Why do Cops suck?

Why do cops suck? They don’t, but I just needed your attention and that seemed like a good way to get it. However, in the wake of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner controversies many people have their own opinions about the boys in blue…or black or brown, or light tan.

The issues that get most brought up are, “Why are these cops so racist?” or at whose at fault. But there is no doubt these were senseless tragedies committed by very unprofessional cops, but the issue isn’t whether it not they’re racist; it’s why did they resort to such violence, and did these men deserve to die.

Sure you can throw out all the evidence against Brown or Garner saying they were attacking the cop or committing a crime (distributing loose cigarettes is a crime? Seems more plainly gross to me). No matter the evidence, unless Brown had his own gun or Garner started attacking the cop there was no reason to behave the way those cops did.

In the case of Brown and the officer who killed him, Darren Wilson even if Brown was, as the evidence claims, fighting with the cop through the window of his squad car, Wilson is a cop. Can he not defend himself against one man? Plus, other than a gun I’m sure he has mace, what I believe is an adamantium baton and a Taser on top what should be at least some combat training. At the least he could’ve, I don’t know, driven forward a bit.

There were innumerable things he could’ve done to quell the situation, which are included in the job. It doesn’t matter it he acted as a means of his own defense. His job is to protect and serve us, not himself. If he was confused he can look on his bumper.

For Garner and the officer who used a chokehold on him, Daniel Pantaleo, the situation should’ve just not escalated so quickly. We can see with the very clear video Garner was hardly resisting arrest before Chuck Norris got to him. It was a simple matter of behaving too violently when the officer should’ve used his big girl words to talk to Garner like a human being.

Again this all may tie into the racism angle, but saying a cop is racist is practically like being one yourself. Just because cops aren’t a race doesn’t mean grouping them under one hateful stereotype isn’t and act of bigotry. I mean I know it may seem like a lot of these kinds of acts are directed on people of color but, come on, let me make my point.

These men acted carelessly because they were either scared (why I will never know) or they were just overtly aggressive for no reason. Maybe the answer lies in how we all treat the police.

According to Business Insider, CareerCast and Forbes being a cop is one of the most stressful careers you may have (one spot behind newspaper report, I may add). And as well all know being college students with stress comes panic and even anger.

The more and more of it you are exposed to the less you can handle. For Pantaleo he may be the kind of cop with anger issues who hates people like some hate cops and was tired of not getting what he wanted for Garner, which was to get in the car, which still probably wasn’t necessary.

Perhaps along with vest cameras there should be daily stress management. For every gun training session there should be a meditation one. These cops have to figure out a way to deal with the frustration of being a cop so innocent people don’t get harmed.

On top of that invest in proper weapon handling. Provide them with enough training so they know which one to use for any situation. Hint: unless the perpetrator has one, the answer is never a gun.

As Americans we like knowing who is at fault so we can riot and point fingers and say “Look, honey, there’s that bad person! Good thing we aren’t like that, huh?”

But even in tragic situations like this we need to look at the problem and say, “Why did this happen and how can we prevent it?” For one, the cops should be punished for not doing their jobs right, which is fit for another article entirely.

The key though is to look at why this happened and prevent it from happening again. Saying it’s a race issue is not only broad but also just cliché. It is more to do with the psychology of a cop and their training.

Like a police officer whose job it is to simply prevent crime and not judge and act irrationally, we need to do the same in regards to them. We need to look at them and give the same treatment we ask of them: one of calm, understanding, empathetic and possibly the distribution of cupcakes. They deserve as much, even they act a fool sometimes…okay a lot.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *