Dear Officer, Just Because Someone Has a Badge Doesn’t Make Them Any Different
A Bay Area teen and a long-time cop have an open conversation about police brutality.
Hello Carl,
Thanks for kudos on graduating from high school! It was definitely the most exciting thing that’s happened in my life thus far.
Do you know why the police commission rejected the SFPD’s request for tasers? I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to make this a priority. If not this, then what are their priorities?
And thank you for giving me a better understanding of how the police system works. It sucks when a police officer loses his life. They are just as human as the regular civilians who don’t carry a badge. But not everyone sees it like that because of how crazy and messed up these past couple of years have been… so many videos of police brutality have been brought to our attention. The cops I’ve interacted with don’t uphold the “protect and serve” motto that they preach to the public. Now, my friends and I feel unsafe around cops; we don’t trust ‘em.
This past March, on my birthday, I was hanging out with a couple of friends in the park. We were drinking and smoking weed. The park representatives kindly told us we weren’t allowed to be there, so we put our booze and weed away and we left. As we walked away, we played music on my speaker, but it wasn’t very loud. We got tired and ended up sitting down on some stairs on San Jose Avenue. We were there for about 30 minutes, just hanging out, finishing our drinks. That’s when I saw white lights flashing. I knew it wasn’t just a car turning — it had to be the police. I was nervous because I had two bottles in my purse, which I wasn’t really thinking about. My two homegirls started arguing with the two policemen. When the officers started searching my one friend, my other friend told them they weren’t allowed to touch us; only women officers could check us. I decided to make a run for it. My friends met me at my house a few blocks away. The officers had taken my friend’s money and had left the weed in her purse. I know they just pocketed it. But that brings up a good question: What do officers do with the stuff they confiscate from criminals?
Incidents like this make me dislike cops… if they know it’s wrong to search a woman, why would they do it? Since that day, my homegirls and I hate talking to cops. We avoid them as much as possible.
Look, I know there are good cops out there. And I know you can’t categorize everyone under the same label, but if certain bad cops keep murdering civilians, the spotlight will remain on them and people will continue to see cops as bad people. You can’t beat the “us vs. them” mentality from outside, but you could fix the system from within. In order to stop police brutality, the good officers have to be the change they want to see in the system. During police training, officers should learn about appropriate social interactions with minors and minorities. They need better communication skills so they don’t automatically resort to violence. The police should also try to build stronger relationships with the communities they’re supposed to protect to show people that cops can be trusted.
And the other thing is, those corrupt officers should be treated just like regular citizens. When an officer is killed, the police find the killer right away, but when a civilian is killed there’s debate about what happened. Just because someone has a badge doesn’t make them any different from someone without one. We all have equal rights in this country and they should be respected. Instead of just getting a slap on the wrist for killing someone, they should be held accountable for their actions. Our lives are in their hands. It’s time for them to take responsibility for their abuse of power.
Yours,
Keep scrolling to read Carl’s letter in the “Responses” section below.
Do you have a question for Carl or Jessica? Join the conversation by writing a response — and don’t forget to @ mention them! The pair will continue to exchange letters over the next two weeks and will try their best to incorporate your queries into their dialogue.
