There is an escalation press. I've had it demonstrated to me many times by different officers when I asked questions. If they don't follow procedure, they will be in different degrees of trouble for it, depending on the situation.
Unlike you, they have to fight for their lives on a constant basis, depending on where they are, obviously. That is why YOU need to begin participating in ride-alongs just for a tiny sliver of understanding.
No, I don't. No more than YOU need to walk around in a Black man's skin for a few days in a neighborhood where the police are viewed as occupiers instead of protectors. A hour's worth of a ride-along in a cop car no more means you understand what policing is anymore than getting a haircut in a Black-owned barbershop means you now understand Black people.
It is something of a given that any thread about a police-involved shooting will invariably pivot to the the reliable talking point of how police "have to fight for their lives on a constant basis." That's a truth more assumed than proven. In reality, while policing is not without its significant risks to life, limb and sanity,
it doesn't even rank in the Top Ten of the most dangerous jobs in America.
The five most dangerous occupations remained unchanged from their 2013 ranking, while jobs involving construction, driving and repairs shifted slightly. Police officers became the 15th most dangerous job, up from 17th in 2013. But 2014’s 97 police deaths still remains below the 130 fatalities seen in 2011.
No shade at the police officers. Loggers may have the distinction of doing America's Deadliest Job, but they aren't being targeted and attacked by armed beavers and woodpeckers, and of the many ways cops lose their lives,
gunfire has raced past auto accidents as the cause, however, most cops are
not under the gun.
Personally, I have no horror stories to relate about my encounters with the police. I've never been hassled, disrespected, followed, or threatened by the police. Whenever I've dealt with the police they have been polite and professional. I've called them and met with them and talked with them on my front steps and in my living room. I acknowledge there are good police officers and bad police officers.
However, I also recognize there is a long and bloody relationship between cops and the Black community. Over the holiday weekend I watched all five episodes of the excellent ESPN documentary
O.J: Made In America and two of the takeaways I took from the program was (1) He did it. (2) The LAPD's poisonous relationship with the Black community as exemplified by Mark Fuhrman contributed to the predominantly Black jury turning The Juice loose.
I have no idea if these Baton Rogue cops are good cops or bad cops. I do not know if the late Alton Sterling was a violent criminal or an innocent victim. What I do know
a second video has emerged and the very dead Alton Sterling does not appear to have been as armed and dangerous as Officers Salamoni and Lake claim he was.
Once I was angry, then I became disgusted, transitioned to fatalistic cynicism and now I'm just fed up.
J.J. PITTS said:
People constantly make assumptions about things they have absolutely no idea about.
They certainly do. People constantly make assumptions about the infallibility of the police in things they have absolutely no idea about. That doesn't discourage them from offering an opinion about it anyway.
