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NOT THE BEST
CAREER THESE DAYS |
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For the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would want
to be a police officer these days, especially in a large city like San
Francisco.
This point was driven home once again last Friday while I was
having a leisurely outdoor lunch with two friends at Hillstone, a
restaurant on the Embarcadero.
As I was munching on a Caesar salad, one of San Francisco's
many mentally disturbed, drug-ravaged individuals came rambling down the
sidewalk, shouting unintelligible jibberish. My friends and I barely
acknowledged him. It's just so common to see these days.
Then he started running, which was strange. Next thing you
know, two police officers come into view, sprinting after him. The show
was on.
I don't know what this guy did to warrant the chase, but it
must have been serious. He was young, shirtless, shoeless, and built like
a Mack truck, with muscles bulging.
I'd tell you if he was Black, or White, or Latino, or
whatever, but I'm really not sure. He was so unkempt it was hard to tell.
And in a perfect world, (which it is not), it really shouldn't matter.
He ran into an alcove of an office building, 30 yards from
where we were eating, and the first policeman had him trapped. This was
supposed to be the end of the show, with the arrest made.
We could only see the first policeman, who had no weapon
drawn. He was clearly talking to the guy, trying to calm him down. Next
thing you know, the guy comes flying out of the alcove and tackles the
policeman and starts pummeling him with his fists.
Cell phones pop out among patrons at the restaurant, and the
videos whirl. The other policeman, who I believe was on his radio calling
for backup, comes to the rescue of his partner and jumps on the pile and
begins pummeling the drug-ridden, mentally disturbed fellow, attempting to
subdue him and get him off his partner.
The fight goes on for over a minute, which is a long time. A
young bystander felt compelled to help the police, and joined in. He was
rewarded with a punch to the face and probably a broken nose.
Other patrons of the restaurant who turned to see the action
after the initial attack were upset over the aggressive actions of the
police, calling it "excessive." Those that saw the
incident from the beginning tried to set them straight.
Eventually, the muscular man was subdued and taken away,
strapped down on a stretcher, with a net over his head to prevent him from
spitting, which I'm sure he had been doing. He simply growled incoherently
as he was put into the ambulance.
I went back to eating my salad, impressed by the
determination of the police in chasing down the suspect, and more
importantly, comforted by the realization that the police were not likely
to use excessive force because of the enormous social discourse on police
brutality.
This suspect, who was shirtless and practically pantless, was
almost certainly unarmed. But while wrestling on the ground, what's to
stop him from grabbing the officer's gun? And what if he wasn't shirtless
(possibly hiding a weapon) and attacked the officer? San Francisco police
aren't allowed to use Tasers (that's another issue for another day).
What's the appropriate response?
It's so difficult. These were good cops, doing their job and
risking their lives to get this mentally disturbed person off the street,
and hopefully some help. They acted appropriately, in my opinion, and
fortunately no one was seriously hurt.
I love and respect good cops. I own retail stores and
restaurants, and we call the police almost weekly to help us with
shoplifters, vagrants, and the occasional break-in. And in San Francisco,
they don't always come, because they're understaffed and overworked.
We need them to come. There are a lot of bad guys out there,
and we need the police to protect us and get them off the street and out
of our lives. The only other alternative is to hire our own protection,
and that's never a good idea.
The protests and outrage over unjustified police shootings
has been instrumental in creating an awareness of excessive force,
primarily against people of color. There is no doubt the two
policemen involved in this incident had those thoughts in the forefront of
their minds. I'm confident that's why weapons weren't drawn. That's a good
thing.
We just need to get rid of the bad cops, and encourage
more of our young people to join the police force and become good cops. I
don't think we're doing a very effective job at the moment. Recruitment is
waning, and it's not hard to see why.
I wish we didn't, but we need the police. While law
enforcement needs to get better at community relations, becoming more
color blind, and ousting the bad cops, we need to get better at
appreciating the services the good cops provide. It works both ways. |
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