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)