Thoughts after the death of George Floyd (part 1)

I wanted to take a few moments to write and share a few thoughts as a former law enforcement officer over the death of George Floyd while he was in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department.

Many are outraged and disgusted by Mr. Floyd’s death which they first learned about when cell phone videos were shared on social media.  There is one group of people that are outraged by the death that many will not believe, that is the group of good law enforcement officers.  Everyone that I know, including active and retired law enforcement officers were outraged when they saw the video.  Outraged at the needless loss of life, not the fact that the death was video recorded as some may claim. 

I was a law enforcement officer for 38 years, beginning my career in Miami in 1981 in the aftermath of what became known at the McDuffie riots and the Mariel Boatlift.  The 1980 riots in Miami became known as the McDuffie riots because it was sparked after officers were acquitted of beating Arthur McDuffie to death.  During my career I worked several riots, numerous violent incidents including Police involved shootings, had numerous physical and violent confrontations with suspects.  It has always been my belief that in a violent encounter you do everything you can to subdue the person and take them into custody.  The most important part of that belief is that when the person stops resisting, stops fighting, you stop and at that point it is your obligation to protect that suspect’s life.  As law enforcement officers we take an oath and have a duty to protect life and property, that includes the suspects we arrest.  Some may think that I am just saying that now because of the anger being expressed towards law enforcement, however, I demonstrated that early and throughout my 38-year career.  This philosophy that I had is not an isolated one, I had a lot of good mentors when I was a rookie officer and they felt the same as I.

I watched a cell phone video of the incident involving Mr. Floyd, the video started after he was handcuffed and on the ground with the officer kneeling down with a knee pressed against Mr. Floyd’s neck.  The video was just over 10 minutes long but after approximately six minutes I stopped the video.  I had to stop the video because I was pissed (angry or outraged just does not accurately describe how I felt) and grew more pissed with each passing minute as I watched.

When the video begins George Floyd is handcuffed and laying on the ground, on his stomach with his head turned to the side.  He is pleading with the officers, saying that he can’t breathe but he is not resisting.  A person in the background is telling Mr. Floyd that he should have just got in the car, it appears based on this person’s comments that prior to the video starting there was an attempt to place Mr. Floyd in the police vehicle.  The person in the background keeps urging Mr. Floyd to just get in the car (referring to the police vehicle), he responds that he can’t because they’re on his neck and then pleads with the officers again telling them that he can’t breathe.  Then Mr. Floyd complains of pain saying that his arms, legs and neck hurt, he hurts all over and can’t breathe.

At approximately three minutes Mr. Floyd stops speaking, occasionally you will see his shoulder move.  Less than a minute after he stopped speaking there is no movement or sound from Mr. Floyd and yet there is no change in the officer’s actions, including the officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck. No officer in view checks Mr. Floyd’s vital signs, no one checks his neck for a pulse or checks to see if he is taking in air or exhaling.  A bystander that had been complaining to the officer about his knee being on Mr. Floyd’s neck begins to plead with the officers to check on Mr. Floyd because he is non responsive, others begin to echo the pleas to check on Mr. Floyd and his vital signs because he wasn’t moving.  As I mentioned, as I watched this I was angry and grew more angry as I watched the video, two minutes had gone by since Mr. Floyd became non responsive and no signs of inhaling or exhaling yet no officer would check on him.  No officer, including the officer with his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck did anything to assist or even check on Mr. Floyd.  No concern was shown for Mr. Floyd’s well being but an officer kept telling the people pleading for the officers to check on and help Mr. Floyd to get back and apparently reached for his “pepper spray” (you can hear one of the bystanders telling the others he had is pepper spray).

It was at that point that I had to stop the video because of the level of my anger.  Anger because here was a subject in custody, complaining about not being able to breathe and then became nonresponsive and no officer near him seemed concerned.  There was no indication that any of the officers not in view were attempting to render aid to Mr. Floyd either.

As I am writing this, violent protests are taking place in a number of cities around the country and I know that with emotions as raw as they are right now many don’t want to hear or believe that law enforcement officers and their families are angered, outraged, or like me pissed about what happened.  The vast majority of officers took their oath of office seriously and believe in the phrase protect and serve.  They wish they had been there and have been able to intercede, render aid and call for paramedics to save Mr. Floyd’s life.  Those of us that have been in law enforcement for a long time or retired also feel a sense of frustration knowing what the newer or active officers will have to endure to try and gain back any trust of their community.  In the case of my career with the City of Miami it took decades for the police department to regain some trust, some but not completely.

