"All cops are, or at least should be, against police brutality. Every cop has a time where they have to make a split decision. Some make the wrong one, and there are consequences for that, like being sued, fired, and/or arrested." -My Dad
My father has been a police officer for 33 years. Growing up around police officers, I have a difficult time processing police brutality and what my stand is on it. To be honest, writing this article has been one of the most stressful things I have done all year. It's easy for people to watch the news stories, read the Facebook posts, and watch the videos putting down officers. Its easy to hate the police and make accusations, to go along with the crowd. What isn't easy is sitting back, researching thoroughly, looking at your own father, and writing a controversial college newspaper article about it. I can make the majority happy and say, "screw the police," or I can stand back and say what I feel and take what comes at me. So, that's what I'm going to do.
Social media loves to demonize the police force. All of the networks love to portray the officers as brash, abusive, and racist, but rarely positively. They play the iPhone videos of the policemen beating on black people and use it to gain more views. Boy, does it work well! Those videos go viral like wildfire. Police brutality has been around for decades, gradually creating animosity between both officers and the public. Expecting to be treated brashly, the public views the police force negatively. Likewise, expecting to be given disrespect, police are more quickly to misjudge the situation. The mistrust towards each other has escalated to create a very negative situation.
When preparing for this article, I Googled "Police brutality." One of the first things to pop up was a Facebook page solely created in order to post negative things about the police force. Scrolling through this, my stomach dropped. I began to think negatively about the police, about the men I grew up around.
I then called my dad. He is a man who I have always looked up to, a man who was criticized and demoted for choosing to help another officer in a time of need, a man who will always choose others before himself, and man I love dearly. I asked him, "Dad, have you ever been accused of police brutality?"
His answer shocked me.
"Lots of times."
What? My own father, the most selfless and innocent person I've ever met, has been brutal towards people? I was silent on the phone, searching for words to say. Images went through my head of my own dad hitting people. Was my own dad as violent as the cops I see on the news? Was he one of those officers?
"I've never shot anyone, although I've been shot at, but I've had to strike people to where they needed medical attention. I did this because they fought me and resisted arrest. Some suspects believe that by pointing fingers and accusing me of brutality, they will have a get out of jail free card. They forget that they resisted arrest. The consequence of doing so is not fun. Any officer will do what they have to do in order to get the arrest without being hurt."
The difference of my dad's brutality verses the police officers on the news is that my dad knew when to stop. Yes, sometimes you have to be brutal. Sometimes you have to get aggressive. Training should teach officers when this is necessary verses when it's not.
If a suspect is resisting, even to the slightest degree, doing whats necessary to get the arrest should not be considered brutal. On the opposite side, if an officer asks a suspicious male for his ID, then shoots him for complying by leaning into his car to retrieve the paperwork, that officer should be investigated for criminal and departmental violations. The officer was poorly trained and his actions were unreasonable.
Every shooting should be investigated. If the situation was unreasonable and any other officer or citizen would have done it differently, that officer most likely broke the law and should not in a position of authority.
"People forget how brutal criminals can be against the police force. In the back of my mind while on the streets, I'm remembering that I can get killed at any second. I always told rookies, you have to win. It isn't just a win or lose game, its your life on the line. If you lose, you die. This is what we face everyday, hoping that we make it home to our families at night."
The officers who shoot, aggressively beat, or accuse undeserving men, women, and children are unreasonable. You cannot and should not be a cop if you discriminate, if you pull the trigger without hesitation, or if you are going to get personal and strike victims beyond what's necessary. Being a police officer is not a job for just anyone. These are the men and women that we are supposed to look up to. They are supposed to protect us and make us feel comfortable, not the opposite.
"If an officer is wrong, that officer was wrong. But you shouldn't paint every cop as bad. Let's prevent the brutality and unreasonableness by hiring better quality officers and only passing good men and women in the academy."
