A good way to get this message out to police "We have your back"

[VegasBella]

I just wanted to let people know that cops are humans just like everyone else.

Humans are fallible.
Humans can be racist.
Humans can have an irrational fear of dogs.
Humans can be trigger-happy.

Studies have shown that unconscious biases can affect whether someone perceives another person (or dog) as a threat or not. Cops need to make split-second decisions and sometimes they make mistakes, that's true. And overall, because they've been trained they actually make fewer mistakes than civilians would make in the same circumstances. The problem is that cops are still subject to personal biases and the fact is - and studies confirm this - that many cops carry a significant bias against men of color. This is not actually debateable if you have read the literature on the subject. What is debateable is how best to fix it.

 

[PigsDad]

Using search terms similar to, "professions that attract violence-prone, professions that attract psychopaths, domestic abuse by police" etc, you can find plenty of studies, papers, books written on the subject. There's no doubt each of us would come to the findings with a natural bias whether circumstantial, political, etc so I'll leave it up to you whether you'll believe or discredit the sources, and agree that police work ranks in the top ten of professions or that domestic violence among police officers is far more prevalent than among the overall society. (I realize we're not talking about domestic violence specifically but the related studies do support violent tendencies among police in numbers large enough to be significant in the overall discussion of violence.)

But again that's not to say that every police officer deserves either respect or condemnation, which is the overall point I'm trying to make. It's sad but true that there are bad cops who make it very difficult to give total unquestionable support to the force as a whole. And like Ron and others have said, for some select members of society the personal experience of others like them with police leads naturally to fear and suspicion as opposed to respect and admiration.

So in other words, no. Thanks for confirming.

 

[SueDonJ]

So in other words, no. Thanks for confirming.

Not what I said at all. There are studies and books and papers, many of them. What I said is that you should feel free to search them out from sources that you trust, which allows us to remain focused on the source material rather than any differences of opinion we may have about the sources themselves.

 

[persia]

Is there any poster here that isn't White? I have non-White nephews and we have had to teach them differently than my White nephews. Neither set of nephews are bad, they both dress pretty much the same and live in similar neighborhoods. But the non-White nephews have all had run ins with police. One story, my nephews got together in Boston, white and black, teenagers. The were walking down the street (in Boston) kidding around, some cops saw them and, you guessed it, stopped and questioned the black kids. Racial profiling is real and it happens in progressive cities.

 

[vacationhopeful]

I do a LOT of work in a small town which has a mixed population ... some call it in-bred. Kids are kids ... they segregate into family lines, next door neighbors', same team sports, etc. When you observe them walking down the street .... they tend to divide along family lines (which happen to be 2 different race populations which in the 1900s to NOW were the under-classes). They taunt each other with slurs and nicknames ... going back to what their grandfathers' might have used.

One high school, 2 elementary school and a church school for the more devote.

I have had to educate anyone who has done work for me to LEAVE THEM ALONG and to NOT taunt either side. And to say ... "Good Morning" or "How's school going?" or "Thanks" if they walk around you. Both sides WILL JUMP YOU if you REPEAT any "taunt" they might be using/saying to each other.... just ask EVERY high school sports team they play. THEY ARE FEARED! And they usually have individual STATE CHAMPS in wrestling even though they are grouped with in smallest high school level. They play HS football against the other local teams ... most twice in size (or bigger) for school population ... with 2 or 3 times the number of cops (the real ones) present on away games. At home games, the normal local cops (not an overtime situation) are present as are MOST of the school teachers (not paid but to see their HS team play) as are the parents who have TOWN PRIDE ... even parents whose kids are gone or not yet near HS age. They have a small town Christmas parade and a July 4th parade with fireworks in the evening.

VERY few people drive thru this town; or shop; or dine out there. When the kids travel or go to the mall in their HS colors (not dependent on race) .. they get profiled and "followed".

I do NOT have MORE problems in that town - anyone who works for me has to respect the kids. There are cops and city council members of both races (of all ranks and sexes). I get treated the same by whoever on any requests. I rather work in THAT town then the MORE liberal or richer communities nearby. I have had contractors tell me they don't work there AND my reply is "you therefore DO NOT WORK for me".