When a person of color, man or woman, loses their life as the result of an encounter with law enforcement it hurts all persons who want peace and strive for our community, our country to live up to the ideal that we are all created equal.  To some that read this they may think that these are just words or my attempt at being politically correct and I realize that there is nothing I can do to convince you otherwise.  All I can do is try to lead by example and hope that once the anger eases people will see that the words of law enforcement officers expressing their outrage are sincere.  While times like this are hard on all officers I am also hopeful that once the anger eases people will realize how much more difficult these times are on minority officers.  It is harder on these officers because after an incident such as this civic leader and the community will insist that if there were more officers of the same race or ethnicity patrolling the neighborhoods these deaths would not occur. 

A person becomes a police officer because they want to make a difference and be a catalyst for change, for improving their neighborhood.  Then what happens, they graduate the police academy and begin patrolling the streets only to find themselves being called a traitor to their people a traitor to their race!  Some find that after they put on the badge people treat them differently than before and mistrust them, unfortunately in some cases even family members turn on them. 

When I worked patrol as a rookie it was not unusual for an African American officer to contact me on the radio and ask me to come by their call and being told when I arrived that the African American citizen that called the police was refusing to speak with the African American officer.  When I interviewed the citizen at some point (a lot of times at the beginning of the conversation) I would be told that they “didn’t trust black officers.”  I still remember how surprised I was the first time I encountered this.  Here I had an elderly black woman telling me that she refused to speak with a black officer because she did not trust him!!  I was dismayed and it took a few minutes after I left to recover. When I was a Sergeant in Patrol when Elian Gonzalez was taken by Federal agents and given to his father and then returned to Cuba I had Latin officers who were experiencing family members mistrusting them because they were a Miami Police Officer.  Friends and neighbors looked upon them as the enemy.  Throughout my career I kept wondering what we as a department and me as a member of the police department could do to change this divide, there had to be more that could be done.  Now that I am retired, I wonder what I can do as a citizen.

I became an officer to try and help people, to try and make a difference.  I joined the police department because I believed that instead of just complaining about a problem you should try to do something about it.  Although it may sound naïve, or cliché that is why I joined and why many join even today!

I know there are frustrations and anger because people feel that despite all the technological advances, despite the advances in persons of color holding political office and gaining political power nothing has really changed.  I just hope that once some time has past people realize that you do not have to be of a certain racial group to be outraged by the death of George Floyd.  Hopefully, people will realize that law enforcement officers are also outraged, officers want all people to have trust in their police.  Officers know that trust is earned, and they want to be given a chance to show that they are deserving of trust.  Officers also want a police agency that people can be proud of and feel comfortable calling for help when in need.

People deserve the benefit of the doubt and to have their life respected and protected, even someone that is accused of a crime like George Floyd.  Anger blinds people to so much and helps spread hatred and racism.  I am not saying that people should not be angry at the death of George Floyd, I am saying we should not allow this anger to prevent us from making changes that benefit all.  Good law enforcement officers are not traitors to their race, they are not traitors to their community, they are outraged at the death of George Floyd and want bad cops off the force.  Good cops need help from the community they serve to rid the law enforcement profession of people that do not respect and defend the rights and life of all people.  When the community and its good officers work together there is nothing that cannot be accomplished!

That’s My Opinion, What’s Yours?

(I am drafting a second part with a general perspective and will post as soon as I can)

Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week

Normally in the month of May law enforcement agencies around the nation would be holding memorial services honoring their officers that have made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their life in the performance of their duty.  There would be a national remembrance on the lawn of the U.S. Capital on May 15th, this would be preceded by a candlelight vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on May 13th. However, because of the Covid-19 Pandemic the country is currently dealing with many of these services may not take place this year, including the national service which was canceled (a video salute will be issued in it's place and officers for 2019 and 2020 will be honored next year).

Over the past several years law enforcement agencies have had a large turnover of officers and sometimes in the transition we lose some of our historical information. I have had new officers and citizens ask me why police memorials are held in May? I wrote about Florida's Law Enforcement Service back in 2011 and thought I would do another brief article to explain why these services are held during the month of May. 

On October 1, 1962 Congress passed a joint resolution (76 Stat.676) requesting that the President of the United States designate May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day. As a result of that joint resolution, on May 4, 1963 President John F. Kennedy issued a Presidential Proclamation, #3537, designating May 15th of each year as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15th falls as Police Week.

