clive Naidoo clip – a challenge to law enforcement halfway across the world. What’s displayed here is not just the somewhat comedic exchange between a police officer and Naidoo, but a fearless exchange of words and a lack of respect and common decency – on both sides.
While Naidoo was vilified as the ‘bad guy’ and the police officer was the ‘hero’, had this scenario played out in American suburbia, public opinion would have swayed to the side of Naidoo, in light of the volatile and sometimes acrimonious police skirmishes here of late.
A uniform, they say, allows the wearer to belittle or mock the ‘transgressor’.
The perception is that the police are the ‘bullies’.
The recent police exchanges in the US have made public the need for restraint, and many police departments have gone back to the drawing board.
De-escalating an already tense atmosphere or agitated member of the public ought to be in every police training manual or hand book, is the generalised public opinion. Calming a potentially volatile situation should take precedence above all else.
Naidoo was peeved for being pulled over. The policewoman, however, was condescending, patronising and arrogant.
Naidoo hurled “I pay your salary” into the mix, and therefore expected courtesy.
While Naidoo should have thought this over, I have to agree with him. The generous remuneration package, pension, housing subsides and medical plans are taxpayer-funded, and to mock a taxpayer ought not to be tolerated.
But in SA and the US, common decency and mutual respect should always trump arrogance – on both sides.