I’m also concerned about the racial attitudes of some police officers and I wonder if their culture of bigotry will ever change. Several online police forums give us a sense of the mentality of some who wear badges and carry guns.
Here’s a sample of posts to police sites in reference to the Garner case:
kopinyc:
A more accurate headline would be “Non Compliant Fat Bastard Gets Just Due In Resisting Law Enforcement Officers”
offlinepbadad: Yes, they’ll pay off the “family”… It’s a lot cheaper than a riot… And therein lies the problem… The cities of America are held hostage by the strong-arm tactics of the savages
I’m sure labeling black people as “savages” violates some kind of department policy. Miller isn’t a savage; she’s a pregnant wife and mother. Garner was no savage. He was 43-years-old and married with six children.
I don’t know what’s in the hearts of the cops who left Garner in anguish on the sidewalk or the paramedics who ignored protocol by not administering oxygen and not immediately placing him on a stretcher. Garner died en route to the hospital.
No one – not the police or the paramedics – showed any compassion for Garner. Police didn’t believe that Garner was struggling to breathe during his arrest and paramedics failed to treat him properly.
In an awful video, Garner, a diabetic who also suffers from asthma, can be heard complaining repeatedly that he couldn’t breathe while at least four other police officers bring him down.
Meanwhile, after Miller’s chokehold incident, former city councilman Charles Barron called police to complain and “expedite” the Millers’ release, he said.
“This was all over a grill,” Barron told The Daily News. “This is about grilling in front of her house.” New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton has ordered an extensive review of the NYPD’s training procedures after Garner’s death.
“I would anticipate that coming out of this effort that there will be a re-training of every member of the New York City Police Department in the weeks, months and potential years ahead,” Bratton said.
It’s curious – and unacceptable — that New York cops have to be “re-trained” not to use outlawed chokeholds on citizens. Don’t they know right from wrong?
And since chokeholds by New York police officers are prohibited, how are cops being punished for breaking the law when they use chokeholds on unsuspecting citizens?
When I read about police officers referring to black folks as “savages,” I wonder if police specialists can actually “re-train” attitudes.
What do you think?
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COMMENTARY: NYPD Needs New Attitudes, Not New Procedures was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
