OF COPS AND FISHERMAN

This story troubles me. Police waited three hours to take out the Orlando Nightclub shooter?  Three hours in which he shot more people and also allowed some wounded people to bleed out and die?

Obviously, the whole terrible ordeal bothers me. It was gut wrenching and almost impossible to imagine.

 

But the fact that police officers waited and waited to engage – seemingly with no real negotiations going on. Seemingly with no hope to get him to surrender. Seemingly, the cops waited because they didn’t want to engage with an armed man in tight quarters.

Now of course that makes sense.  I wouldn’t want to engage with an armed man in tight quarters – but here’s the thing.  I’m me. A civilian. I’m not supposed to engage with an armed man in tight quarters.

Police are.

We are told time and time again that police risk their lives every day to protect us. We hear that from cops, the media, senators and the president.  We are told that the cops are brave men and women who risk their lives to protect people.

But do they really? 

Let’s unpack the blanket statement that cops risk their lives to protect us.

·         On one hand, of course they do. They wear a uniform that identifies them as police. If you are a bad guy, that uniform can certainly look like a target.

·         The carry guns and Tasers and mace and are sworn to uphold the law and go after the bad guys. That is inherently dangerous and therefore meets the test of someone who is a life-risker.

·         They also engage in high-speed pursuits, domestic violence incidents and traffic stops – all considered highly unsafe events.

But on the other hand, do cops inherently go above and beyond their sworn professional duty to risk their lives for complete strangers?

·         I would love to see legitimate stats (say from the FBI) with painstakingly detail about how many hostages, or injured shooting victims have died in the last ten years because cops were prohibited from directly engaging a bad guy in order to keep themselves out of harm’s way.

·         I would love to see legitimate stats on how many people have been killed or injured by accidental police shootings because the cop’s training and personal decision prompted the use of a gun over non-lethal methods.

·         I would love to see an exhaustive investigation into the possibility that systemic fear of black men by white cops leads to the over-use of deadly force in such encounters.

First caveat: I’m not a cop, never have been. I can only imagine their job. Second caveat; I’m not a cop hater and am profoundly glad they do their jobs and protect people. Third caveat: I don’t want cops taking unnecessary risks in order to stop bad guys.

However, my point of this post is as follows:

Do we overdramatize the role of “hero cop” to their detriment?  If we constantly hear from our leaders that, “our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives every day,” isn’t it inevitable that we feel let down when they don’t? I read the above mention story and wondered: did those poor souls in that Orlando nightclub bathroom go to their deaths believing the cops abandoned them?

I was a lifeguard in high school.  The first thing they teach you in lifeguard school is this: never go into the water unless you know for sure the drowning person is not going to drag you under. If it’s a choice between saving them and risking your life, back away and let them drown. 

Let’s be honest. Cops are taught the same thing. AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. I believe that the only way you can have an effective police profession is to mostly guarantee cops that they get to go home at night unscathed.

I’m just advocating that we stop with this unattainable level of hero worship that revs up the expectations far beyond the ability of cops to save everyone.

In Orlando, people died who otherwise might have lived because the cops were not going to risk their lives to save them. That is horrible to comprehend and horrible even to write, but it is the truth. No hero cop with a lantern-jaw and rugged good looks shouted to his brothers in blue: “damn the regulations, I’m going to save those poor people!” and stormed that bathroom in front of a hail of gunfire. The cops waited until a relatively safe tactic was found and then they executed.

Cops have a dangerous job. It turns out however, theirs is not the most dangerous job - that belongs to loggers and commercial fisherman. Cops rank 15^th in most dangerous professions.  Yet we don’t lionize guys who cut down trees or haul in fish. Hell, probably 99.999 percent of all Americans don’t even know those ARE dangerous jobs. And no politician stands before a crowded arena shouting about our nation’s patriotic duty to blindly support the brave men who chop down redwoods or reel in halibut.

And as far as I know, the loggers and fisherman of the world don’t have union leaders, senators and mayors decrying any person who dares criticize their tactics, mistakes and judgements. Nor is there a huge competition between Republicans and Democrats to show which party is more supportive of tree cutters and fish gutters.

Cops deserve our respect and support – no question. However, let’s show them respect and support by accurately acknowledging who and what they are: professionals who do a job and then go home, just like the rest of us. Can cops be heroes? Of course! But so can the logger who risks his life to feed his family or the fisherman who risks his life to pay for his daughter’s education.