All of this talk about police who abuse their authority has made me take a look at some of my family's dealings. It wasn't pretty and has left some bad feelings.
Some people shouldn't be teachers; some shouldn't be priests; some shouldn't be parents; and definitely, some should not be policemen or policewomen.
First Situation: One of my sons was delivering appliances for a big box store driving a 24-foot box truck. One day his boss asked for a favor -- take some appliances to Oakwood Village in Cleveland. This is an area that borders Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights. He agreed and his assistant came along to help. When they entered Oakwood Village on the town's main drag, they heard a police siren but at first didn't see the patrol car because it was in the truck's blind spot. When he did see the police, he went to the nearest drive and pulled in. The officer was hostile and asked him why he hadn't pulled over immediately. My son told him he must have been in the blind spot because he didn't see him at first. The officer accused my son of fleeing. Think about that for a second -- fleeing in a 24-foot box truck clearly marked as belonging to a big box store. Wow. Then he accused my son of driving a truck through Oakwood Village without reason, on a no "through" street. My son said he had a delivery to make and had a manifest detailing that information. The officer didn't want to hear that. He cited my son for willful fleeing and that meant an appearance in Oakwood Village's stellar Mayor's court.
It was one of those times when I wished so much that we had some collective money to hire an attorney and get some real justice in this situation. To prepare for his appearance, my son got a statement from his co-worker signed and notorized giving his account of the day's events. He had to take off work to go to Mayor's court. The Mayor seemed to realize full well that the officer was lying and as much as said so. But then he said, "Well, we can't just let you go, can we?" So he levied a $100 fine on my son, payable to the Policeman's Association which is apparently illegal.
Second Situation: My other son was moving back to Canal Fulton from Buffalo. He rented a truck and got his dad to help him with the move. Everything was going along fine until they had a flat tire on the way home. A policeman came along to find out what was going on, and they told him about their situation. He immediately decided they were suspicious characters and asked them about drugs. At some point, he decided to call in the drug sniffing DOG to take a look inside the box truck. Meanwhile, the temperatures that fall which had been very nice during the day and early evening began to drop and neither my son nor his dad had coats. They were freezing. The dog jumped into the back and began digging through the contents of the truck which had been packed carefully enough. After a long search outside the truck and inside, nothing was found. The officer, however, was undaunted in his vigilance that these two adults were hiding something; he just couldn't find it. That's what he said -- no apology offered. Just a snide comment that he KNEW they had drugs. So with that and a long, long delay, they waited for the repair truck to come and fix the tire and then headed home, finally getting back after midnight.
Third Situation: Another member of the family was going somewhere and had a rifle in his truck. He made a big mistake and had the ammunition and the gun in the same area. They are to be separated. So he was cited for that. When he went to court, however, the two police officers who had cited him lied outright in the court, each one backing the other's story that made the situation worse for this person.
Fourth Situation: There is one more situation that I won't go into that happened in Akron when I worked there. At the end of that horrible day, the police captain or person in charge of the officers I encountered called to apologize to me.
So let's summarize. In the first instance, the officer in Oakwood Village was in the wrong line of work, or he needed to attend an anger management course of some length.
In the second instance, the officer who was bent on finding drugs instead of meeting his first obligation that he swore an oath to -- to protect and serve -- abandoned that in favor of something that would get the adrenalin going a little more. Again, this is someone who is in the wrong line of work or needs some kind of special training to work towards an attitude adjustment.
In the third instance, lying, these two police officers did not distinguish themselves. They violated their own code by their behavior -- a worse offense than the person who made the mistake of not separating the weapon from the ammo.
Perhaps as we have this discussion of the police, their militarization, and their training -- rather than immediately jumping to a racial motive -- we ought to demand that much better screening be done of those who would seek to be police officers.
I can cite many kind and caring police officers, like the ones who found my ID card/car keys when it was stolen at the JAR Arena while a group of us was walking. He found it in a wastebasket and then returned them to me. Or Doug Swartz from Canal Fulton -- we were in the same juvenile justice class at the University. When I see him, he gives me a hug. And there are others.
What is my responsibility if I have any dealings with police? My responsibility is to show respect, to answer politely, to do as asked. And I will continue to do that. My charge from Jesus Christ is to forgive those who did wrong, and I'm working on that.
Meanwhile -- we need to be sure that whomever is hired to be a police officer is fully vetted and it is determined that this person has the right attitude and tolerance for the job.
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