This story about the BART cop who shot someone in Oakland the other day reminds me of a heartwarming personal anecdote about our friends in law enforcement.
Many, many years ago, my brother and I were in a little pet store in LA when somebody accidentally tripped the alarm. Nobody in the place knew it had happened, and we were the first two lucky customers to step outside and hear the news.
“Freeze!”
The street was cordoned off by a blockade of police cars, and the cops were all crouching behind them with their guns drawn, just like in the movies. If about four or five rifles hadn’t have been pointed at me, it would have been exciting to watch; as it was, me and my brother were a tad bit, uh, what’s the word, nonplussed? We were only there to buy a few crickets for our pet chameleons and a mouse for his baby boa constrictor (we weren’t into sports or drugs, so collecting reptiles became our default hobby. What can I say? It was better than going out and getting into trouble with the police, ha ha).
So a cop with a bullhorn ordered us to drop our bags, raise our hands and walk slowly towards him. We didn’t argue. It was obvious we hadn’t robbed the place or anything, and when we reached him another officer came over, lazily padded us down and told us to sit in the back of the car. The bullhorn cop said everything was okay and that he’d explain what was going on in a minute, just sit tight. Meanwhile, his partner on the passenger side kept his rifle pointed at the entrance of the store.
A few seconds later the store manager comes out, and it’s obvious he’s an employee because they all wore these brown polyester shirts with pictures of coral on them (they looked like big, over-sized bowling jerseys). He called down that he was the manager of the store and everything was fine, that the alarm went off by mistake. So the bullhorn cop waved him over. As he did so, he said to his partner, who was still aiming his rifle at the guy, “It’s okay, he works here. He’s the manager.”
And the partner, still aiming, snickered and said, “Oh yeah? Should I shoot him anyway?”
And they both laughed.
That’s a true story. That’s when my political views, which were just then forming, began to veer left. It was my first (not last) glimpse into how cavalierly our boys in blue view the use of force and how low their respect is for common citizens. So when I hear stories about the police shooting in Oakland, I’m not a bit surprised. Most cops I’ve encountered are about as smart as high school football players who got their rocks off by wrapping up a freshman’s balls with masking tape and slamming his head into a locker. Replace their football pads with police uniforms, convince them they’re the thin blue line, and train them to think of everyone else as a potential “bad guy” and you have soul of American law enforcement today. It’s really that simple. They’re good at brute force and simple commands. Everything else is hazy. Stupidity (not racism) is the key to their psyche.
Broad brush treatment is almost always wrong. I've known a number of retired cops--bright, aware, sensitive to the personal dynamics going on around them. It's true, you don't usually find seminary dropouts going into the police force. What you do find are young (usually) men with a high testosterone level. You find the same thing in the Army--or on a football team, as you said. They're dangerous until they grow up a little, but they do grow up.
Posted by: Terry in AZ on January 10, 2009 1:28 AMIn January 1972 I was sitting in the Greyhound bus station on Howard Street in Baltimore, MD, waiting for a bus to take me to my first college teaching job, out of state. I had not yet completed my PhD work, had a wife and two little girls, and we were dirt poor. There was a "hippie" looking fellow, about 20-25 years old, sleeping on a wooden bench not far from where I sat. He was quite scruffy and had some small cache of possessions in a couple of bags. He was bothering no one, and there was plenty of empty seating in the station. Then two Baltimore City policemen appeared and demanded that he leave. When the sleeping man did not instantly comply, they began cursing him and beating him with their fists and then with their nightsticks, forcing him off the bench and on to the floor. They seemed careful not to draw blood, suggesting to me that they were professional thugs. Eventually, they dragged him to his feet and out of the station. Throughout this, I wanted to try to intervene, but I realized that there was really nothing I could do and that any attempt would have disastrous consequences for my embryonic career and especially for my little family. I felt as ashamed as I felt frustrated. I wondered what my late grandfather, who had been a very honorable and decent Baltimore City police lieutenant (on the force ca 1905-1948), would have thought of the two brutes in uniform.
Posted by: texasbob on January 10, 2009 8:24 AMAs appalling as that is, I have to stand up for at least some members of the LAPD. The house next door to us is being occupied by squatters - very loud squatters. Now, I would think if you were occupying a house illegally, you'd want to keep a low profile. Apparently, I'm wrong. The LAPD has been summoned on noise complaints close to a dozen times just by us. The other neighbors have also placed multiple calls. We have not spoken to the responding officers on every call, but we've had half a dozen conversations with various members of the force. They were courteous, listened to us, explained what our options were, even made a few suggestions.
Mind you, I have no doubt that the idiot segment of the populace has a respectable amount of representation on the LAPD, as your encounter clearly shows. And I have no idea which of our experiences may be the more representative. One may debate the appropriateness of "Should I shoot him anyway?" even as a (very tasteless) joke. But I would like to think our nominal public servants would have the sense not to make such a remark in the hearing of the public. That shows an incredible lack of judgment right there.
A dope is a dope. Give him a gun and a uniform, and you've got a dope with a gun and a uniform. But not everyone with a gun and a uniform is a dope.
Posted by: Roddy McCorley on January 10, 2009 1:32 PMThe BART police have a local rep for overreacting, if not on the LAPD's scale.
This actual shooter, though -- well, people could be saying undeserved nice things about him, but he sounds more like a dim jock than either a sadist or a guy with something to prove:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/09/MNQV156LHC.DTL
I mean, dim jocks can be troublesome too, but it doesn't sound like this guy enjoyed the harm he did. As a sometime police misconduct activist I've seen too many of the worse kind.
It's not always the worst person who does the most harm.
Posted by: Martha Bridegam on January 10, 2009 6:18 PMIn Sunnyvale, CA, just next door, all the cops are firefighters and vice versa, they're all public safety officers, and every one of them I've ever met has been damned impressive.
I do know that we don't all live in Sunnyvale.
Posted by: joel hanes on January 10, 2009 9:35 PM