If the motto of our boys in blue is “to serve and protect,” why is it starting to feel like their purpose is to scare and neglect?
Don’t get me wrong, I think there are many police officers out there that really do have the best interest of the people at heart, and I respect them tremendously.
It’s the ones who don’t that are giving cops everywhere a bad rap, which is a shame for those who are trying to make a positive change on society.
Police brutality has been a hot topic lately, with many cases of officers allegedly shooting unarmed suspects and racial profiling.
While I would love to give police the benefit of the doubt and assume that in most of these cases officers really are just shooting in self-defense, it’s hard to do that when you hear news of two police officers in a doughnut shop casually laughing about shooting suspects.
That’s right. Laughing about taking the life of another human being.
Two videos were uploaded to Instagram on Friday of San Francisco police officers doing just that.
First, the officers are seen discussing body cameras and how they would want to make sure a suspect pointing a gun at them is caught on tape, but not suspects who are complying by putting their hands up.
I can understand why they would want to have evidence that they were shooting in self-defense in cases where a suspect is armed, especially with how quickly the public has been as of late to cry police brutality.
What I cannot understand is why the officers would feel the need to shoot someone who is compliant.
In what way does this follow the idea of serving and protecting?
Continuing the conversation, the officers laugh about what it would look like to see a suspect shot in the head or chest.
If this doesn’t prove that police brutality is a problem, I don’t know what will.
I understand that there may be cases in which it is necessary for police officers to shoot, but for these guys to sit and laugh about taking another life while chowing down on their doughnuts is borderline sociopathic.
I understand that suspects should not threaten the police. I understand that they should listen to police when given orders.
However, contrary to popular belief, this is not “Grand Theft Auto” or “Call of Duty.” These are human lives we are talking about.
There are very few cases where I find it necessary to shoot to kill, and zero cases where I find it appropriate to laugh about it.
If you are sadistic enough to find killing someone amusing, do everyone else a favor and laugh about it in the privacy of your own home, not in a Happy Donuts shop.
Because that is not very happy.
In fact, it’s a slap in the face to people who expect to be protected by police officers and to officers who are just trying to do their job and are receiving disrespect because of the actions of others.
Citizens, respect your police officers.
Police officers, respect your citizens.
All lives matter.
tatadams@indiana.edu
