Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Son of a Cop

My father was the Chief of Police at a small town in Arkansas when he died at the age of 39. I was only 17 at the time. My dad's cousin, his brother-in-law and my brother-in-law were also law enforcement officers. Personally, I majored in Criminal Justice and I am still working to finish my degree. As you can imagine, I am pro-law enforcement.

I wanted to give you a view of an interaction that I had with a law enforcement officer here locally. One night, I was on my way home and came to a four way stop. There was this law enforcement officer second in line behind another car to my left. I waited and let the car on my right go before me, then I let the car in front of the police officer go next. Once this second car started into the intersection, I began to go. As I traveled down towards my home, I noticed that this car in front of the police officer had a tail light out. This car turned into my neighborhood, I followed and the police lights came on. I assumed that the police officer was going after the guy with the tail light out, so I pulled into my driveway which was the third house on the right. To me surprise, he wanted to stop me. He pulled his car sideways into my driveway, like I was going to try and get away or something. Curious, I got out of my car and walked back towards his car. He yelled at me and told me to get back towards my car. Once he got out of his car, he said he could have shot me for approaching his car. I was shocked at this comment. I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. I had no weapon on me. Where would I have put it anyway?

When he got out of his car, he was in this real defensive posture like he was ready for me to attack him. He started to speak and lectured me about approaching his car, almost pulling his gun on me, then said that he was pulling me over for running the stop sign. Of course, this kind of infuriated me since I had waited for two cars to go before me and I had not run the stop sign. It was obvious to me that this cop had his head in his computer and when he looked up, he saw me already moving in the intersection. He went on and on about how I just blew through the intersection.

I have to tell you. This guy was a 24 carat jerk. He went on and on about me running the stop sign. I tried to explain to him that I didn't, but he said he wasn't going to argue with me. Eventually, after giving me the riot act, telling me how lucky I was that he didn't shoot me, then he finally went back to his car and looked up my driving record. Of course, he didn't find anything on it, so he got back out of his car, still in this defensive posture like I was going to attack him, then told me he was going to "let me off" for running the stop sign. At the end, I asked him, "Can I talk now?" He relented and I went on to tell him that I didn't run the stop sign and in fact had waited for two cars to go before me. Yet, this jerk still stuck to his guns. He was "absolutely certain" that I ran the stop sign. Again he reiterated that he wasn't going to "argue with me." I told him that I was telling him the truth, but he didn't want to hear that. I was so stinking mad at this guy that he refused to admit he was wrong. If he was so sure, then why didn't he write me a ticket for running the stop sign?

I was flabbergasted at this guy's treatment of me. Oh by the way, I am a white guy. Yes, it is true that white guys are also subject to bad treatment by white cops and threatened with their guns.

My suggestion to you whether you are black, white or otherwise is to quit falling into the Democratic Party and Black Lives Matter dribble that wants you to believe their crap and keep us all divided. Quit being a damn victim! Don't you see that you are falling right in line with what the Democrats and Black Lives Matter want you to do? Can you not see how they are using you for their political purposes? Stop listening to their talking points and realize that you are not the only one that has had bad experiences with police officers. Even fans of the police have bad experiences and the fact that I was white has nothing to do with it. Divisiveness needs to end. We are all Americans.

By the way, I pray for the families of the fallen in Dallas. I can still remember the police presence at my father's funeral. It was one of the positive things about his funeral. However, I also know what the children of the fallen will experience in their lives. It will be hard and they will need prayers and support from family, friends and others. I am almost 60 years old now and it is still very difficult for me having lost my father all these years later.

Readjust and reevaluate your thinking. We all need to be pro-law enforcement even if we fall victim to a bad cop every now and then. Regardless whether we are black, white or otherwise.