“So what will she now teach her daughter, whom she had just dropped off at the school, and to the child she just gave birth to about the police? Anyone want to have a guess?”
I’m hoping that she teaches her daughter that if they ask her name, to just give it to them. If they arrest her, whether she thinks it’s justified or not, do not fight back, do not scream and freak out. Just be still.
And she might also teach her that police can be unpredictable, that you don’t know whom you are dealing with (whether they are white, Hispanic, Black, or officers of any race), so you should be calm and compliant. Even if you disagree with them. Sort it out when you won’t get injured or killed, as you have no idea what the police officer is thinking. Whether right or wrong, that is what is. And the most important thing is for her daughter to stay alive.
Nope. First and foremost, she’ll likely teach her kids that the police are not their friends, that they do not have to break the law in order to be dragged to the ground, and handcuffed, even if they are pregnant, that the police can make the law up as they go, and haul people to jail even if they have broken no laws, so avoid contact with the police whenever possible. Don’t call them. Don’t talk to them. They are not on your side, and cannot be trusted. She’ll probably teach them to run away as fast as they can, or hide when they see the police. They’ll probably hear her say she rues the day that she was stupid enough to hang around waiting for the police to show up that day, and that that will never happen again. That’s what I would tell my children if I’d experienced what she did.
What I’ve told my own children, particularly my son: Cooperate, but don’t volunteer any information. (He did exactly this when they accused him of slashing tires in an area parking garage, even though he’d been sitting in a bookstore, reading during the entire time period in question–though he did tell them he had been nowhere near the parking garage, and that bookstore surveillance could prove that). You are within your rights to maintain a stoney silence in the face of blatant disrespect. Don’t feel compelled to address them as “officer”, “Sir”, or “Mame”. No respect shown should elicit no undue level of deference. Move slowly. If they ask for your driver’s license/ID, tell them it’s in your wallet, which is in your pocket, and that you are unarmed. Tell them you are going to comply with their request and produce said ID. Move slowly. For traffic stops, they have been instructed to have their license, proof of insurance and registration in their hands, and their hands on the steering wheel of their car before the police approach their vehicle. Again, be cooperative. Be courteous if courtesy is shown. Come home alive. Be aware that you will be assumed to be criminal, because they can’t see “your white side”, and don’t know you’re an Eagle Scout, Sea Scout adult leader, or six figure earning college graduate.
It gobsmacks me that people say this as if it’s perfectly acceptable and immutable. Officers of the law are not supposed to be wild animals, as you accurately characterized them upthread.
All the advice that’s being given to detainees – be calm, be rational – why do we not expect officers of the law to behave in a similar manner? It seems to me that “calm and rational” is a pretty low bar for the people who are sworn to protect and to serve, and yet it’s one that they consistently fail to clear. And, amazingly, we do not seem to expect them to clear it. But we DO expect civilians who are subjected to illegal and unconstitutional treatment to control themselves while cops act like wild animals. You don’t see anything wrong with this picture?
stugace, I still believe (or perhaps I just need to believe) most police officers are ethical professionals who take their job very seriously. And I understand that law enforcement is by no means an easy task. It’s a job fraught with danger and stress, and we would all be in deep doo-doo if they weren’t in place to help keep society from descending into chaos. My problem is with the unacceptable number of officers who abuse the trust they’ve been given. Too many of them who should not be working jobs that equip them with lethal weapons and presumed righteousness. It’s those officers who cause me to worry about any police encounter my children (especially my son) might experience.
Police officers, by the very nature of their job, must deal with criminals and law breakers on a daily basis, many of whom are potentially quite dangerous. They put their lives on the line each time they clock in, which is why it saddens me each time I hear reports of officers killed in the line of duty. I also understand why we as a society afford them a certain level of automatic credibility. They need that credibility in order to carry out their duties without being hamstrung at every turn. But this very fact is why it’s so essential that those to whom we’ve granted such authority and assumed integrity actually deserve our trust. How are we to trust officers who don’t even respect our most fundamental of civil liberties, who apparently wouldn’t know a civil liberty if it walked up and bit them on the (fill in the blank)?