[Peace-discuss] ride-alongs

[Jenifer Cartwright]

You'd be surprised how telling a ride along -- or visiting your child's classroom -- can be. Yes, the officers (or teachers) know they're being observed, and they're on their best behavior, of course (aren't we all when observed??). But situations arise, and the truth will out: failings do show up, tho' probably not the most aggregious acts. The thing that guarantees this is that most folks don't always know what they're doing that's wrong, inappropriate, or contributing to problems. They don't see/hear -- themselves as others see and hear them, and they don't realize they're doing anything objectionable. 
   
  The thing that really bothers me is that -- even when there is no disagreement on either side as to the facts of certain occurrences -- i e police actions that are unconscionable, but that are considered acceptable by the decision-makers. (Tackling/knocking down a woman for stomping on a camera, or blindly shooting into a house when innocent persons are known to be inside are 2 examples that come to mind.)  I can't get my head around this, and I don't know if there's any solution, tho' a CPRB would be a good start.
   
  Jenifer     

"John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:
  At 11:46 AM 8/3/2007, Bob Illyes wrote:

>I'm not sure ride-alongs tell one much. One would expect good behavior 
>with a witness. If the purpose were, on the other hand, to find out what 
>the police have to put up with, I'm sure it would be informative.
>
>Bob

Anyone with an IQ higher than that of, say, Jerry Schweighart would quickly 
recognize that a police officer (like anyone else) would be on his/her very 
best behavior with a civilian witness (and no cop witnesses) present. But 
yes....you'd see some pretty crazy and belligerent citizens engaging in 
some very strange and socially irresponsible behavior. Probably nothing 
you can't see, though, on the TV show "Cops".

None of this is the real issue, though. No one has ever once questioned 
that the police have a difficult job to do, which tries their patience and 
their nerves. Which is why they'd be exonerated the vast majority of the 
time by the CPRB, under normal circumstances. What the CPRB MIGHT catch 
would be instances of cops raping women, using deadly force a 
disproportionate amount of time, engaging in racial profiling to an 
excessive degree, being generally rude and surly and bullying, etc. And as 
has been pointed out elsewhere, a properly constituted CPRB would serve 
also to further (and in a transparent manner) protect the police from 
unwarranted criticism or allegations.

But why am I writing all of this? Everyone on this list, with one or two 
unfortunate exceptions, already knows and understands all this stuff.

John Wason 

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