Sins of our Fathers

When I was in the Chicago Police academy I had a chance to sit down with one of the training sergeants.  His imposing figure was impressive and he carried himself extremely well, not to mention the stories around him as a blue shirt just added to his aura.  I remember asking him what books he has read that has helped him as a cop, and he was so impressed by the question he told me to stop by after class and we would talk.

That led to multiple meetings, book suggestions which I bought, and loaned me several of his own personal books to read.

It was the conversations that really hit things home for me and brought me a lot of perspective.  While I was a product of Chicago public schools and City Colleges and had a diverse group of friends, I had never been a cop.  I had enough mentors in my life prior to police work that I knew the best way to learn about a field was to find the person that is intimidating and ask them how they think.  I knew if I could go into the field with the right mentality and mindset I could overcome just about anything thrown my way.  

For those who are either young enough, or old enough, to remember the movie "The New Guy" I basically took Luther's advice to Dizzy and went looking for the "biggest, baddest cat" and instead of looking for a fight I went looking for advice.

I learned 2 key things I've always remembered:

1.  Try to filter every situation through is it just?  Is it kind?  Is it necessary?

        If I can cover all 3 then I'll have the best potential outcome, but sometimes I may only have 1 of the 3         but that is a bare minimum, and it will keep me out of trouble and hot water.  That lesson always had.

2.  When I show up on a call, no matter how good of a cop I might be they won't see me, they'll see the previous cop that did them wrong or treated them poorly.

        The classic 'Sins of the Father'.

Now before any of the retired or old timers get on my case, I'm not saying you were sinners, but every generation has it's thing that needs to disappear with the next generation.  The passing of time demands that something be sacrificed and in policing it was the heavy handed tactics, or generally being an asshole, of the 90s.

Allow me to elaborate...

Back in my grade school days some friends and I were playing basketball in the alley behind a friend's house.  We were in 7th or 8th grade and being wild boys, playing too rough, hip checking each other, and being, well, kids.  Well someone must have seen or heard our antics and called the cops.

Then up roars an unmarked Crown Vic and out jumps 4 officers screaming to get against the garage.  Up to this point my interactions with cops had been neighbors or at block parties and events.  You know, the granola experience the majority of white kids have, so I didn't get on the garage door and asked why.

Big mistake.

BANG!

I got my head slammed against the garage door and forced against the garage door.  My buddy, who was a young Black kid, looked at me and just told me to shut up and do what they say.  They went through all our pockets and then told us we couldn't play basketball anymore and had to go home.  Just as fast as they had come they left.  I was left confused but it was explained to me that it was just how the cops acted and there was nothing I could do about it.

Fast forward a few years and here I am driving by a well known university in the Evanston area along Sheridan Rd and I get pulled over.  I couldn't tell you what the original reason was, but at some point my buddy got removed from the car and brought back behind mine.  Then another officer opens my passenger door and starts to toss my car.  When I asked what was going on the cop retrieved my CD case (that will tell you how long ago) and started to remove the individual CDs and throw them like mini frisbees around my car.  I made a comment about him not being allowed to do that, which he then rips the sleeves clean out of the case and throws them at me remarking that he can do whatever the fuck he wants.

He slams my door, my buddy was allowed back into the car, and I'm told I'm no longer welcome in Evanston or near the campus.  And if I come back I'm getting arrested.

At this point in my life I had been a Police Explorer for several years and had strong ambitions to become a cop myself.

I highlighted those 2 incidents because when the good sergeant said people will remember the cop before me, I knew exactly what he meant.  I had the obligation to be different and try to reset the perspective as a new cop, because I didn't want to be the last bald, white cop they interacted with.

In a cop only group on a certain social media platform a retired old-timer replied to a post about how an alleged excessive use of force incident was common place and the fact that it was not allowed was a reason innocent people get killed.  He went on to say if we allowed that back into normalcy we would deter crime because criminals knew that even if they didn't do anything they would catch a beat down, because they knew they were criminals and deserved it regardless if they had committed a crime at that moment.  