Oh, and if you think I wear rose colored glasses ... watch the movie Jersey Girl (Kevin Smith's movie) ... they filmed most of it in that town ... watch Ben Afleck's plead to the city council ... they did not speak to him because they are the REAL council in sitting in their boro hall ... no SGA cards. And the stage shown for the "performance" is the real HS stage ... which my grandfather would have walked across for his graduation (he dropped out) but my Dad and aunts did walk across. It is in the still used HS built in the early 1900s. The "home", video store and the "bar" were the really in that town. And the movie folk did not have ANY police (other than 1 rent-a-cop security guard required by their insurance company).

So ... to perisa (and other posters) ... culture is different in many places ...taught and learned. I watch when I am in Europe as well as in any major city in the US. And I surely know even in a very small town ... it has a history and habits. But getting to KNOW people is the best way to accept others not looking or talking like you.

PS Almost of my contractors never had to be told to "respect" the local kids .. just the one idiot who I let go several months later for stealing from me. At least he did NOT blame the kids for the thefts. Been in that town for almost 30 years. And yes, the town has crime ... I just yesterday had to have the police out for someone trying to kick in a door overnight (in a building underneath the State's Assembly's deputy director's bedroom windows) .. whom I have to hunt down to see if he has video of the incident.

 

[Bucky]

"Be very passive and don't argue aggressively if you are detained".

good advice. but if Im not, thats no excuse for breaking out the gun or billy club or mace. I understand that cop may be having a bad day and I dont take lightly the risk he is taking every day he puts on a uniform, but no excuses please


Im a old white guy and Ive learned over the years to keep my mouth shut when I should, so Im probably safe, but if I was 50 years younger and a few shades darker I dont think that would be the case

I was wondering when someone was going to play the race card! Hogwash! Bad guys are just that, bad guys. Same applies to bad cops and bad white people, they are just bad, period. To lump all into a certain category because of their race, employment, education, etc is just small minded to me.

Are there bad cops? Absolutely. But they are far outnumbered by the good ones. How many here have ever had to make a split second life and death decision? I thought so! In almost every case that's being protested these days the officers were cleared of any wrongdoings! There are exceptions of course but they are not the majority for sure.

When you are under extreme stress for a great portion of the time you are more likely to over react to certain situations and thus make poor decisions. Rather than fear cops I would like to see them forced to undergo some standardized type of decompression training on a regular basis. This is afforded to our military and should be for our first line protectors at home also IMO.

 

[Tank]

A good way to get this message out to police "We have your back"
I'm not looking for arguments and negativity , just want a safe place to live.

Moderator, I think this might be a good time to shut this down, before it gets any uglier. It is not about race, its about respect. Without law enforcement we are no better than any third world country. The only race we need here is to get to our next vacation.
If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all can go a long way!

 

[VegasBella]

Bucky, you may want to click the link I posted above. It's Police Chief Magazine. Implicit racial bias does exist and it does impact cops' behaviors. Good cops know this. It's not "pulling the race card" to talk about reality.

 

[SueDonJ]

I was wondering when someone was going to play the race card! Hogwash! Bad guys are just that, bad guys. Same applies to bad cops and bad white people, they are just bad, period. To lump all into a certain category because of their race, employment, education, etc is just small minded to me.

Are there bad cops? Absolutely. But they are far outnumbered by the good ones. How many here have ever had to make a split second life and death decision? I thought so! In almost every case that's being protested these days the officers were cleared of any wrongdoings! There are exceptions of course but they are not the majority for sure.

When you are under extreme stress for a great portion of the time you are more likely to over react to certain situations and thus make poor decisions. Rather than fear cops I would like to see them forced to undergo some standardized type of decompression training on a regular basis. This is afforded to our military and should be for our first line protectors at home also IMO.

I agree, our policemen and women deserve better than what's currently offered to them to protect their psyches. But what's offered now is light years ahead of what was offered in the past - so good steps are being taken with the correct professional opinions being sought/followed.

I never understand when folks try to shut down a discussion with, "oh no, the race card!" If it's been proven that race is sometimes a factor for the way some police officers approach the citizenry, what is so bad about acknowledging it? It's not a card game; it's a willingness to look at the problem and all of its causes including racism.

 

[Bucky]

Deleted. This thread was about showing support, not bickering or expressing your fears!