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I was reminded of this Trevor Noah clip the other day, and realized it is almost a year old to the day. It's almost surprising how much it feels like what we're seeing right now. The writing was on the wall, clear as day, we just didn't want to see it.
The other thing I realized was that this clip was the straw that broke the camel's back between me and my now-former friend. I tweeted out a while back the story of how one of my closest friends went into the police and slowly turned into a defend-cops-at-all-cost bastard.
This is the story of one of the things that made me realize he was too far gone. I posted this clip on my Facebook page somewhat expecting that he'd reply. He and I liked to debate, and he had a tendency to reply to any police- or gun-related post as those were important to him.
He started off dismissing the entire thing simply saying something like "That Trevor Noah, talking about things he has no idea about". I a mutual friend asked for clarification, and he claimed that the way Noah laid out the situation was slanted against the cops.
Now, clearly, it's not the whole story, and there is a bias against the cops. I was fully conscious of all of that from the moment I watched it, but that doesn't make the point of Noah's piece on it any less relevant. Cops responded to a shoplifting call by threatening a family
with death, not to mention the...sanitary wording used in the official report to hide their overt violence. Sure, there's a possibility something happened that justifies or explains all that, but based on conversations in the past, I was pretty skeptical. I awaited his story.
He claimed that he had read all the official police reports and then gave a summary that was fairly laden with language that assumed guilt on the part of the family, and included references to actions that made them seem to be guilty, namely that they "flew" out of the parking
lot, sped to avoid police on the road, and ignored another police officer who tried to stop and speak to them in another parking lot (the arrest didn't take place at the shop that was stolen from, but another, driving took place in between).
I did some googling around to find various other news agencies of all different types and biases and read their summaries of the events, and while some things changed, there was no mention of them speeding or driving recklessly (you'd think that would be added to their
charges, and part of any reporting on it, no?), or mention of them evading or resisting arrest. Curious.
I replied to my friend and commented on his choice of words and asked if the sources he used to get the "real story" were available. He linked them in a further reply and...
I replied to my friend and commented on his choice of words and asked if the sources he used to get the "real story" were available. He linked them in a further reply and...
NONE OF IT WAS THERE. I was linked the official DA report (I think?), as well as every written report by every officer involved (scans of their handwritten reports). Not one of them mentioned any of those things. Their reports were sanitary (as mentioned before),
but otherwise factual based on all other corroborating data, and there was not a single mention of reckless driving, speeding, or avoiding the police. And you would expect it the *OTHER* way, right? Add that shit in if there's the slightest hint of it, only makes a stronger case.
I called him out on that, and his response basically boiled down to "I've been on enough calls like that to know what really happened, between the lines". This is one of the many problems I've seen written about so much lately. Police assume that everyone accused is guilty,
and anyone who's a criminal is no longer a citizen or a human. They are a predator that needs to be taken down for the good of the sheep, er, civilians.
The conversation went on and I mostly just called out BS and tried to get him to admit *one* thing the cops in
The conversation went on and I mostly just called out BS and tried to get him to admit *one* thing the cops in
that situation could have done better. After hours of back and forth, he sarcastically said that maybe they could have used less swear words, if that really matters to sensitive people. This is one of the other big problems that has also been talked about constantly lately,
Police are trained to protect their own at all costs. You can only trust another cop, and if you ever rat one out, you've betrayed the brotherhood and are as bad as the criminals. There are countless stories of cops who turn in bad cops getting fired or stuck in a dead-end desk,
or being sent out on dangerous calls with no partner or backup, all the time being told that it's because none of the other cops trust them because they broke the code. They broke the code by upholding the law. Let that one sink in for a minute.
There's not much more to say about that interaction, but looking back, it was probably the biggest turning point in me starting to realize what the police as an institution had done to my now ex-friend. It's one reason I've been fairly vocal about this, I feel like I have a
somewhat unique perspective, and maybe my stories can help other people cross the road from not believing the police could be that bad to seeing the massive systemic institutional problems therein.
If you made it this far and want to read more, check this article out. (Ostensibly) written by a former cop, I can't verify that due to anonymous handle, but I can say that nothing he says conflicts with what I've seen from my old friend. https://medium.com/@OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759
