A Naive and Ungrateful Populace

[blackops]

Thousands of police officers attended the funeral of one of their own. One of two police officers that had been assassinated in New York City. The aftermath of truly virulent demonstrations against all police officers in this country. The mayor of New York City himself throwing his own police force under the bus for political gain and who which is now staggering under the blow back of his own careless rhetoric. How this will all play out in the end I don’t know, but I would find it very ironic that if police officers are forced to scale back their duties in an effort to keep from being such easy targets that crime increases, effecting everyone negatively and then what will these people say? Probably, they would attack the police again with vicious rhetoric, but this time for not doing there jobs. People are so oblivious to how much cops keep them safe. Recently one night, I was at a coffee shop reading, headphones on loud enough to block out the background noise. After a while, in my peripheral vision, something caught my eye. A dark smudge that didn’t go away along with a strange instinctual feeling that I should look up. I see several things at once. A male police officer standing talking to a large man seated at a table . A guy who perhaps was intoxicated and who had a very rough appearance. He gave off a dangerous vibe. Not more than 5-10 feet to his left was a pretty college girl with study materials on her table. Her eyes wide and fixed forward, body rigid, frozen with fear. A twenty something male relatively far away with a phone held in his hands. Obviously, waiting to video anything. Typical. The man’s attention was clearly focused on her and he was very angry. The police officer was giving him directions to step outside, which he refused. Berating the girl one moment. Arguing with the cop the next. Calmly, the cop radioed for backup. This set the man off. He jumped to his feet. Moving from foot to foot. Hands opening and closing into fists. Staring down the cop. I think to myself. Oh shit, he’s going to jump the cop! I get an adrenalin dump. Realizing that I wasn’t just going to sit there and watch or run. I’d been scanning his body for any obvious weapons, but now I was just setting my body to move at any instant. Surreally, everyone waited for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes. A second female police officer stepped in and stood by the other one. With a no nonsense tone she jerked her thumb to the door and instructed the man to go outside. His body language turned 180 degrees. He looked deflated. His confidence gone. He grabbed his ragged backpack and went outside. I eased the tension from my body with slow outward breath. Slowly, people began moving and talking. It took about 15-20 minutes for the girl to pull herself together and leave. How it all started I don’t know, but this was a nonevent because a cop literally had her back. Subtract the cop and any concerned citizen that had any skill to actually do anything. This girl was on her own and in trouble. Every minute of every day police officers insulate the public from danger. Risking their own bodies. Their own lives. Nothing is perfect and perhaps now cops will be wearing body cameras. The vast majority being protected by there use from people’s lies and video cut to make them look bad. The tiny minority of bad cops being caught or restrained by it. But how incredibly disgraceful is it that we use them when they’re needed and tossed away when they are not.

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