Law Enforcement Agencies try to hold their services during the month of May on dates that won't conflict with the national service so that the survivors will be able to attend the local and national service honoring their loved one. It also allows for the friends and coworkers to be able to attend and show support for the survivors and each other.  As well as honoring those that gave their life in the performance of their duty the previous year it is a way of ensuring that those that made the ultimate sacrifice in the past are not forgotten.

I will close by asking that on May 15th we all stop for a moment to remember all the Peace Officers that went to work one day and never returned home to their loved ones.

Technology of This Millennium, Is It Worth It?

Back in 1999 we were looking forward to the new millennium with both fear and optimism! 

Fear was because we were told that when the clocks struck midnight (00:00) on January 1^st, 2000 all electronics were going to stop working, the electrical grids would shut down, no access to bank accounts (account info would be lost) transportation would fail, nothing would work because the internal clocks couldn’t comprehend the date and time being al zeros, 00:00 hours the year 00.  If none of that happened there was still the fear of the unknown, but that fear of the unknown was also exciting and a cause for optimism.

 Optimism because if the world did not shut down technology was progressing and what was once just a dream would become a possibility.  Back in 1999 most people used the internet for email communications, AOL was what people used for emails, cell phones were primarily just for calls and there were no “smartphones”.  We saw the future as helping enhance our ability to perform work, to enhance our humanity and better enable our ability to help others.  We saw so many possibilities to make life easier and more productive, technology was going to be a time savor for us.

Well, we survived New Years Eve of December 31, 1999, the world did not crash, and we went on about our lives, technological changes continued as well.  We could look up information via the internet instead of the set of Encyclopedias your mother bought for you as a child or by cashing in her Green Stamps (anyone remember going to the Green Stamp store).  You no longer had to go to the library to do research of to get a book to read, you could download an “E-book” to read.  Then came Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Parler and other social media platforms to keep in touch with one another or reconnect with long lost friends.  You no longer needed to write a letter or post card, buy stamps and go to the post office, all you do now is a few clicks on a keyboard to send an email or text message (before this millennium the only message you received on your phone was a voice mail if you had the latest mobile phone).

It used to be that on payday you had to go to the bank to cash your paycheck, if the bank was closed you had to go to the grocery store where you had check cashing privileges to get cash.  Now you just go to the ATM to get cash, use direct deposit for your paycheck, checks have gone the way of the telephone, both are obsolete and nearly nonexistent anymore.  Life has certainly gotten easier for financial transactions, you can shop online for almost anything including groceries, life has got easier but has the cost been worth it?

A part of the cost has been a lack of personal face to face interaction with others.  Oral communications is a skill, carrying on a conversation and being able to see the other person’s reaction, their body language so you can immediately know if they understood what you said or it’s meaning.  It seems that we have also lost our ability to interact with others especially if they have a different point of view.  It used to be that if someone had a different opinion, we could discuss our differences, we could engage one another and learn why each had the opinion they did, if someone had a different opinion we could still get along.  We used to engage each other in a dialog and learn why they thought what they did without hatred.  We used to be able to speak with one another not at one another but not anymore.

Now if someone does not agree with you, they do not have a different opinion, they are the enemy, they are not worth talking to.  Now with social media we do not have to think before expounding on our point of view, worse than that we seem to believe that if we post something social media we can’t or shouldn’t be held accountable for our actions.

By engaging someone in a conversation you got to develop a rapport, learn about each other and in many cases even though you may be a member of a different political party or religion you became friends.  We used to judge and accept people based on the total person but that seems to have gone the way of the home phone.  We used to believe that all people should be treated the same, should be able to interact with others.  We used to be proud of our ethnicity, our heritage as well as that of others.  But in recent years we have seen students on college campuses demand that others be excluded, although they did not use the specific wording and may not have realized it these students have been expressing that they prefer separate but equal.  We used to praise and admire someone that achieved their goal but often now we demand to know why him or her!  An achievement by another used to be a motivator, an incentive to work a little harder to achieve your goal, not seen as a reason to dislike or hate another.

I guess what I’m really asking is; was our compassion, our humanity, our being a good neighbor really a justifiable price for the technological advances this millennium has produced so far?  I for one don’t think so!  Hopefully instead of being the full price we must pay for technology; these virtues will just be a deposit that we get back at some point.  So far when you look at history every time there has been an advancement in technology it has brought out some bad traits in society  but after society has become accustomed to the technological changes it reverts back to those positive traits.  I am hoping that just as in the past this is a phase and that history will repeat itself.

That’s My Opinion, What’s Yours