Deescalate? It’s not only cops that need reform
I have watched as police are spit on and cursed out over minor things when the suspect was clearly wrong. It’s almost as if people think they should be able to break laws and not be held accountable for it.
It has been more than a year since a demand for police to reform the way they interact with Black people has taken root and changes are on the books in police departments around the country.
The overhaul is long overdue and also desperately needed as the relationship between police and the public continues to be carved up and becomes more deadly every day for all involved.
Last week, I wrote how I cheered the guilty verdict in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial and I meant every word I wrote. I am sick of this version of “protect and serve” that allows police to manhandle, beat and shoot their frustrations out on suspects.
But as we wait to see what changes — if any — police departments will make, it is clear to me that whatever changes are implemented will be ineffective unless the public changes its ways, too.
Because what has been lost in the conversation about the way police handle the public, is the way the public handles the police when being held accountable for breaking the law or being suspected of doing so.
And I am wondering why nobody is talking about that?
This is particularly true in the Black community where the angst between police and people has led the calls for change to happen.
There are two sides to every story and if readers thought I was not going to tackle the other side, then they have not been reading my columns over the past eight years.
To me, just because you are a minority does not give you the right to break laws, tussle with police, resist arrest and then express outrage under the Black Lives Matters movement that you were treated unfairly.
I have always believed in law and order and that we must have cops on the streets to maintain it.
What I don’t believe in is the way law and order is delivered when it comes to the Black community. But I also am not blind. The police have a tough
job in crime-ridden neighborhoods that in many cases is made harder by an uncooperative community — and an increasingly hostile community.
So, while the public marches and demands that police be held accountable for their actions, it is time for the public also to demand accountability from the people who refuse to do their part to help deescalate a confrontation.
Because one won’t work without the other.
Like many people, I
have seen and read things that police have to endure in order to do their jobs that can only be summed up as outrageous.
And I am not talking about people who may be mentally ill and suffering a breakdown but people who are simply angry and determined not to cooperate.
While a video that captured a woman spitting toward a police officer is making headlines, it is not the first time that this has happened.
I have watched as police
are spit on and cursed out over minor things when the suspect was clearly wrong. It’s almost as if people think they should be able to break laws and not be held accountable for it.
Which brings up a question: how does the public expect police to handle a suspect who is uncooperative when police suspect them of having committed a crime?
I once wrote that I would imagine the space between a cop and a suspect during a confrontation is energized by adrenaline and heightened with fear and nerves on edge. I would think it is in that dead space that bullets fly or strength wins out, lives are lost or conquered, heroes are made or lamented and law and order is restored or defeated.
I believe that — and I am wondering how we are going to be able to bring the two sides together.
Because the police and communities they protect must work hand-in-hand.
I may not be a fan of this version of protect and serve but I also am not a fan of this version of public behavior.
Just like police need to be reeled in, so does the public need to be more cooperative with the people they pay to combat crime and keep the streets as safe as possible.
Because if that doesn’t happen, the divide will only grow wider.
And there has been enough death.
De-escalate? It’s not only cops that need to reform.