I'm 30 years old, living in Richmond, VA and I'm black. I have been in contact will police a lot during my life. I worked at a government building, I gotten pulled over. I called them to me, had them called on me. It is a stressful dangerous job. To me I feel that cops are not the issue, having a service to serve and protect the community from threats and danger is important. My issue comes from the people that take up this position. Who we are giving this duties to and are they able to do the job to the best of their abilities. What has happen through this has brought up an ugly scar that goes back way before my time, my parents time, great great great parents time. People are going to feel uncomfortable but racial equality has to be talked about and that means it's time to talk about Slavery and the treatment of slaves. Generations on Generations people thought that skin color affected "intelligence" "strength" and "human qualities" you were consider a object much like a animal was consider a object or tool for farming. The 13th Amendment to end slavery was ratified in 1865 the civil rights act took place in 1964. The first slave ship came to this land in 1684. This is over 300 years of getting beaten, hung, belittled, mistreated, threaten, and so much more. The years have changed and people have gotten closer but like virus that isn't treated. The root isn't gone. We done things to improve things, like meeting with cops in your area. Talking in your community leaders, governors, and mayors. However these issue aren't going to go away if people still feel like the color of skin determines value.
1) We need to talk about equality at a early age and promote positive values as parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, Anyone to younger peers. Kids are sponges and they take in all the stuff that they see. If you see a boy or girl bullying someone else because of their race, sex, sexuality. We need let them know that that behavior is wrong. Then looked to see why they did that, 9 times out of ten they have either seen it or heard about it from else where. How young is too young? To me nothing is too young, I was raised with "This is going to be an adult one day" kind of parents. "Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them." Kids are going to grow up one day and they are going to become their own person. Keep this is mind that while you may change their diaper in the beginning of their lives are they going to return the favor near the end of your life?
2) Mental Illness and accountability has to be in the forefront. I'm sure people might ask, "what the hell does mental illness have to do with this?" Being in law enforcement is a hard dangerous job, but I say that it needs to be harder. They are going to in dangerous situations where they might not go home to their families, they might get into a situation where they may take someone life. Not by choice but because it was the path needed to protect lives of others. We need people that are going to be mentality strong and tough for that. We need people that are going to put the safety and well-being of the people overall and not look at a bad neighborhood as a war zone. Their job is to win hearts and mind to prevent crime from ever happening, not to look for a big score to get a better beat. Most importantly know what you signing up for, you are going to get in danger, you are going have use your judgement. It is okay to make mistakes it is alright to be wrong but if you are own it. Don't point fingers, don't pass blame. Accept what you done and learn from it. Every action, even non action, creates a ripple effect. Hold yourself and other accountable for their actions even non actions.
3) Assume Nothing, Believe less. Never judge a book by it's cover, never think that the worst is going to come. When people plan for the worst things tend to be better than what they thought. When you hope for the best things don't go as well as you expect. You need to be level headed. Every experience is different, on both sides. Don't look at the handful of bad officers and then all of them are the same. Don't look at a criminals and think all citizens are criminals. We have common ground somewhere beside living here, we just have to find it. My interactions with officers have been good, but that is just MINE interactions, and you don't know if this stop things might get out of hand, just like an officer doesn't know if this stop is going to be the one where he get shot.
4) PAY OUR LOCAL HEROES! Officers should be looked at as peace keepers and know how not only deescalate a situation but to resolve issues using wit and understanding. They are going to go into a dangerous job why is the basic salary for cops lower than working as a stunt man? It is time to really put money that is going to help the community in real ways. Better Schools, Better living conditions, Better Officers. Things wouldn't feel like a war-zone now would it, people will feel safer in better environments. Notice that crime seems to happen in areas where education is poor and not as accessible, housing isn't up to basic standards.
I'm not anti-police, but I'm just tired According to statistics reported to the FBI, 89 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2019. In that same time frame 1,098 people were killed from police harm and misconduct. from 2013-2019 1001 unarmed people were killed. We need to stop talking about how bad the problem is, we know we have problems we aren't perfect. We can change things, we are a collection that can do things we once thought impossible, going to the moon, growing food in places where nothing should be able to grow. When he have problems we solve them. People want to talked but suck in there homes, zoom meeting. You want to talk local singles in your area, boom tinder. You want make money in the stock market but don't know a thing about stocks, Apps for that. We can do this.
