Better Not Bitter

As a child I was naive about a lot of things. Considering what I see and hear on the news lately, I wish I could say the same of myself now.

I remember a time when policemen would visit our schools to explain their duties as officers of the law: 

They weren’t posted in the school corridors to prevent kids from becoming the victims of murderous rampages. There was no need for armed guards to check the bags and other belongings of students.

Perhaps the only relevant evolution our society has seen is one of blood thirsty madness.  Yes.  The type of protection needed from police officers has indeed warped over the years.  More disturbing still, however,  is that our society now needs protection from those who used to provide it.

Before cops were not the one’s found guilty of sexually assaulting women and children or accused of racial profiling.

I never feared the police then. I never expected the cop to be the criminal despite the movies.

Fast forward 30 years and I’m really ashamed at the number of crimes committed openly by the “so-called” officers of the law.

It makes me wonder whether the naivety of my youth was the only thing that spared me from the realities of such corruption then.

With the technology explosion, there just is no way to explain away some things. Eye witness testimony is no longer a necessary evil to convict since everyone has a smartphone.  

Because of the ever-looming camera’s lens, actions really do speak louder than a person’s words.

I have no beef with the police department itself so my goal with this post is not to bash those officers who really do take their role in society seriously.  I still count those as heroes.  

Yet, I just have to get this out!  

I’m tired of hearing about people being brutally killed for no reason by an officer who chooses to abuse his or her authority regardless of the race or ethnicity!!!!

Years ago, the only news of stuff like that I recall was of the brutal beating of Rodney King.  Maybe a few years later, I’d heard a few stories here or there, but now it seems that every other week in the US, there is a different story involving police brutality with a tragic end.

I’m not damning cops!!!

Before I came of age, I used to believe police officers had the choice to use discretion with whether they were to shoot to kill if in eminent danger or whether they were taught to just wound a person in the process to retain proper control.

I WAS WRONG!

I’ve know now that if the threat is eminent, shoot to kill aka double-tap method is required.  Regardless, double-tap DOES NOT EQUATE TO EIGHT SHOTS IN THE BACK!!!!

Warning!!!The next link is disturbing:  I imagine at some point this will be taken offline as evidence to convict but for now here it is:

Murder of Walter Scott

I’ve never been in the police academy, but I used to work for the City of Memphis Credit Union so I came to know quite a few great police officers.  I never felt threatened by any of them and I prided myself for personally knowing so many. I felt safe in their presence.  I had no worries that I could ever be mistakenly accused of something and fatally shot or that the same could be the fate of one of my friends or family members.

Now I admit that I did definitely question the MPD after I was attacked nearly 12 years ago though.  I mean, I was the one in the back of the ambulance with the broken nose and the officer felt the need to almost arrest me for the domestic dispute.  All because my assailant cowered and told him that I attacked him.

Never mind that the only reason he really had scars or scrapes on his hand was from the glass table that broke when I went through it!!!

 

Go figure!  But in defense of that officer,  I read the irony on his face then. He didn’t want to ask me any questions.  In fact, he kind of said something about “policy.”  I don’t blame him for not using common sense because I know that while he almost resisted the questioning, he did what he had to do so I easily forgave him the moment he left the bus.

That said, I can’t help but feel sympathy for those police officers who are put in a position where they are forced “to do what they must do” in spite of what makes sense. Sadly those officers are mercilessly lumped into the same category in the public eye because there are those who’ve forgotten that sometimes to do what must be done is to do so much less.

©2015 Nadia Davis.  All Rights Reserved.