To Serve And Protect

I feel like you don't realize how much being a cop in an inner city effects your perspective personally. You deal with the worst elements of society on a daily basis. If you work as a cop in a big city, you probably deal with the worst blacks in the US. If you worked as a border patrol agent, right about now you might think Mexicans are lying drug and human trafficking scum, because that's what you're looking for, and so that's what you'll find.

But those terrible people are not the rule. Most blacks (and Mexicans for that matter) are normal people with all the same moral and ethical standards as any US citizen. But if you're poor and uneducated, you are more likely to get into crime, and more blacks are poor and uneducated than a lot of other people in the US. This is where what Punk, John, and I have been saying comes in.

You need to put your job into perspective and realize that black guy you arrested today that shot up a rival gang, is not representative of all, or even most blacks, otherwise you're going down the path of these cops we see in videos overreacting and escalating situations because they see the persons skin color as representative of a threat.

 

Who's saying that? What statement from BLM,... or was it some random black person, and attributed to BLM?

 

Yeah, that's wrong. The cops didn't do anything wrong there.

 

Not sure if I told you, but I worked at a counseling agency when I was still completing my Masters program. The agency was contracted under DHS and trust me when I say, we saw the worst of the worst. When a child was removed from the home, the parents (usually just the single mother or grandmother) had to attend various classes (anger, parenting, depression) and drug court if applicable. Our agency came in when the child was being placed back in the home and we taught various classes (Parent Child Interaction, Crib safety, budgeting, home safety, discipline, healthy eating) and also helped them with the various helping agencies in the local area (food banks, job training, clothing, etc). In addition to the classes and Case Management, we were also the eyes and ears for DHS and had to report anything and everything we saw to them, because ultimately, the children were in DHS custody, even though they were back in the home on a trial basis.

Again, the worst of the worst. I saw things that make you wanna sterilize the entire population of our state. The classes we taught stressed talking, redirecting, loss of privileges, grounding, timeout (I'm not a big fan of timeout) and tried to show that spanking was not effective. It's legal in our state, so we couldn't tell them they couldn't do it, but we told them they would lose their child if any bruises were left after a spanking (yes, we looked on a weekly basis and twice a week if they were under 2 years of age).

Additionally, the classes I took in college, specifically Violence Against Women and Children. The cycle of abuse has stuck with me. It's learned as a child, predominately by witnessing their mother's being abused, but also from experiencing it first hand. So I did research on the long-term effects of corporal punishment and despite my preconceived feelings, the data overwhelmingly is against it. Now, I can keep doing what I've been doing, or change. I chose to change.

Another thing that really got me was Adrian Peterson. When it was reported he spanked his son, I was in his corner. I believe a father should be able to discipline his child and had the attitude, "who am I to say how he should do it?" Then I saw the pictures. End of story. I can't condone that "parenting" if you wanna call it that.

At the end of the day, I believe spanking, whooping, using a switch, belt, paddle, etc is just being lazy. Be better than that. Be a parent.

Disclaimer: I've spanked my kids (open hand, never left a mark). Probably 5 times in my daughters life. Probably 5,000 times on my son. Boys are just so different than girls. I even used a belt on my son once. He laughed after I was done. Guess that didn't work. I always tried to ensure I didn't spank out of anger, but I have to be honest -- it was a combination of being lazy and simply not knowing a better option. I do now. And they're older. But my go-to answer to parents is this: "negative attention is still attention. If they are acting up, give them attention. If you don't have the time, redirect them. If that doesn't work, take away privileges." I know full-well that parenting is difficult. But we can't be lazy. We can't be ignorant of the facts. At least I can't. Because I know better now. And it's my job to educate the parents I work with.

 

Good for you man

 

Education.

I'm not just talking about the criminals either. They do need an education so they have opportunity, options, a better way out.

Police to know when to make a split second decision, as well as how and when to de-escalate a situation and give a hand up instead of another notch on the arrest tally.

City leaders, business owners, teachers, etc to not be so quick to judge and try to look at the whole picture. Why can't Johnny focus in class? Maybe he got 2 hours sleep because his overcrowded apartment has no heat or AC, he's hungry, suffering from PTSD from seeing his mom get her butt kicked one too many times. Focus on math? Really? He's planning his route home to avoid gangs.

Education for all of us is the answer. Empathy. Leaders who care. Less greed, more love. No quick fixes. No leader is gonna run for president and have the magic potion. Starts with each of us.

 

^^ I hadn't heard of that documentary, but I'll be checking it out. Are you in Long Beach? I have a couple friends that live there and one does the hiring at the VA hospital (nurses and Social Workers).

best of luck. Exciting and a great opportunity for you!!! Well deserved.

 

This is semi-on subject:

Do yourself a favor and watch this INCREDIBLE video, called Healing Neen. Talks about the police, drugs, corporal punishment, rape, homelessness, the cycle of prison, child abuse, etc, etc, etc

Watch the first 5 minutes and I'm sure you'll watch all of it. This documentary is powerful.




Edit: @Punk-101 -- this video, they do Trauma Informed Care Therapy.

 

Well, it could have been worse. Can you imagine if they would have randomly selected a minority to stand in there instead of that woman? There could have been a mass riot where many more died.

 

Handout: Give a man a fish and he'll eat today.
Hand up: Teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever.

Show them the benefits. Not just monetarily, but the opportunities available with an education. And it's a culture shift. Many in the inner city look down on an education, which you eluded to. "Oh, you think you're better than me?" That attitude has to change. It starts in the home, school, community. School can be fun. I don't remember many classes being fun, but the ones that were I learned a lot more in.

 

Am I talking about other killings? What was obviously a tragic mistake would have been turned into far far more. Don't make it out like that. You know what I was saying. Because of all the other killings without cause, there is no way to deny this, even though it would have been an accident, would not have been taken as such. But hey, twist it into me saying minorities shouldn't be upset with unjust killings.