Yes thank you for this post. He was a real person, a fellow human being. He had a job, was a talented photographer, a father, a friend, someone’s beloved child.
To have it all end like that is just incomprehensible and terribly wrong.
I almost completely agree. I'm sad but I do still have a few words. This Brutal Madness Must Stop. The slogan on police cars says, "to serve and protect." It's time for departments nationwide to ensure their officers are living up to this creed; to serve and protect the public, not commit wrong, serve their own interests and conspire to protect the worst of their members. We've heard for years that with more diversity on police forces, we would see less lethal interactions between police and POC. Tyre Nichols brutal, senseless murder shows that the problem isn't solely one of diversity but one of police department culture. Until LEO stop looking at the world as "us versus them" and the communities they work in as occupied territory, this brutal cycle of murder will continue.
the police are taught to demand compliance, and they want everything resolved as quickly as possible. to fail to comply in even the most trivial way or to ask for an explanation or to question their authority is to risk serious injury or worse. in a group they back up whoever takes the lead. not one will try to calm anybody down. a crowd of a thousand can tell them they got it wrong, and they'll pay no attention. they are like friends who encourage friends to drive drunk.
I agree with your observation and believe it supports my claim that police culture is the problem. Officers are public servants: they are employed by and in service to us, the public that pays the taxes that employ them. Can you think of any other situation where an employee, approaches their employer with hostility and DEMANDS their employer's compliance? Does your mechanic push his chest out, neck cords straining and DEMAND your compliance when coordinating work on your car? I agree that many cases have shown officers with a mob mentality in an escalated situation, which perpetuates even greater violence. My question is, why are precincts instructed nationwide to berate, cow and bellow at the public in their interactions? Why does it seem that so many of them start an interaction escalated to a hostility factor of ten and then go from there? No other service works this way. Not hospitality, medicine, retail sales, contracting, none. We are their neighbors and fellow citizens, not a hostile force taken prisoner in the midst of wartime. My opinion is that this dynamic is flawed and their training has to change.
some people will say that the police see the worst in people and are often afraid on the job. but they often act in a high handed way in calm situations. there is a video in which a fellow is playing his guitar on a subway platform in NYC, his case open to receive tips. the rules are simple, and i just happen to know them. there are 100 prime locations in the subway system for which musicians must audition, but you can play anywhere else as long as you are not in the way or too close to a construction site. well, along comes a transit cop who asks to see this fellow's permit to play. the fellow says that he doesn't need a permit to play at this location. the two of them talk back and forth, disagreeing. other people arrive and tell the cop that the musician is correct, the cop says he has the rules on his phone, and he reads them. they clearly state that this fellow can play on this platform. a crowd of a dozen informs the officer that he is wrong. the cop says no, this fellow has to leave. he calls for backup. four officers arrive within a few minutes. some of them must know the rules, but they go along with the first officer. one picks up the guitar case, another takes the guitar, the rest escort this musician, who does not resist, up the stairs and out of the station. to everyone on the platform this is clearly not something to fight about, but WTF? in my opinion the police are as afraid of each other as they are of the public. to contradict or interfere with another officer, as the junior officers should have done in the george floyd case, can get you into serious trouble. and you can bet that someday when you need backup, no one is coming. either you're all in, or you're out.
Again, you are not wrong. I agreed with your last post and that agreement continues with this one. My proposition is that although this currently is the method of "policing" being practiced, this model is flawed and must be changed. It makes no one safer, keeps officers and the citizens they encounter on edge and doesn't allow for cooler heads or sensible processing of what is unfolding in police/public interactions. Since police are paid by and work for the public, we the public, need to expect effectual change in how they interact with all of us. It cannot be acceptable that one traffic stop ends up in pleasantries and a warning, while another ends in hostility and severe injury or death. No other developed democracy has seemingly innocuous police interactions that devolve so rapidly into deadly violence. We the people expect better, the capacity to deliver better exists and we as a society should not rest until the quality of policing improves.
This hostility applies to border agents too. My husband and I were recently in Mexico for a short vacation. We took a shuttle there and back from southern AZ, had to walk across the border and have our bags checked. On our return, we got separated and my husband went ahead. At the gate, the burly agent yelled at me "Who are you?" I showed him my US passport which he waved away and continued yelling "Get that thing off your face, you don't need it!" I wear a mask in crowded situations. I am 77, a white woman with white hair. If he was like that with me, I dread to think how they treat people of color. Later, my husband asked why I had not taken a photo of his badge. My answer was that I'd not wanted to escalate the situation further. Years ago, I was told "welcome home"... now I get the Gestapo treatment, for no reason that seems necessary to me.
Thank you for including his photographs. Just too sad for words...
How they speak for him!
