Our day-trips throughout the State of Michigan are a feel-good project. We're looking for the good, everywhere we go. We're building connections, creating friendships, listening, understanding, laughing, learning.
Speaking for myself, our mission is to stay away from the inflammatory, divisive issues plaguing the nation.
But when there is a tragic incident, involving an inappropriate response from law enforcement/public safety officials, occurring at an intersection that Karla and I just traveled a week or two before, it is not something we can turn away from. The question becomes: how to respond, without stirring up partisan strife?
The story in question is in this morning's Free Press.
I'm a rural guy learning to trust and enjoy the city: all of it. I believe the answer is in making connections, getting near other people, "showing up."
But now, a teen aged boy that I might have waved at last week, as we drove down Gratiot, is no more.
Also this morning, from the Livingston County paper, is a report of a white van driving around, possibly looking to abduct kids. Our public safety officials hide behind bushes and other screens, looking either to hand out tickets to drivers with otherwise spotless records and little money, or to start high-speed chases in urban residential neighborhoods. Shouldn't they be out, and visible, more interested in suspicious white vans that may actually intend to do harm?
Since the Boston PD incident eight years ago, our society lines up on one of two sides: either with the police, or with them that fear the police.
I do not think the police community can afford to start losing those that have always taken their side. For myself, sometimes I simply get tired of feeling a tinge of fear, or dread, when I see a police car out and about. I feel fear....I do.... Me. When I see a police car, I want to think "Oh good, we're safe." But instead I go into extra-careful mode, to make sure I don't do anything that might look like I'm drunk, or sleepy, or texting, or about to have a seizure. If I'm driving, isn't it better if I'm relaxed?
And college students . . . they get the anti-police narrative all the time. In fact, that's all they get. So when one of them is home for the summer, and in one single moment, is driving 10 over the speed limit, within fifty feet of her mother's house, gets pulled over and handed a $180 ticket (with money she doesn't have) . . . what is her gut feeling about local police going to be, from now on? Will it be her Dad's advice, "The police are on your side," or "The professors and experts are right. They're out to get us." (I know what some of you are thinking: A speeding ticket is a great learning experience. Yes it is. But you can learn a lot more - like, "the police are on our side" - by getting a warning the first time you're pulled over. Some of us have had warning after warning throughout life, without ever getting a ticket.)
And we've all heard the thing about cops having a ticket quota to fill. I don't know if it's true or not. But everybody believes it is the case. Is that a good image for people whose job is to protect us?
If I fear the police . . . can you imagine what many others feel when they see a police car coming at them?
I'm a police supporter. Except for when I'm out driving and see a cop car, I am fundamentally on their side. But this incident at Gratiot and Rossini breaks my heart and makes me angry. Why would you taze someone while in a moving vehicle? Why would you take chase near this busy intersection, around all these homes? Why inflame an already out-of-control situation? I kinda think the police follow the news, especially the news that affects their own profession.
Since you know a mistake like this is going to get filmed and/or reported, go viral, be talked about on social media . . . then why do it? Why does it feel like they really are out to "get" us, rather than to protect us?
Gratiot and Rossini.
I was just there.
Speaking for myself, our mission is to stay away from the inflammatory, divisive issues plaguing the nation.
But when there is a tragic incident, involving an inappropriate response from law enforcement/public safety officials, occurring at an intersection that Karla and I just traveled a week or two before, it is not something we can turn away from. The question becomes: how to respond, without stirring up partisan strife?
The story in question is in this morning's Free Press.
I'm a rural guy learning to trust and enjoy the city: all of it. I believe the answer is in making connections, getting near other people, "showing up."
But now, a teen aged boy that I might have waved at last week, as we drove down Gratiot, is no more.
Also this morning, from the Livingston County paper, is a report of a white van driving around, possibly looking to abduct kids. Our public safety officials hide behind bushes and other screens, looking either to hand out tickets to drivers with otherwise spotless records and little money, or to start high-speed chases in urban residential neighborhoods. Shouldn't they be out, and visible, more interested in suspicious white vans that may actually intend to do harm?
Since the Boston PD incident eight years ago, our society lines up on one of two sides: either with the police, or with them that fear the police.
I do not think the police community can afford to start losing those that have always taken their side. For myself, sometimes I simply get tired of feeling a tinge of fear, or dread, when I see a police car out and about. I feel fear....I do.... Me. When I see a police car, I want to think "Oh good, we're safe." But instead I go into extra-careful mode, to make sure I don't do anything that might look like I'm drunk, or sleepy, or texting, or about to have a seizure. If I'm driving, isn't it better if I'm relaxed?
And college students . . . they get the anti-police narrative all the time. In fact, that's all they get. So when one of them is home for the summer, and in one single moment, is driving 10 over the speed limit, within fifty feet of her mother's house, gets pulled over and handed a $180 ticket (with money she doesn't have) . . . what is her gut feeling about local police going to be, from now on? Will it be her Dad's advice, "The police are on your side," or "The professors and experts are right. They're out to get us." (I know what some of you are thinking: A speeding ticket is a great learning experience. Yes it is. But you can learn a lot more - like, "the police are on our side" - by getting a warning the first time you're pulled over. Some of us have had warning after warning throughout life, without ever getting a ticket.)
And we've all heard the thing about cops having a ticket quota to fill. I don't know if it's true or not. But everybody believes it is the case. Is that a good image for people whose job is to protect us?
If I fear the police . . . can you imagine what many others feel when they see a police car coming at them?
I'm a police supporter. Except for when I'm out driving and see a cop car, I am fundamentally on their side. But this incident at Gratiot and Rossini breaks my heart and makes me angry. Why would you taze someone while in a moving vehicle? Why would you take chase near this busy intersection, around all these homes? Why inflame an already out-of-control situation? I kinda think the police follow the news, especially the news that affects their own profession.
Since you know a mistake like this is going to get filmed and/or reported, go viral, be talked about on social media . . . then why do it? Why does it feel like they really are out to "get" us, rather than to protect us?
Gratiot and Rossini.
I was just there.
There is a third rail out there, neither pro nor anti police. They aren't our friends, except when we need them. Easy for me to say, I'm not like to be shot first & questioned later. Ultimate cop out. Keep writing this blog. Love it.
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