officers - The Black Vault

• •
I
am a white, male cop somewhere in
Los Angeles County. · 1 believe that, as in ~y large group of I
Personally, I resent the stereotype employees, the behavior and atti- 1
that minority groups and the-media tude of the .workers 'is a direct reflec- j
portray of policemen as white-liooded tion .of the teaching and behavior of the ·l
brutes:· . ·.· . .' •· leaders. It may be time for a change in :
Does anyone really thPtk that if th~ leadership as t;he only way to purge the ,
Rodney King incident wen~ played out pollee force of those who believe they· !
in exact same circwP8tahces.-.a high- have a blank :check when it comes_to ....:
speed chase-(whicli tends:oo··get-hairy); usingforce. . ·
an alleged assault on an officer (a kick I'm not naive eriough to believe that
in the groin someone said) - that the every police officer is bad any more
conclusion would .. have been different if than· -every police ·officer can be good;
Mr. King had been white?. . but, when we place our trust and physi- .
·Well; lef·me ·tell y()u withiirst-hand cal safety in the hands of a group of ,
knowledge that it wouldn't have Qeen. people and give them almost totallati- !
Thi~ is ·not to say that I ·condone tude in monitoring themsel.ves, we I
what happened. But I take·great excep- must feel safe or our trust'will never be·
tion to the claims that this incident was realized. ..... · :...:. :~.. ~ · .· · ·,: -. ;:: · , .·.
some random, racial :attack on a hap.;. The bottoni line·is that if we can't
less= black motorist.= · ···
tl'l!st our public sery~t§. ~~doth~ righ; . i
To all. of you who hate cops; that's thmg, than how q~ :w~. tQtally,.. tr.qst.· 1
fme. It's your business. But just don't them to stop the criminals from doing
call 911 and bother me With your prob- ·the wrong things? · " ,:--
lems. When someone shoots you in the
.Kelly.Smi~h.:.'
gut because you objected to him· taking
Long Beach
your· c~,. don't bother me. When your .
grrutdmQtlter is brutally· murdered in W e are told history repeats itself. .l
her:home; and.you.stumble on h~r body. . . Nothing could be truer of.th~ d~·.:
a meek\tlater;,.d~>n't ·botl,ler.·.me;,When,.. mal record of.,the .. Los. Angele8·'·Poli~ ·.·
your babies., stop •br.eathing:in. the mid- Departmen,t •.We- hav~ ·~ee~ the: results·
dle of the night, please )eave me out of . of choke holdS, the beating8. of celebriit:
.When some qrunk d.river mows ties, cruel-and ·unusual-punishment' i
down your sister 'in .a.