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.
Hi Carl,
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.
Incidents like this make me dislike cops… if they know it’s wrong to search a woman, why would they do it?
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. 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.
Our lives are in their hands. It’s time for the police to take responsibility for their abuse of power.
Yours,
Hi Jessica,
Once again, thank you for openly sharing your thoughts and perspectives on police-community relations.
I really appreciate your honesty when telling me about your birthday “celebration.” I’ll use this incident to explain what the officers might have been thinking and what may have prompted their actions.
First, we should assume that someone called the police to report what you three were doing on the steps. What we don’t know is what that person said. If someone reports a disturbance, officers have an obligation to investigate the complaint. This is where it gets complicated. Even though you know what was actually happening that day with your friends, the cops didn’t.
If you and your friends were sitting on the steps of someone’s home, that would constitute the crime of trespassing, which is a low-level misdemeanor, but still a crime. In that case, the cops have the lawful right to detain you. Even if the call was just about “suspicious activity,” the cops can still detain you long enough to see that you’re not doing anything wrong. What if you or one of your friends was a criminal? Or a runaway? Officers have to start somewhere in their process of elimination. And since cops are often concerned about making mistakes and getting in trouble, they err on the side of caution, making thorough and intrusive detentions.
The only other explanation I can think of is that these cops were power-hungry jerks, plain and simple. Maybe they were on a break and got pissed off when they had to handle a stupid call about some teenagers drinking. Maybe they had to work too many hours that week and were just in a bad mood. Maybe they were just dumped by their girlfriend. We will never know. (I use these extreme examples to point out that officers are indeed human and subject to feelings and emotions like everyone else.)
It makes me sad to hear that the cops took your friend’s money. When I hear allegations like this, I am simply dumbfounded. I know it happens but it doesn’t make any sense to me. Thievery is not only wrong, but illegal. And it completely destroys any trust that you or your friends should have in the police. It also discredits all of my efforts trying to explain the basic actions of the police.
Obviously, there are multiple problems with the police system — from training to attitude to general mistrust. Maybe you and I can be part of the solution.
Take care.
This is an abridged version of the conversation. Read the rest in Matter.
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.
