How I REALLY Feel About Cops!

The recent police/community debate continuum has swung from unharmed rancher Cliven Bundy to a high profile trio of Black males ( Mike Brown, Eric Garner & Tamir Rice) who died during police encounters. The discussion spans an amazing spectrum from inner city outrage to libertarian/conservative angst!

This public policy potion, brought to a boil by simmering resentment from the public and police, create a volatile, but valuable opportunity for possible reform. Unlike a lot of Black men, I don’t hate police officers. While I’ve seen a lot of Southern-fried bias behind badges growing up, I’ve also observed a profession populated by individuals whose values mirror my own. I also see a profession which has become somewhat insulated from the public employing it. Here’s a leading reason why I think said insulation occurs regarding the Black community: The crying lack of mass marches and protests supporting cops, especially from the Black community, indicates the other side of the public safety divide. The ONLY time police officers, of ANY color incidentally, see large numbers of us is when loudly accusing an officer and/or agency of corruption, brutality or even murder. This impasse doesn’t create fertile ground for departments to view the inner city as a warm and friendly place. It also underserves law abiding hostages and victims there whose suffering is drowned out by anti-police protestors. I’ve written complaints and commendations about officers. I’ve posted supportive stories and written letters to the editor trumpeting the many good ones. When doing interviews, I make it a point to emphasize my support for police because it’s not just the right thing to do, but also to contrast the airtime lavished upon outright cop haters!

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I’ve also helped officers arrest suspects in various roles as an anti crime activist, security professional or bounty hunter. I do think a review of police powers and criminal codes would be instructive in the wake of Eric Garner’s death. There’s a growing groundswell of concern from nominally pro-police conservatives ( largely White, for racial score card purposes ) who feel the Eric Garner fatality arose from big government’s insatiable thirst for revenue! Limiting a police role in such civil matters would go a long way I think toward improving community relations. Let the bureaucrats pound the pavement in hot pursuit of missing tax dollars and progressive busybodies who support them should follow loudly cheering at a safe distance. This isn’t a likely scenario because bureaucrats know nobody takes then serious, hence a perilous reliance on government workers armed with arrest powers and fire arms, instead of smarminess and ink pens. On the other side of the ledger, a Black mainstream which only takes to the streets after mostly criminal members are shot by police paints itself as supporting crime. Painting oneself in such a fashion only reinforces official suspicion. I REALLY feel cops aren’t de facto lynchers looking for innocent Black men to murder. I also REALLY feel until folks concerned about stopping violent crime start uniting with willing departments, most police brutality drama in affected communities is merely a distraction. My video, ”Liberals Don’t Want Brothers & Badges Together“ addresses how progressives in office ironically work to keep police and the Black community at each other’s throats. Thugs in blue jeans, not blue uniforms, constitute the leading threat to life and property in zip codes like mine. A coalition of shared values and aggressive partnership is what I’ve always felt would dramatically improve police/community relations. But it takes two tango, so my question to cop and citizen alike is, ” Shall we dance?” i.e., FINALLY improve police/community relations or passively watch conditions worsen? That’s how I REALLY feel about cops! They’re allies, not the enemy, unless we choose to see them as such. Please consider joining my Face Book group, American Brothers Against Crime, if you feel the same.