Many of us attempted to reason with him, but there were a lot of cries of support to the old school way of policing.  I get it, that is what was acceptable and allowed in the 80s and 90s, and even earlier in many cases.  However like I said earlier as time marches on, things need to be let go, shed, dropped, or what have you for there to be progress.

I have always appreciated the old school brother and sisterhood I knew growing up knowing cops.  That was something that drew me into the profession because of how sacred it was.  It is something I hope we stop trying to lose because it seems the profession has confused it with cover-ups or lying to save a fellow cop.  I also appreciated the walk-n-talk that many cops did in my neighborhood as a kid or by my school.  Cops that made themselves accessible to the community seemed to be more a part of it, especially when they didn't live there.  It was something I tried to do as often as I could when I was on a set beat, and many times it paid off.  I knew key neighbors and store owners, and when things got out of control I had a plethora of information.

Again, the old school is what showed me those things.  It wasn't something that can be taught, it had to be embodied by the cops willing to teach it by their actions.  So if it seems I'm pissing on the old school, I'm not by any means.

It was the old school that taught me there was nothing on this job that I should ever get so caught up in that I would be willing to sacrifice my freedom, my financial stability, or being able to go home or see my family.

Nothing.

I think what happened in Memphis to Tyree Nichols was abhorrent and while some can blame poor supervision, lowered hiring standards, or just a (very full) handful of rogue cops; I think it is more than that.  Somewhere they were taught this reaction, whether there is more to it or not, was allowed and acceptable.  While it should never have been acceptable at any time in history, we all know that things were looked over and beyond several decades ago.

The federal consent decree that was eventually placed over the Chicago Police was all about past sins.  While many of the stories told were familiar as I had heard from friends who were subjected to a lot of the prior tactics, I knew that none of what was in there was anything currently on-going.  As I read the consent decree, and I did read the whole thing as well as the IG's report, I knew I was about to pay for the sins of the father.  The old school, heavy-handed tactics that I, and many friends, experienced was about to have it's debt paid.  And I was holding the money bag this time.

While I watched a lot of really good, proactive cops take a step back from doing anything more than just answering calls, it also allowed a lot of good, up-and-coming cops to step into those roles.  Many knew that the extra punch or rough handling of someone could very easily be justified in a report and articulated clearly, it just wasn't worth it.

Not worth compromising an investigation.

Not worth compromising a potential search warrant.

Not worth an officer's freedom, finances, or family.

I knew things had really changed when arresting some old dusties and many thought they were just going to catch an ass whooping versus getting arrested and taken to lock-up.  I remember just laughing at the notion of beat someone just because they made me run or gave me a hard time.  However it was something that was, once upon a time, common and (as the aforementioned social media poster pointed out) "part of doing business".

While there is so much generational overlap in police work, and we can all learn something from the oldest on the job to the youngest, it is the conglomerate of experiences that make a functional profession.

One of the last questions of the CPD Sergeant exam was how would I approach a situation where a young cop came to me with issues with a respected, veteran officer.  My answer there I think applies to the different generations of cops and how to best sort out what should be kept around and what should get discarded as the generations come and go:

        No one goes to the store for food expecting to buy everything in the store.  No one single person needs every item.  We go for what we need, not everything.  

Like shopping in a store and taking off the shelf just what is needed for that time, putting it into our cart, and checking out, policing is very much the same.  

No one officer is required to do everything that is old school and what is now acceptable, but they can take from each.  

You don't want gefilte fish?  DON'T BUY IT.

You want pudding cups?  THROW THEM BISHES IN THE CART.

While the new generation of cops is left holding the purse strings on a profession's history that both highlights the courage and bravery of cops, like on 9/11 or any of the reoccurring daily acts, and misery (pick your story), it doesn't mean it has to be the same.

Nor should it.