In today’s society, it is considered progressive to question, or distrust, our country’s police force. I know this in part from having social media, constantly paying witness to celebrities, friends, and influencers who display their negative opinions of law enforcement on their platforms. However, I also know this to be true from a perspective that is deeply personal. I am a witness to to this lack of trust through the eyes of my wife, a current police officer. She recently made me aware of the current climate that is rapidly surfacing amongst our next generation, and I could not believe what she consistently encounters. The youth of today challenge police, yelling slurs at them during high school football games, flipping them off at concerts as they walk by them, while simultaneously muffling curse words towards their profession. The current generation that is being raised in our society has blatant disrespect for the men and women who protect their communities. And it is disheartening on a number of levels. At the ripe age of about 14 to 18, these young kids do not have the brain development yet to understand how complex our current country’s politics in regards to police actually are. They just see, through overloaded media, that innocent people are suffering at the hands of the police.
But that is one side to our police force. Yes, the worst side. However, one incredibly complicated aspect that is shaping our future generation’s view on an entire profession. The actions of police officers who have made poor judgements that are punishable by law should certainly be held accountable for their actions. That is non-negotiable, and never should be. But this piece is not for those officers. This is not a plea of grace for their actions, not in the slightest. I am here to write about the thousands of officers who, day in and day out, perform their job to the highest degree for all of the right reasons. This piece is for them; the ones who are spit on and constantly filmed throughout the day. The officers who are labeled as murderers and endure being called obscene names, simply for doing their job with an honorable and genuine heart.
To all of the kids flipping the finger towards my wife at a football game — do you realize that she is spending time away from her family so that she can protect YOU should anything happen? Do you realize that her presence at that game is an honorable promise to be the first to step in should something go horribly wrong? Hey kid yelling “F*** THE POLICE”; please consider that if you were to suddenly be jumped by fellow classmates, or heaven forbid a classmate decided to bring their Dad’s gun to the game and start shooting at their peers, my wife would be the one doing everything in her power to protect YOU. Yes, even you, kid who bumped into her with a scowl on your face acting like it was an “accident”. This is what she was trained for, to protect the public should an ill-hearted person decide to disrupt the peace and put you and your friends in danger.
And how about this, big and mighty 16 year old? If you were in major trouble, or saw someone else in trouble — are you telling me that due to your view of the police, you wouldn’t call 911? That if someone was breaking into your house, or you saw a woman being beaten by her boyfriend in an alley, you would put your middle-finger to the sky and yell “SCREW YOU, 5-0” and handle the matter on your own? You would bravely take on the criminal in your living room or challenge the domestic violence abuser because all police are pigs? You’d take matters into your own hands before calling the police that you hate so much?
I feel pretty safe to say that in all these scenarios, you would be dialing 911. You would call law enforcement to handle the matter, as would any of us.
You see, the media shows the worst of it. And man is it awful. Gut wrenching and indescribably sad to see when a police officer has shot and killed an innocent person. It absolutely has to stop. But as I’ve said, I am not here to argue justice for that side of the police force. I am here in hopes that you will consider the other side. The largest of the two sides. Police Officers are on duty 24/7. That’s right — every single second of every single day. There is not a time while the Earth is spinning, in every county, city, & state, that there is a police department that is off-duty. Which means that there is an exorbitant amount that goes on during those hours that never makes the news. And it never will. So many instances in which police officers are saving lives, or saving souls. Moments in which they are pulling babies from hot cars, or doing everything to help at risk youth. They are rescuing children from being raised in environments that are full of violence and drugs. They are encouraging a young, troubled kid instead of arresting them, in hopes that their grace will make a difference. They are working overtime to protect citizens at crowded events and quietly de-escalating situations that could have put you or your family in danger. They are handing out toys to low socioeconomic children during the holidays, or working traffic at outlet malls on Black Friday, all so that you and your gal pals can have a more stress-free shopping day, while all of their family is at home in their pj’s putting up Christmas decor. They are holding the criminals accountable that selfishly stole items from your store, the one that you’ve worked so hard to keep in business all these years.
Their hours are long and they are filled with so many moments that did not destroy the hearts of others, but in fact, filled them up. It is no secret that the news of today highlights the ugly. The worst of the worst. What our world sees in regards to our nation’s police force is one aspect of their profession. Yes, it is the worst part about their jobs and most certainly the scariest. But it is also what they encounter the least. What I am referring to is, of course, when a police officer is faced with a scenario in which they choose to use deadly force. This topic is so controversial for me as an individual. And I know that I am not alone in this. Our country has divided us on this issue, leaving no room to be supportive of law enforcement while also an advocate for ending police brutality. As I have said in a previous post about this exact topic, I am 100% intolerant to the killing of innocent victims. As is my wife, a current police officer. As are all of my wife’s co-workers at the department she serves. But rather than hone in on this ongoing controversy, I desperately want to explore this: why is our society so quick to scrutinize our police force as a whole and not other professions that are sprinkled with bad apples?
Every year, there are thousands and thousands of deaths due to medical malpractice. As a matter of fact, according to a recent study conducted in 2018 by John Hopkins, 250,000 Americans die every year from medical error. This figure puts medical malpractice as the third leading cause of death in America. The author of the John Hopkins study, Dr. Martin Makary, defines these deaths as “one that is caused by inadequately skilled staff, error in judgment or care, a system defect or a preventable adverse effect. This includes computer breakdowns, mix-ups with the doses or types of medications administered to patients and surgical complications that go undiagnosed.” Although carelessness, error in judgement, and inadequately trained staff are contributing to the deaths of American citizens, doctors are not labeled as pigs and killers. The medical profession is not under constant scrutiny in the media in the way our law enforcement is.
