To the editor:
Officer Every Person: it is a pleasure writing to you, and I hope this letter finds you safe and well. I know you have gone through a great deal these past few years, what with the pandemic and crisis upon crisis to deal with. Policing is and will always be a highly demanding profession, filled with all the personal and professional stresses placed upon your lives, lifestyle and marriages.
I am sure many of your fellow officers experience the fear that exists each time you leave your homes, and carry out your daily jobs serving the public. That is what you do right, serve and protect us all, no matter how different we are racially, sexually, ethnically or socially. All the People, even the bad guys right?
Do you feel trusted, your actions forever in question? Do you now hesitate when a critical decision is to be made, asking yourself am I doing the right thing or not? Critical seconds passing by. Are you afraid to go into situations that demand your presence? Can you tune out the protester's chants, name calling and threatening behavior? Do you feel respected by the public, by those who you put your life on the line for each day?
I truly understand how you may feel, how you you may want to react to these situations.
May I ask you a question, in all honesty? Have you listened to the public's demands for police reform, transparency and ultimate accountability? You're part of this world, and surely you want to respond in kind to these demands and accusations of racism, police brutality and out right unfairness.
We are living in a world where the public is on one side of the road, and the Police on the other.
Does it feel like you against them? Do you see a potential threat each time you see a member of the public, because most members of the public, those you are sworn to protect fear you.
Yes, unfortunately they fear you.
Uniformed, and armed, you stand alone as a symbol or law enforcement. The public has seen and heard the lived stories where 5 black cops beat another black man for apparently no reason, where a black man is basically strangled (George Floyd) by a officer on camera. Urban centres filled each night with shots fired by the police and the bad guys too. The public's social memory has etched violence by the police and the criminal, deep within its social character, and the public wants, needs, demands solutions to the situation we all find ourselves.
You were trained as a paramilitary officers, and so you were told to expect and demand respect from those you serve. That's US by the way, not your superiors, the politicians and social elites that rule our cities and nations. Pencil pushing, hard-working men and women working to build their lives and grant their families some form of security.
Officer, I know you want nothing different than us, but to build a future for yourselves and families too. Some of you needed the job and pension, others to serve their city and nation. Others became police as a family tradition.
There are some among you who became cops for another reason, a destructive reason. Police represent authority, security and community values. What if a police officer is a racist, or criminally inclined, a mentally challenged individual unable to handle or keep together their lives, falling apart while they remain a cop. Yes, these officers are causing the many killings of citizens who are often unarmed. Stress, prejudice and a lack of assistance from the authorities and their fellow officers allow people who can be rehabilitated to crack and lash out in anger violently.
Are your superiors up to their job demands, able to perform creatively, effectively and wisely? In business, if there is a failing, the manager has to answer for it, not their charges. Are you trained enough, and trained in the appropriate things? How to respond to mental health challenges, de-escalate situations using your mind and not your gun? It is always better to get a pat on the back, instead of abuse and violence. Does the police academy know your greatest weapon, the most powerful tool in your box of enforcement is your mind, knowledge and experience?
Officer, only you can force this issue with your superiors, not the public.
The Police Administration has become to politicized, and they fear for their positions within the organization. Only the public's foot soldiers, the true protectors of our society can make policing a more effective and uplifting profession. FEAR is the one thing we all need to understand and deal with, how it affects and influences each of us, and how we respond to it in turn. The management are not on our roads, streets and parks, only officers like yourself are.
The responsibility to change the way policing happens in your region falls upon you.
Politicians and the management will only do what's best for them and their supporters who have their ears.
Since there are police officers who either need help, but have not asked for it, or should not be officers due to their attitudes and actions on the job, only you can help or point out these officers. For your safety on the job and the public's too, direct action is needed. Management often cannot see a problem, but an active officer on the job most certainly can. Offering a fellow officer assistance or challenging them because of their attitudes and actions is nothing more than public service, something to be encouraged.
A well functioning, socially aware police force is something the public and you can be proud of always.
Can you see a time when police like yourself will protest for a better legal system, better, more effective policing? If that day should come, please do not be surprised if many other members of the public stand with you, BLM activists, social justice and so many other people with skin in this game. We all must stand with you and march for a better, fairer, safer society based upon equality and accountability.
Steven Kaszab
Bradford
