Originally Published June 6th 2020 on Facebook.
***Disclaimer: I actually do know several police officers currently serving us, and some of them are likely to see this post. As far as I know, you are all good people and I mean no offense to you or to belittle your service. If you are an officer and you read this, and you get offended, first I ask you to take a step back and reevaluate. If you’re still upset at me, please discuss with me either via comment or DM.**
Here’s the thing. You don’t get to pick your police officer.
If your doctor does a bad job, you can get a new one.
If your mechanic sucks, don’t take your car there again.
If Fast Food store X is bad, go to Fast Food store Y next time.
This is the open market’s main method of holding people accountable, by essentially voting with your business. And it works decently well most of the time.
But you don’t get to pick your cops. If you draw the unlucky card, and you get the “bad Apple”, and you’re harassed, abused, and/or false charged, well, too bad! You can’t take your business to the next police officer. You’re done. Maimed? Jailed? Killed?
If a physician prescribed cyanide to patients he didn’t like, how long do you think he would be able to continue practicing before the board of healing arts revoked his license?
If your chiropractor broke 1/10 patients necks, how many times would you go before the state pulled his license?
If your mechanic chopped and sold for parts 1/25th of the cars he worked on, would you bring yours to him?
Is the problem with every cop? No. Of course not. But what other profession so voraciously defends and protects the worst among them?
57 officers in Buffalo today joined together to protest two officers being (lightly) reprimanded for assault and battery.
And another thing I’m hearing from officers lately… “it’s a dangerous job and we have to defend ourselves. We didn’t sign up to be murdered”.
Physicians and nurses didn’t sign up to die because you wouldn’t wear a face mask. Hundreds of healthcare workers have become sick, and at least 300 have died since the pandemic began. They didn’t sign up for this, but they served anyway. THAT is heroic. To be in a situation, completely powerless because your employer failed to plan properly and doesn’t have the equipment needed to protect them, and they STILL altruistically acts in the best interest of their community, is heroic.
It is not heroic to push elderly men down on the concrete.
It is not heroic to beat mentally ill people.
It is not heroic to shoot and kill unarmed people.
It is not heroic to tear gas protesters.
It is not heroic to run a speed trap.
It is not heroic to harass people over their personal life choices.
It is not heroic to stop a black man because he “doesn’t look like he’s from around here.”
It is not heroic to cover up wrong doing of your colleagues.
It is not heroic to bust into people’s houses and shoot and kill them because they dared to meet the intruder with their own defensive weapon.
It is not heroic to shoot and kill those you are charged to protect and serve.
Police officers are the most equipped people on the planet for their job. Who else, besides the military, gets to run around and protect themselves with bullet proof vests, batons, hand guns, and tasers? You feared for your life? He was “reaching”? I’m sorry, the job you signed up for is to protect and serve, not command and oppress.
Your emergency medicine physician and nurse won’t refuse to serve you if you go to them with covid or tuberculosis. Will they be afraid for their life? You bet. And they’ll serve anyway.
Americans do not submit to law enforcement. Law enforcement (and Congress, and the President) submit to the people. It’s way past time they start acting like it.
