Letter to the editor
To the editor:
Following the deaths of Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu and the response to them from the public, it seems that the relationship between police and the people they serve needs to be re-examined and mended (something that is long overdue, if we’re being honest.)
The overwhelming consensus of the general public (or at least from what I’ve seen or heard) nowadays about cops is that it’s us (the people) versus them, yet I can’t seem to pinpoint when or why this way of thinking gained such a grasp on our point of view to the point it’s strange to hear anybody think otherwise.
From what little I’ve been able to find out, it seems that there’s been an outbreak of public paranoia of cops in general that was created and fueled by the firsthand experiences or witnesses of police brutality or abuse of power (some true, some not and the rest impossible to tell where they stand), the cop stereotype that they’re all jerks who will give you a ticket for anything they feel like (and yes, there are in fact cops like that) and dozens of stories passed down or passed along based on something a person has heard about yet didn’t actually witness themselves.
When you combine those three factors and the general distrust of anything associated with government, it was likely inevitable that the people would turn against the police.
While it’d be idiotic to deny the existence of corruption, police brutality or use of racial profiling and the resentment against them is both reasonable and understandable, the public outrage at them is misguided. Not all cops are jerks, not all cops are racist pigs out to hold people down nor are they all out to get you. As a society, we’ve come to a point that instead of punishing those who actually deserve it, we lump people into groups (regardless if they are actually guilty of the things we accuse them of) and put them all under fire. Yes, that does in fact go both ways and yes it’s still wrong.
I do wish that I had some realistic suggestion that might improve the relationship between the people and the police, but sadly none come to mind. It is a task that requires the input and analysis of many minds far greater than mine alone, but I do know something needs to be done. For the sake of our country, the people within it and the future generations of Americans to come, I hope our relationship with the police makes a dramatic improvement instead of continuing on the steady decline it’s been on.
James Jernigan
Hillsborough