Them vs. Us: Why the Police Have Declared War on Citizens

"We have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.”

-New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, after the senseless slaying of two of its officers.  12/20/2014

NYPD Union Top Boss

OK.  Now that I have quote there so we can all see it, let's just look at it and examine its meaning.  First, I want to say this isn't a rant against the police, at all in any way, shape, or form. In fact. this quote was made one day after the brutal murder of two NYPD officers, so heated rhetoric is expected. However just as people responding to police brutality with violence is completely unacceptable, so is the police responding with a edict like the one outline above. We are not at war, and for the NYPD union to suggest otherwise, is not only abhorrent, but it is also completely unacceptable.  We are citizens of a free republic demanding to be treated fairly and with respect by that those that choose law enforcement as a career.  The fact remains, that respect is needed on both sides of this debate.

I think we should all be thankful Steve Gutenberg didn't choose law enforcement.

We hear it all the time when an officer is indicted.  These are just bad apples. Just a very small minority.  What we don't ever hear of is a police department rooting out corruption.  We rarely hear about a bad officer being ousted from the force.  Part of that is department politics, but it's mostly due to that quote right up there at the top.  The police see themselves as different than non-police. But let me back up a second. Let me talk about how different a non- police officer's worldview is than that of law enforcement.

Bad Apple

On the social news and comment site reddit, there is a very active law enforcement community at /r/ProtectAndServe.  These dedicated officers celebrated the holiday season with an image on the main page that glorified the beating of arrestees while detained.  Here, see for yourself: 

Sidebar Image from reddit's /r/ProtectAndServe

If you can't see the image, it is a Christmas tree, wrapped in crime scene tape.  There are words posted over the tree, lyrics to a song sung to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree."

Oh Crime Scene Tree!

Oh Crime Scene Tree!

Your branches kept twisting.

Oh Crime Scene Tree!

Oh Crime Scene Tree!

I told you to stop resisting,

Not only fighting with handcuffs on,

But while being hit with my baton!

When taken in the context of the national discussion on law enforcement use of force, this seems mightily insensitive. On one hand you have police telling us that its only bad apples you have to worry about.  On the other hand, you have a popular law enforcement forum making light of extreme use of force.  Keep in mind that one or two blows to the head is enough to cause serious, long lasting or permanent injury to the recipient.  When some commenters pointed that out, they were berated out of the conversation.

So what we see is not just one or two "bad apples" that the police themselves never can seem to find until it's too late, but really an extremely prevalent attitude of acceptance of abuse. In this song above, presumably we are singing about a single hypothetical person that has been detained (rightly or wrongly), but is still being beaten with a blunt object. 

Maybe the song was about her.

Look, I get it.  Policing can be a dangerous profession.  There are a lot of wierdos out there, and people that will do anything to escape arrest.  There are dangerous people out there that need to be dealt with.  But most of us really just want to live in a society where people are treated with respect.  And the fact of the matter is, policing isn't THAT dangerous.  On the list of dangerous jobs, Police isn't even close to the top of the list. In fact, it is almost twice as dangerous to be a truck driver than a cop. In fact, death by homicide from police outranks murder, child abuse, and drug trafficking in some places. Further, we should expect our officers to take the high road.  When tempers get heated, we need professionals with thick skin that can take the abuse, not reactionaries that respond to words with violence.

Let's be honest here, the police can't be blamed for much of this prevalent attitude. Decades of the War on Drugs, The War on Terrorism, The War on Crime, and The War on Poverty have lead us to this.  Our unwillingness to deal with social problems in any other way than outlawing them has directly lead from the days Sherrif Andy Taylor in Mayberry, to the aggressive, militarized police force of today. 

Barney Fife, Mayberry Sheriff's Deputy

There is an expression that says, "When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."  Well really, the polices' only tool is the law.  If they feel as though you are violating the law, instead of deescalating the situation, they will use the maximum amount of force available to them to make sure that they will get it under control.

Barney's Ride.

So what's the solution?  For one, we need elected leaders that are willing to deal with the problems of mental illness, poverty, and racism. If we were to divert a small fraction of what we spend on being tough on crime to solving some of these issues, we could have a big impact.

One thing is for sure though. We must have a change in what we ask of our law enforcement officers.  They must not be only tasked with enforcing the law, but they must also deescalate conflict. They must have patience.  Compassion. We have to take back some of the power from the police unions so that they can't unilaterally declare war on us as citizens.

Most importantly, we need a police force that works for us, and not against us.

That's the Tucker Report, 12/28/2014.