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As the daughter of the chief of police, I have grown up in the community of the men and women in blue. From backyard barbeques at my father’s coworkers houses to delivering cookies and Christmas cards to the police officers working on the night of Christmas eve, I’ve always been surrounded by the warm and protective community of these special heroes. As a little girl, I’ve watched with wide eyes as my dad bravely puts on his uniform and badge while I pray that he comes home safe every day. Every time I visit his office I was moved by the pictures on the walls of the men and women from his precinct that were killed in the line of duty. Knowing the danger of what my dad does every day, there’s a smile on my face every time I hear his sequoia tires drive up on the driveway knowing that he’s made it home after a long and stressful day of making the community that I live in a better place.
However, the media and much of the people in the United States today share a different view on people like my father who put their lives on the line every single time they put on that uniform so that they can put food on the table for their families. One single story that defines this view is the story of Rodney King who on March 3, 1991 was pursued on a high speed chase after a night of drinking when officers Tim and Melanie Singer tried to pull him over for speeding. King has admitted that he attempted to outrun the police because a driving under the influence conviction would go against his parole for a previous robbery conviction. It took several police cars and a police helicopter to corner King since he refused to pull over even after 8 miles. As the last person to come out of the vehicle, King taunted the police officers by laughing and waving to the police helicopter. This strange behavior proceeded while he grabbed his rear end. When they tried to arrest him, he resisted arrest and was believed to be under the influence of the drug named PCP. In order to control King, the officers tasered him twice and that is when a watching bystander filmed the rest of the arrest. Still resisting arrest, they started to hit him with batons after he charged at them various times. King did not get charges for driving while intoxicated or resisting arrest. There was evidence of his blood intoxication level with marijuana also in his system during that time. Rodney King sued the city and won $3.8 million and $1.7 million in attorney’s fees. The jury acquitted three of the officers which led to the Los Angeles riots in 1992 which caused 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and $1 billion in financial losses. Nineteen years later, Rodney King died at the age of 47 due to a drug overdose. His fiancé found him at the bottom of a pool in June 2012 and coroners later found a mix of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and PCP in his system. Even though this event happened in the 1990’s, this same reaction to events of police trying to stop criminals who are resisting arrest can be seen in events today such as the death of Sandra Bland, the riots in Ferguson Missouri in reaction to the death of Mike Brown, and most recently the protests of kneeling during the national anthem and the riots in Charlotte, North Carolina. The death of Sandra Bland resulted in a perjury charge for the officer that pulled her over and the Bland family was awarded $1.9 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. Riots in Ferguson Missouri occurred in 2014 and reoccurred in 2015. The 2014 riots caused $5.7 million in damages. Most recently were the Charlotte riots where in September 2016, an African American man named Keith Scott was shot and killed by an African American police officer. Some highlights from last month’s protests were arrests for breaking and entering, assault, and failure to disperse. Some scenes from the riots were Scott’s brother saying “just know that all white people are f****** devils, all white cops are f******* devils and white people.” Protestors proceeded while damaging police cars, cursing at police officers, and throwing dirt and bottles at the officers as well. Other common “single stories” are of the death of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castle. Highlighting the danger of these single stories of “police brutality”, I’d like to focus on my opinions from the perspective of growing up in the community of police officers. In no incidence is it ok for a person to resist arrest or to mouth off to police officers. Also, if someone that is being pursued has a weapon it makes it even more of a dangerous situation for police officers where they should not be expected to act in a calm way. If a person is being pursued by the police it is usually for a reason. Rather than having people breaking the law get away or having police officers killed in the line of duty we have these riots and this idea of police brutality. In 2015, 123 police officers were killed in the line of duty. From 1791-2015, it is estimated that 20,789 police officers have been killed while on duty. A story etched into my mind of the reason why officers use “excessive force” to protect themselves is in the event in Baton Rogue, Louisiana on July 7, 2016 where three police officers were shot and killed by a man who supported the black lives matter movement. Their names were Montrell Jackson who was African American himself, Brad Garafola, and Matthew Gerald. I’d also like to highlight some social media posts I have found regarding police officers: an account named @19_KING_26 created a twitter poll with the question: “A clown and a police officer are running at you in full speed, you only have 1 bullet in the chamber who you dropping?” The choices are a police officer and a clown. 2,675 people have participated in this horrendous poll. There is also a twitter account called bleep the police that has over 12,000 followers. An Instagram post from an account named st_lupulin has an Instagram caption with the words “thin blue line” and thugs dressed in Halloween costumes aren’t cops. After the death of the Dallas police officers I saw many twitter and social media posts celebrating the death of these officers in response to the black lives matter movement. Also, an officer in California was fatally shot during an arrest just today. As the hatred for police officers continues to grow, I’d like to show a different side of police officers through my single story. As someone who loves to talk to people whether it’s through coaching soccer and high school basketball, being the basketball coordinator, or meeting his daughters’ friends, my dad is one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. He grew up poor in the state of Georgia but has created a better life for his family now through working long work days as a police officer. He would do anything for his daughters even eating seven doughnuts during a doughnut eating competition during family day at Virginia Tech. He put his daughters through private school and even is the one who comforts us during times of heartbreak. My dad is tenderhearted, patient, protective, and hardworking. As the chief of police, he even met with the Black Panthers party and Black Lives matter to set up a peaceful protest in his area. He is open to dialogue about this issue. However, I am deeply saddened by the view of police officers in the world today and the way they are treated in their communities. My dad’s police precinct often gets death threats. I am sad when I see images of protests where civilians are trying to fight the police while destroying businesses and setting things on fire. I am sad at the fact that my father can no longer pump gas in his police uniform because of the fatal shooting in 2015 of an officer refueling his police car. I am sad that I had to stand up for people like my father when people were debating whether or not police officers should have body cameras in my high school sociology class during my senior year. I am sad that I have to block people on Instagram that say f the police. I am sad that I have to worry about the growing tension and violence towards police officers in this country. I am sad that I wish my father could retire early for his safety but he can’t because he has to pay my college tuition somehow. I am sad because people do not understand that in exchange for the life of Mike Brown, Philandro Castle, and Alton Sterling; those could have been the lives of men and women who were just trying to do their job. I’d like to close my highlighting of the danger of a single story with one quote by M.K. Gandhi when he said “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” |