When did it become necessary for regular, everyday citizens to take on the role of “Big Brother” to combat police brutality? To those of you who have decided to take advantage of the authority given to you by your badge and abuse it in a malicious manner: When you completed the police academy or were hired onto your current police force you recited an oath that is similar to the following “I……………………DO SWEAR,, THAT – I WILL WELL AND TRULY SERVE – OUR SOVEREIGN COUNTRY AND STATE – AS A POLICE OFFICER WITHOUT FAVOR OR AFFECTION – MALICE OR ILL-WILL – UNTIL I AM LEGALLY DISCHARGED, THAT I WILL SEE AND CAUSE OUR COMMUNITY’S PEACE TO BE KEPT AND PRESERVED – AND THAT – I WILL PREVENT TO THE BEST OF MY POWER – ALL OFFENSES AGAINST THAT PEACE – AND THAT – WHILE I CONTINUE TO BE A POLICE OFFICER – I WILL – TO THE BEST OF MY SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE – DISCHARGE ALL THE DUTIES THEREOF – FAITHFULLY – ACCORDING TO LAW. SO HELP ME GOD.” Somewhere during your time on the force, you have forgotten this oath or have personally (and even sometimes collectively) rendered this oath obsolete. You have single-handedly disrupted the peace you have vowed to keep in the communities that you have decided to profile religiously even when they are void of criminal activity. Officers, do you not realize that when you constantly harass people based on a mere suspicious (due to race or stereotypes) you indirectly provoke them to retaliate in a manner that each of you will say warrants some type of force against them. This force, most of the times is excessive and has resulted in not only physical damage, but in some cases death! Officers do you understand the seriousness of death? Death, the permanent termination of human life, a life that you didn’t give, but so callously took away. Death, the result of your irrevocable actions, that leaves families di stressed and in emotional and even financial ruins. Death, the proverbial flat line of trust that exists between you and the communities you “serve” because of such egregious actions and reckless disregard for other living beings. Death, the unfortunate sentence you (without adequate justification) have rendered to Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, and more than likely Robert Stephen among countless others. Death, the punishment you have be absolved of for your actions, unlike the many you have likely sent to prison for similar crimes. Officers, why is it that the public has had to result to a constant surveillance of your activities through personal recordings, involve the media (and social media), and galvanize against you in order for you to perform your duties “faithfully according to the law.” Perhaps we the members of the community don’t fully understand your training, and somewhere during your days at the academy you were taught that you are the creators of law, which would be news to me as a law graduate, because even we, the Doctors of Laws don’t create them. Perhaps you are taking your aggression out on the public because you feel as if you are not being properly compensated to uphold the oath you took. Perhaps you were victims of abuse and that’s all you know, or maybe you were just plain corrupt from the beginning. Robert Evans Wilson Jr. in Psychology Today wrote that ” It is said that power corrupts, but more often than not, it is a corrupted individual who is attracted to power. It is a feeling of inferiority, sometime s called a Napoleon Complex, that drives someone to control other people and to micro-manage their surroundings.” Perhaps this is the real issue plaguing your particular group. Regardless of the reasons behind your abuse, the end results are heinous and will not be accepted. This letter is to inform you that communities will continue to fight your injustices with any possible legal and social tool deemed effective. Communities will continue to raise their voices against the breaking of your oaths that has led to your despicable behavior and mindset toward them. This letter is also to warn you of the human nature of the oppressed which has been written about by some of the most famous psychologist, philosophers, and intellectuals of mankind. That warning is this, in the words of Nelson Mandela “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” Stop creating a culture that will ultimately lead to the very destruction you vowed to prevent. Signed, A overly tired, frustrated, irritated, down right outraged, and concerned member of one of YOUR patrolling communities.
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August 2024
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