• Cambridge top cop stands by department after Harvard arrest

I just have to throw my two cents in on this story. Here’s the summary: Police get called because a neighbor sees what looks like 2 black males attempting to break into the front door of a residence. When police get there, they contact a black male who is inside the residence. The male refuses to cooperate with police and proceeds to call the officer racist. The male finally, begrudgingly, gives the officer his ID. The officers are satisfied that he lives there and go to leave. The male continues to berate the officers. The officers arrest the male on a Disorderly Conduct charge.

There are very few things that really get me fuming. One of those things is racism. Racism is something to take very seriously. Racism is not an excuse to get what you want. Pulling the “race card”, or blaming someone of acting racist without reason, is a sure way to cause people to trivialize reports of racism.

Police officers get put in these situations a lot. A concerned citizen calls the police because they see someone who is a minority doing something suspicious. There are 3 possible reasons for this call:

1. The person who is a minority really is doing something suspicious and possibly illegal.
2. The concerned citizen misinterpreted what they saw.
3. The concerned citizen is a racist bastard who doesn’t like having those [insert-racist-term-here]s in their neighborhood.

Race card throwers love to blame the police for reasons 2 and 3, because now the police have contacted a person who is a minority for “no reason other than their race”, conveniently forgetting that the officers were responding to something that was called in. The best way to deal with this is not to berate the officer for being racist without provocation. If you’re not doing anything illegal just talk with the officer with the same respect you expect to receive.

Working as a dispatcher for a police department, I am aware how easy it is for some people to assume the worst about the police. Which is why I hate calls like this:

ME: 911, where is your emergency?
CALLER: You need to send a patrol car to (address), now!
ME: Ok. What is going on?
CALLER: There’s 4 black kids walking down the street and they just passed my house.
ME: …..Ok. Why do you need the police?
CALLER: Um….I…uh…I think they’re trying to break into cars. Just get over here!
Caller hangs up.
ME (In my head): You racist asshole!!

Here’s the rub though. I can’t just ignore the caller because I think they’re racist. I still have to send an officer out to investigate. What if the caller saw something they didn’t tell me? What if the caller just wasn’t able to articulate what they saw? But now I’ve just put my officer in a situation where it could appear they are contacting the black kids just because of their race. It sucks. I don’t like it. But there’s not much I can do.

I just really wish people would realize that an officer’s first priority is going to be to investigate the situation with the information they have. The officer does not show up just to arrest the minority.

Related posts:

1. The Police Can’t Help You…
2. 10 Reasons Being a Dispatcher Rocks
3. Week in Review: March 24, 2009