At @Politicon yesterday, an African-American police officer came up to me and shared his view that the black suspects her arrests show him more disrespect than the white suspects. He was honestly and legitimately concerned about whether our community knows how dangerous that is. 
I told him that I could not speak to his experiences and took him at his word.
But, I said that even in the face of disrespect, it’s on him, as an officer and representative of the government, that he show the proper respect and restraint at all times.
But, I said that even in the face of disrespect, it’s on him, as an officer and representative of the government, that he show the proper respect and restraint at all times.
I said that if the suspect is disrespectful, whatever, brother’s going to jail anyway. But if *he* is disrespectful, the entire system of law enforcement begins to break down. The suspect represents himself, the officer represents all of us.
I analogized it all to an umpire. A good one doesn’t just kick the player out of the game becuase he mouths off. You wait until he takes L and walks back tot he dugout
Then we talked about training and he told me a lot of stuff about how he feels, descalation training is lacking.
Then we talked about training and he told me a lot of stuff about how he feels, descalation training is lacking.
I point out this conversation because NEITHER ME OR THE OFFICER ARE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!
But we’ve thought about this, deeply, becuase thinking about this deeply is just *required* if you care at all about police brutality OR “law and order.”
But we’ve thought about this, deeply, becuase thinking about this deeply is just *required* if you care at all about police brutality OR “law and order.”
Having a conversation about police brutality that doesn’t center on THE POLICE misses the game.