And every year, there are a number of teachers that have engaged in inappropriate relationships with their students. According to the Texas Education Agency, inappropriate student/teacher relationships are actually on the rise. In the 2017-2018 school year alone, the TEA opened 429 cases regarding inappropriate relationships between teachers and students, which is a 42% increase from the year prior. And that is just in Texas. These statistics are jarring, yet teachers are not attacked in the media as all being pedophiles. The profession of educators are in fact praised as being some of the hardest working people on the planet for the least amount of money (and I could not agree more).
I am by no means suggesting that we attack these other professions. That would be in direct opposition of what I am trying to suggest. I am simply shedding light on the clear effect that the media can play in transforming the opinions of it’s viewers. I am attempting to showcase how unfairly hyper-focused our society is on our law enforcement, and how an entire profession across an entire country faces blatant disrespect everyday for the actions of a few. The Washington Post has done a number of studies on fatal force, beginning their research in 2015 after the Ferguson shooting. In one of their recent articles, “What we have learned 5 years after Ferguson”, which was published in August of this year, they found that there are around 18,000 law enforcement agencies in America. Since 2015, most of these agencies have not shot and killed any subjects. Around 2,500 agencies have, which accounts for 14% of total law enforcement agencies in the country. Of those 2,500, 1,700 agencies have shot and killed just one person in the last 4 years. That leaves a total of 800 agencies, out of 18,000, that have used fatal force on more than one subject in the last 4 years. That is less than 5% of our nation’s police departments. In this same article, it found that the majority of people that succumbed to deadly force used by police were armed and of threat to the officer. In a study that surveyed all of the police shootings since 2015, 2,442 subjects were found to have a gun, while 285 were unarmed. This yields the statistic that 6 of 10 people that have been shot by police since 2015 had a gun, while many more were armed with other weapons, such as knives.
I feel compelled to re-address that I am not excusing, nor condoning, any police shooting in which an unarmed, innocent subject was shot. I will not argue that point as I have made it incredibly clear how I feel about this subject. But with these statistics regarding other professions, as well as deadly force statistics in regards to our law enforcement agencies, I beg the question: why are we allowing an entire profession to become so disrespected in the eyes of both adults and youth alike?
I have come to believe it is because they are an easy target for a few reasons. One, their jobs are not hidden behind four walls of a building, but instead are in plain sight in our communities. They are on our highways and in our malls. They are patrolling our neighborhoods and providing security at our sporting events. Secondly, it is, of course, easy to scrutinize the profession that once gave you that speeding ticket when you were running late to a meeting. Or that pulled you over for running that red light when you were just handing your baby their pacifier. Or that arrested your family member for being barely over the legal limit and driving home from Thanksgiving dinner. It’s easy to hate them because that was not a pleasant experience for you. However, it is easy to praise the teachers who have made a difference in your child’s life and, therefore, makes it impossible to focus on the few bad seeds who have taken advantage of their position as an authoritative figure. And it is easy to be grateful for the doctors who saved your spouse’s life, and so you cannot imagine seeing them as as anything but heroes in the operating room. You will not think twice about dropping your kid at school, or rushing your child to the doctor if they are sick. However, you will outwardly disrespect our law enforcement agencies as an entire entity instead of condemning the deserving individually.
May I suggest that we shift our mindset when it comes to police. We must realize and remember that all of those negative experiences you have had with them serve a purpose. They stop you on the highway because many times before you, that person speeding to their meeting ended up losing control of their vehicle and never making it at all. They pull you over because too many times to count, that person handing their child their pacifier was struck on the driver’s side as they plowed through the red light. They arrest your family member because all too often, that person behind the wheel who is just barely above the limit crashes into a family of four, forever changing the lives of all involved.
I desperately ask that more people remind their children that the majority of our country’s police force are doing silent and thankless work in which they too are heroes, just like their school teachers and their pediatricians. The youth of today sees the media and they are creating a narrative about our law enforcement agencies that has the potential to change the perception of an entire profession; a profession that we all may desperately need at our aid at some point in our lives. I beg you to remember that every single solitary second of every single day, there are police officers patrolling your communities to ensure that you and your families are safe. On holidays, on weekends, in the middle of the night and in the early hours of the morning. I do not ask for pardon for any of the officers that have unnecessarily used their power to recklessly end the life of an innocent person. However, I unapologetically do ask for grace for the thousands and thousands of police officers who are doing their jobs every week with integrity and honor. I ask that these thousands and thousands of men and women of our law enforcement are offered immense respect until they themselves prove that they are underserving of it. I beg that you give my wife that respect, as she has done nothing to deserve distrust simply for the uniform that she wears.
I hope that we can change this narrative that we are writing. I hope that we can clearly separate what is punishable by law and what is honorable work. My wife questions her profession every week, wondering if anything she is doing anymore is seen as servant duty. This type of work is the reason that she joined the forces; to make a difference in the communities that she protects. I beg you to remember my Laine; let her serve as an example the next time you are tempted to label all police as one stereotype. She is not an isolated example, there are thousands more like her. The statistics prove it so. If we continue to etch this current climate into the hearts of our youth, the climate that allows an entire profession to be accused of possessing the qualities of a few, we will never allow officers like my wife the chance to prove any different. The children we someday hope to have will know how brave and integrity-filled their mom is; their mom who is a police officer. My hope for the future is that their friends will know the same.
