In the last few months, I have watched the head of two police unions display a brazen arrogance and bullying rhetoric towards those wanting police accountability.
To be clear, I am not anti-police. Hell, I got a police officer a commendation after a wrote a viral blog post about my positive interaction with him after being stopped for driving-while-black. I have always believed that people attempt to live up to their accolades so should we not try that?
Clearly police unions are a part of the problem
The video in this post displays the behavior of the president of two police unions who display a complete disregard for their real bosses, the people they serve.
The Houston union president actually threatened the citizens of Houston.
“We are sick and tired of having targets on our backs,” Joe Gamaldi, President of a Houston police union said in an aggressive mobster manner. “We are sick and tired of having dirtbags trying to take our lives when all we are trying to do is protect this community and protect our families. Enough is enough. And if you are the ones that are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, well just know, we’ve got your number now. We’re gonna be keeping track of all yall.”
The union president was upset because 5 cops got hurt in a drug-raid-gone-bad. Two citizens in the home were killed. It turned out the dirtbags were the cops who fraudulently invaded the couple’s home.
In the case of Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of the City of New York, he sounded like a mob boss demanding respect. He said that New York police officers are being treated like thugs and animals. Maybe if fewer of them acted like thugs and animals against a community protesting their thuggish and animalistic behavior against some of the citizens, then they would get respect.
The standard statement is that most police are good. While the case may be that most don’t murder POCs or falsely arrest and target those least able to defend themselves, the fact that most are silent makes them complicit. You can’t continue to have people killed by cops who are innocent and not admit to a very serious problem.
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Egbert, while I appreciate the content of the article, in order to be taken more seriously, perhaps have an editor give it a glance before publishing. The word is “brazen” not “brazing.”
First of all, thank you for alerting me to my typo. Like most online publications, we have a statement under the article asking that you email us with any typos that made it through our grammar checker. That said,
I cannot afford a copy editor so I pay for a virtual one. When I earn the support of enough subscribers, I will get one to check every blog I post. If you like my work and have the wherewithal to subscribe at any level, please consider doing so or sharing to friends who want other points of view (http://patreon.com/politicsdoneright).
Thank you so kindly for reading my point of view. A work 16 hours a day 7 days a week, researching, writing, and processing videos.
Regards,
Egberto
Would that all law enforcement officers follow the example of my current law enforcement community. They adopted community based policing, being helpful if one is indigent, not going with any illegal and “nonexistent, but extant” citation quota systems and just generally being helpful.
We arrived in town after a cross country trek back to our home state for my new job. At that time, we had suffered a major gasoline price escalation, which rapidly bankrupted us and family helped out in covering fuel expenses for the final couple hundred miles. We literally were living out of the back of a moving truck, awaiting a few days more until I started my well paying job, parked in a supermarket parking lot. An officer approached and mentioned that the business owners wouldn’t tolerate such activities and directed us to a parking lot whose owners didn’t complain about the homeless occupying and not causing problems.
Around 40 minutes later, the sergeant returned with another man with food, took me to the supermarket to get water and food.
That is policing! Helping out in a pinch you’re in in life, not escalating, trying to start a war or any other inanities we’ve been experiencing over the years.
On the other side of the scale was the 12th police district in SW Philadelphia. It’s literally the PPD’s version of F-troop, alas, without the comedy. Foul ups, goofballs, those awaiting criminal charges or termination get sent there and it showed. They make broken window policing look even worse than it is! Rights abuses, common, barging into homes without a warrant common and with such criminal mindsets, criminals tended to literally get away with murder, drug dealing, dog fighting on public property and worse.
The officers knew me well, when things turned to crap, I was the one pushing peace and helping people out. They also knew, gunplay on our street would only be allowed for one person, all others playing with guns and causing harm and terror would have a very, very, very brief experience doing so. My military zero targets were proudly posted in the window, along with my military affiliation insignias. I was the initial townwatch, me, myself, I and my Dutch Shepherd as a reinforcement.
Peacekeeping is a duty that is fraught with things not exceptionally lawful, but do work well enough to keep the peace. So, a few gunmen with dog chewed hands was a case of look the other way, as yet another garbage bag just showed up in the station lobby that was full of illicit firearms. It also meant, LEO’s blazing away as usual wouldn’t be tolerated any more than criminals blazing away and everyone gets equal treatment, do examine my targets carefully.
Laughably, my primary weapon was and remains my mind. Used properly, the need for any other weapon is obviated. Backups were a 45-70 hunting rifle, an M1911 Army model .45 (which carried bullets a bit lower in mass than the rifle), assorted combat knives, my dog and a hell of a lot of SF and general military experience. My best weapon in war was, of all things, a recipe exchange when entering a new community. Find common ground, well everyone likes to eat and loves new tasty dishes (well, save for the Seventh Day Adventists).
Welcome to the real world, nobody comes out of it unscathed. So, one has a choice, be part of the problem by doing nothing or be part of a solution that’s far from ideal, but leaves things a little better than before.
The neighborhood stayed peaceful for 18 months after I deployed, then it returned to what it was. I blame myself for not sponsoring more ideals in the neighborhood, as I had a fine townwatch group after a year, it disappeared without “that crazy SF guy”.
I like community based policing, precisely because it’s boring. Boring is good, boring is wonderful, exciting lives are marked by their brevity. I love boring.
I’ll also say, for my entire adult life, I’ve enjoyed being in positions of public trust. Within that context, it was in regards to things classified. I say that for a reason.
Law enforcement officers are in a position of great public trust, they carry firearms where civilians may never do so, they have the power of arrest and presenting suggested charges. Betraying that great trust should come with a greater penalty, an aggravation of the charges due to the betrayal of that trust.
Or as an old LEO once related about a training sergeant, “You betray the public’s trust, you smear shit on all of our badges and we have to wear it. Please don’t smear shit on our badges”.
Couldn’t agree more.