Time to mention Ferguson; well sort of.  I’m not going to debate this particular case, but these are facts:  We have quite a way to go as a society.  People are up in arms about abusive police, which is a good thing.  I can’t believe how many acts of violence against citizens have been caught on tape.  How many more have not?

The media does a great job of keeping us in fear.  People sharing YouTube videos on social media do an even better job.

Policemen are individual men and women who have sworn to serve and protect the citizens in their community.  Please do not assume all officers are the same, that all officers are bad. That’s mob mentality.  Responding to bad behavior with more bad behavior; protesting with violence is also mob mentality.

I do know this, as a group, police have about the toughest job there is out there.  They deal with law breakers.  That is what they look for.  They have to deal with people who have no regard for the law; people who beat their spouses and children; people who abuse animals; people who run about shooting people; gangs; drug dealers; people who lie in wait to take out a policeman; they deal with the scum of the earth…and they deal with law abiding citizens who are both decent, and who are also assholes.

We expect officers to be “professional” to be friendly and compassionate and to know at all times whether the person they are talking to is a law abiding citizen or not.  I couldn’t even imagine the discipline it takes to keep one’s emotions under control and to continue to believe that man is basically good and to believe in the human race.

I had a discussion with one of my dearest friends who confided in me that she has had “the talk” with her young teenage son, the talk on how not to get shot and killed by local police. Seriously!  And though her son is white, and cute as a button, she knows that young men (and yes women), need to learn now not to push a cop’s buttons.  Don’t get arrested, stay alive.

You could counter that parents should just teach good manners.  Yes, that’s absolutely true!  But a reminder, driving home the potential danger of dealing with police is a real fear in this day and age and I understand the desire to have “the talk” with one’s kids.  How sad is that?

How hard would it be to treat people who have been arrested with a modicum of respect? So many of these people will return to the streets after having been disrespected by their police department and how can they not form an opinion about that?  I know several people who have been arrested in error and were totally handled as if they were guilty and they were totally disrespected.

The pity is that the occasional bad cop so outshines the multitude of good cops out there. They do such incredible damage to the morale of our society.

I’ve wondered how to handle the issue of abusive/asshole cops.  Are there just certain people who are prone to anger and violence and who should never have been hired to serve and protect in the first place?  Sure.  But I can’t help but think there are even more who have signed on with all the good intentions in the world and end up jaded. My friend suggested how could they NOT be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?!!

My two-cents on PTSD?  It’s not a disorder.  It’s human.  We’re not designed to deal with so much violence (war, working as a police officer, abusive relationships, etc…).  So to treat with psychotropic drugs just further debilitates the “victim”.  There are certain types of therapies available to clean up, deal with, and help strengthen people on an individual basis…to actually help rehabilitate them…not sedate them.  Again, not a disorder, it’s the human condition!

Back to the point, this article is not to forgive abusive cop behavior. In fact, as a society, we are nothing less than betrayed by abusive police.  We trust them to protect us. It’s incredibly hard to wrap one’s head around their conduct unbecoming an officer.

So how can we help our officers become better people, to be the protectors they set out to be?  To protect them from the seemingly inevitable pitfalls of abusive behavior?

Let’s try to understand and to better the situation.

I wondered if being a police officer should never be a lifelong career, but rather a short-term service like the military is set up to be.  Instead of boot camp where men and women are practically battered into submission to become warriors, there would be a training camp of fitness, police science, and of course public relations and how to deal with people, all kinds of people. Their service could be up to five years where they would be paid handsomely and perhaps given the chance to attend college.

Okay, I’m just trying to think outside the box.  All I know, is that if you’re working dealing with the scum of the earth, it’s got to change you.  And the longer you work along those lines, the more you’d lose yourself and go to “the dark side.”

And of course, we want our PD to be the pillar of strength when it comes to protecting us from the scum of the earth, but we also want them to do so professionally.

But let’s get back to Ferguson for just a moment.  If you have not read professional football player Benjamin Watt’s essay on Ferguson, I’m telling you now, it is a MUST read.

He does refer to his faith at the end. He wrote, “I’M ENCOURAGED, because ultimately the problem is not a SKIN problem, it is a SIN problem.” and went on to talk about absolving sins through Jesus Christ.

I respect that.  I would just add that I’m encouraged because at any given time, we have the choice to do the right thing. I truly believe man is basically good.

Please DO read this.

Here is a link to his Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BenjaminWatsonOfficial

Here is a link to a news station cutting & pasting it (in case you don’t have Facebook):
http://www.khq.com/story/BenjaminWatson

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is not the forum to point fingers and add more disgust to an already volatile situation.  This is the forum to brainstorm on how to better our society.  Suggestions are welcomed.