(Thanks, M. :)
I think many had begun to guess the problem was something like this. Certainly recent police incidents seem to suggest a kind of brainwashing must have taken place, somewhere.
Reader M. writes:
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About Police Brutality
Around 1997 my college student daughter threw a party at our house. She introduced me to a friend who had attended high school with her. He was now an Orlando policeman. I asked him how he liked his new job. He surprised me by replying that he didn’t enjoy it much. I asked why. He replied, “I wanted to become a policeman so I could protect the public. But when I got into the police academy I was taught that the public is our main enemy. Now I am, frankly, disillusioned.”
Years later when I began to read about police brutality, I remembers this conversation. A little further research (the Internet is so wonderful!) has revealed the following to me.
This is my understanding of how our city policeman has gone from being our best friend to someone who is feared and not trusted.
In the 1970s Bill Clinton promised a crackdown on crime. One of his solutions was to introduce federal police training for all municipal police departments.
To accomplish this training, police department training tactics and practices were brought to us by Israeli police training units. They set up much of the resultant police academy agendas and tactics that were established in most of our significant towns and cities.
The emphasis of this training was “control”. Police in Israel, that hotbed of political strife and violence, dealt with control issues more than they did protection of the public. I doubt that the Israeli trainers knew much about the US Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
So, over time, our police have been indoctrinated that “control” is paramount in their procedures.
Thus it is that if you wish to dispute or question what a policeman is doing, he perceives the action differently than you do. You consider it your constitutional right to understand what he is doing. You have the right, in your mind, to question his actions.
He, on the other hand, has been trained to control you and the situation. He, as a result, views any such action by you as resisting his control of the situation. He see your actions as resistance. He reacts many times in the unfortunate manner that leads to all types of charges of police brutality.
There are a lot of videos on the Internet showing examples of police reacting violently to the public. Study these videos carefully. What you will usually see is a situation where the civilian asked a question or demands clarification for the policeman’s actions. Rather than patiently explain their action or request, the policeman, interpreting the action as resistance to control, reacts in a violent manner.
A classic is where the policeman says, “Get out of the car.” The auto driver replies something like, “Why do I have to get out of the car?” The policeman then assaults the driver, dragging him out of the car, handcuffing and arresting him.
Why did the policeman do this? Because the driver did not instantly follow the policeman’s orders. Because, by the policeman’s academy training, this driver was resisting control, and control is what the policeman must maintain.
If you watch these videos you will see a repeating pattern of the policeman issues an order, the civilian questions or defies the order, and the policeman reacts with violence. It is his training to do so.
This is unfortunate for everyone. It is especially unfortunate for the policeman. Underpaid and overworked, they should at least get respect for what they do. But the public’s respect has disappeared as we begin to see them as “oppressors” rather than “protectors”. In many ways it is not the policeman’s fault. They have, by the interference of Federal police training. been badly and improperly trained. The problem is their training, not their personal dedication to the job.
This is also unfortunate for the public. I remember that as a child I was taught that the policeman is my friend. I taught this to my kids, until they, as teenagers, began to show me examples of police action that proved me wrong.
I miss the good ole days when the policeman was my friend. I miss the good ole days when the policeman understood my constitutional rights as well as I do.
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