The police: to serve and protect. This is the motto which they live by through their careers. Our police forces are a small army within local cities and populations. Their purpose is to maintain order, protect the innocent and serve the public. They put their lives on the line everyday for less pay than they deserve, as well as putting up with hate and criticism from majority of the population.
Growing up with my father as a police officer, I've seen the good and bad of everything he deals with on a daily basis. His job is his life, it consumes every aspect of not only his own but our family's life as well. The stress and responsibility that comes with the job is remarkable as it seems impossible for my father to turn his work off when he comes home.
Having the perspective of police officer for a dad gives me very mixed feelings about the violence which has occurred between the police force and public force within recent weeks.
Police shootings in Fresno California and St. Paul Minnesota are the most recent cases of the incident. Organizations such as "Black Lives Matter" having been arguing cases of racial injustice, stating that if the man in Minnesota had been white, the shooting would not have happened.
Philando Castile was stopped in St. Paul, Minnesota last week because of a broken tail light. He was licensed to carry a fire arm as he informed the officer and as he began to allegedly reach for his drivers license, the officer fired 4 rounds into him. The incident was recorded by the victims girlfriend on her cell phone.
Diamond Reynolds, Castile's girlfriend, is calling the incident racial injustice. She stated that "the police are not out here to serve and protect, they are out here to assassinate us because we are black." From the victim's standpoint, I can see how she might feel this way, but from my own standpoint, this statement is almost comical.
The protesting organization known as "Black Lives Matter" has been protesting against what they believe to be a racist murder and are asking for the badges, jobs and lives of these officers. These organizations still feel mistreated and unequal to their counterparts being white Americans, and feel as though the government is out to get them.
A new study reported by the Washington Post found that within the year 2015, nearly 1,000 citizens were shot by police. Of the 1,000, over half were armed and Caucasian. However, when adjusted for population size, although blacks have made up 6% of the shooting in 2015, over 40% were unarmed incidents. This shows that there is, in fact, some evidence to argue a case of social injustice. However, what the statistics lack are the eye witness accounts of what happened during very fast moments of uncertainty.
What many people don't understand is that the police officers have families and friends they wish to go home to. These police officers put their lives on the line everyday, and encounter extremely dangerous situations which require split second decisions. These officers are human, and have survival instincts just like everyone else. If they feel life threatened, they just may discharge their weapon, just as most everyone would do. Things happen fast, and you don't have time to think. Every time an officer makes a traffic stop they run the risk of of losing their life because of poor decisions.
Another incident involving a teenager from Fresno, California was captured on camera as two officer pursued the 19 year old Dylan Noble until he pulled over in a gas station. The white teenager was given orders to put his hands up, show them his hands or they well shoot over 30 times throughout the stop. Noble had gotten out of the car keeping one hand in the air with his right hand behind his back. The officers then gave an order for Noble to drop whatever was in his hand as he began to approach the police men. The officers gave a warning that they would fire, and as he still closed in on the two men stating, "I hate my life." The officers fired two rounds.
Noble dropped to the ground, and as the officers continued to give orders for him to stop reaching for his waistband they fired two more shots, one being with a shotgun, which ultimately fatally wounded the teenager.
From this incident I believe that Noble should not have approached the officers with a hand behind his back. He was given an order to comply and did no such thing. I believe the first two shots are justified as he could have been holding anything behind his back, however the next two shots while he was laying on the ground I find to be uncalled for. He was down and not going anywhere, and to shoot a shotgun at him from less than a few feet away does not seem right.
What can be learned from these two cases is that the argument of racial injustice is not true. Both situations happened very quickly, and as adrenaline kicked in, the fight or flight response was triggered. In my opinion, Noble's death was a case of assisted suicide, as he likely new what was about to happen if he approached the officers.
The lesson to be learned here, is to comply with the police. It is the law, they don't make the law but they do enforce it. Too many people make the mistake of coming off as hostile which puts the police on edge. It is important to be polite, and to not argue with the police as to why you were stopped or not because it does no good.
I'm not saying that all police shootings are justified as my father can testify to there being many terrible officers on the force, but for the most part police officers are genuine hard working people like ourselves. They have families they want to support, dreams, ambitions and a life beyond work. No officer wants to take the life of the innocent, they are not out to assassinate the blacks of America. Police officers unfortunately are forced to be in stressful, dangerous and highly scrutinized situations almost everyday on the job. These split second decisions can be life changing.
To add to the chaos of police shootings, citizen Micah Xavier Johnson carried out horrific attacks on the officers working at a police protest in Dallas earlier last week, killing at least 5 officers. One lady who attended the protest reported that as the firing started, one officer jumped in front of her and her son, taking a bullet for the protesters and ultimately giving up his life for their's.
Violence like the situation above has been increasing in not just America, but around other parts of the world, as well. Our world has been expressing extreme violence unseen in our world for quite some time. We seem to be lost as an eye for and eye makes the whole world blind. We can not keep rallying around chaos. I cannot be the only one who is sick and tired of seeing shootings on the news and people dying. Why can't we get along? Why can't there be peace? What is so wrong with forgiveness and understanding?
If you're reading this, and you feel what I'm saying, then help me be the change we want to see in the world. Help me practice peace and compassion for all people black or white. The world is desperately in need of our help. We can make the difference one small change at a time.
Hatred is weak, and to stand together strong as a country, we need to come together. Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter equally. God bless.
