There are shouts to defund the police…
There are shouts to look them up….
There are cops going to the hospital…
And yes there ARE cops beating people and going after media people in the middle or even the sides of protests…As with everything?
The bad ones spoil things for the good ones….
People choose side right now….
But when you are in trouble?
You ARE gonna pick up your phone and dial 911….
And expect someone to show up and help you….
The job is NOT an easy one these days…
Most civilians put in their place would probably react the same…A LOT of them….Scared…Would act worst…
And cops ARE people also….
At least most are…
It was one small overlooked moment as the streets of America burned.
In downtown Dallas near the convention center, a protester screamed at a dozen uniformed officers. “How do you live with yourself?” the man yelled at them. “How can you work for something you know is wrong?”
Off to the side, standing near the officers, a member of the Dallas Police Department in civilian clothes and wearing a mask to protect herself from the coronavirus was crying.
It is a volatile time to be a police officer in America.
They have been attacked by protesters and they have also attacked protesters, fueling the anger against them. Some have been applauded nationwide after being caught on video shaking hands with demonstrators, hugging them, taking a knee, or marching alongside them to turn tense protests into parades of solidarity. Others have been disciplined, fired or charged after using excessive force on protesters, as their superiors — long criticized for reacting sluggishly, if at all, to misconduct — are now swiftly punishing the kind of heavy-handed tactics that have been commonplace during riots in decades past.
The message from the president is to dominate the streets with force. The message from many of their chiefs and mayors is to tolerate, connect and empathize. The message on the streets, at times, is that they are part of the problem. The message from the news media is watch what you say and do.
All of these messages have collided in real time as police tactics are analyzed and publicized on social media, as the response becomes increasingly federalized and as officers in several cities are pelted with bricks, shot at and rammed by drivers in vehicles.
In St. Louis on Monday night, four officers were struck by gunfirein a shootout between gunmen at a protest and the police. In Las Vegas, an officer was put on life support after he was shot near the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino as police forces tried to disperse crowds that had hit them with bottles and rocks. In Buffalo, the driver of an S.U.V. sped through a line of law enforcement officers in riot gear, injuring two of them in an episode caught on video.
“We feel like we’re pawns in a game right now,” said a supervisor in a police department in the St. Louis region who asked that his name not be used in order to speak frankly about the job. “It’s almost like there’s an agenda and we’re being used on both sides, the left and the right, to further that agenda.”…
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In many ways, the police response to what is happening on the streets illustrates a kind of post-Ferguson era of policing. Officers — not only chiefs but even the rank and file — have embraced the demonstrations and aligned themselves so much with protesters that they march alongside them. In some parts of the country, chiefs have become more politically outspoken and more emotional than they have been in decades….