Yes thank you for this post. He was a real person, a fellow human being. He had a job, was a talented photographer, a father, a friend, someone’s beloved child.
To have it all end like that is just incomprehensible and terribly wrong.
Nicely said Sally and Heather. Thanks for sharing Tyre's pictures
I almost completely agree. I'm sad but I do still have a few words. This Brutal Madness Must Stop. The slogan on police cars says, "to serve and protect." It's time for departments nationwide to ensure their officers are living up to this creed; to serve and protect the public, not commit wrong, serve their own interests and conspire to protect the worst of their members. We've heard for years that with more diversity on police forces, we would see less lethal interactions between police and POC. Tyre Nichols brutal, senseless murder shows that the problem isn't solely one of diversity but one of police department culture. Until LEO stop looking at the world as "us versus them" and the communities they work in as occupied territory, this brutal cycle of murder will continue.
the police are taught to demand compliance, and they want everything resolved as quickly as possible. to fail to comply in even the most trivial way or to ask for an explanation or to question their authority is to risk serious injury or worse. in a group they back up whoever takes the lead. not one will try to calm anybody down. a crowd of a thousand can tell them they got it wrong, and they'll pay no attention. they are like friends who encourage friends to drive drunk.
I agree with your observation and believe it supports my claim that police culture is the problem. Officers are public servants: they are employed by and in service to us, the public that pays the taxes that employ them. Can you think of any other situation where an employee, approaches their employer with hostility and DEMANDS their employer's compliance? Does your mechanic push his chest out, neck cords straining and DEMAND your compliance when coordinating work on your car? I agree that many cases have shown officers with a mob mentality in an escalated situation, which perpetuates even greater violence. My question is, why are precincts instructed nationwide to berate, cow and bellow at the public in their interactions? Why does it seem that so many of them start an interaction escalated to a hostility factor of ten and then go from there? No other service works this way. Not hospitality, medicine, retail sales, contracting, none. We are their neighbors and fellow citizens, not a hostile force taken prisoner in the midst of wartime. My opinion is that this dynamic is flawed and their training has to change.
some people will say that the police see the worst in people and are often afraid on the job. but they often act in a high handed way in calm situations. there is a video in which a fellow is playing his guitar on a subway platform in NYC, his case open to receive tips. the rules are simple, and i just happen to know them. there are 100 prime locations in the subway system for which musicians must audition, but you can play anywhere else as long as you are not in the way or too close to a construction site. well, along comes a transit cop who asks to see this fellow's permit to play. the fellow says that he doesn't need a permit to play at this location. the two of them talk back and forth, disagreeing. other people arrive and tell the cop that the musician is correct, the cop says he has the rules on his phone, and he reads them. they clearly state that this fellow can play on this platform. a crowd of a dozen informs the officer that he is wrong. the cop says no, this fellow has to leave. he calls for backup. four officers arrive within a few minutes. some of them must know the rules, but they go along with the first officer. one picks up the guitar case, another takes the guitar, the rest escort this musician, who does not resist, up the stairs and out of the station. to everyone on the platform this is clearly not something to fight about, but WTF? in my opinion the police are as afraid of each other as they are of the public. to contradict or interfere with another officer, as the junior officers should have done in the george floyd case, can get you into serious trouble. and you can bet that someday when you need backup, no one is coming. either you're all in, or you're out.
Again, you are not wrong. I agreed with your last post and that agreement continues with this one. My proposition is that although this currently is the method of "policing" being practiced, this model is flawed and must be changed. It makes no one safer, keeps officers and the citizens they encounter on edge and doesn't allow for cooler heads or sensible processing of what is unfolding in police/public interactions. Since police are paid by and work for the public, we the public, need to expect effectual change in how they interact with all of us. It cannot be acceptable that one traffic stop ends up in pleasantries and a warning, while another ends in hostility and severe injury or death. No other developed democracy has seemingly innocuous police interactions that devolve so rapidly into deadly violence. We the people expect better, the capacity to deliver better exists and we as a society should not rest until the quality of policing improves.
i suppose the first question is, was it ever any different? and if so, when and why did it all change?
This hostility applies to border agents too. My husband and I were recently in Mexico for a short vacation. We took a shuttle there and back from southern AZ, had to walk across the border and have our bags checked. On our return, we got separated and my husband went ahead. At the gate, the burly agent yelled at me "Who are you?" I showed him my US passport which he waved away and continued yelling "Get that thing off your face, you don't need it!" I wear a mask in crowded situations. I am 77, a white woman with white hair. If he was like that with me, I dread to think how they treat people of color. Later, my husband asked why I had not taken a photo of his badge. My answer was that I'd not wanted to escalate the situation further. Years ago, I was told "welcome home"... now I get the Gestapo treatment, for no reason that seems necessary to me.