A Bad Day for Policing

A Bad Day for Policing

Gregory B. Talley 

Just in case you haven’t noticed this isn’t a good time to be a police officer.

I read an article recently written by a current police officer who said that he was recruited into police work by watching a police television show called “Cops”.  I remember the show.  It portrayed police officers from around the country doing great things for the right reasons.  Anybody who had an inclination to make positive contributions to the community would naturally be “recruited” into police work by watching that show.  Of course, there have been other police recruiting television series.  There was “Dragnet” and “Adam-12” to name a couple.  One of the shows that I thought fairly represented police work was “Hill Street Blues”.  So many other police drama shows portrayed police work as a job that had successful conclusions in 30 or 60 minutes, displayed poor police work and bad case law.  I believed Hill Street Blues was a much more accurate portrayal of police work.

I attribute much of what is happening in law enforcement today to the entertainment industry.  I hate to say it, but as much as I liked Clint Eastwood in “Dirty Harry”, Inspector Callahan was the worst possible role model for policing at the time.  He was a rogue cop doing what every other cop on the planet felt like doing but exercised restraint and resisted the temptation to follow in Dirty Harry’s footsteps.  I once heard a judge say that the worst moment of the film was when Harry threw his badge into the water.  The problem with Harry was that not only did he get away with what he was doing he was applauded for doing it.

Of course, it wasn’t (and isn’t) just Dirty Harry.  Television and the silver screen abound in police doing the wrong thing for supposedly the right reason for which they are rewarded.  The reality is that these television shows and movies serve as training videos for future and current police.  And, why shouldn’t they?  They are popular and they feed the public’s insatiable desire for justice.  Or, is it vengeance?  Whatever.

I think there are some other factors involved in what is going on in law enforcement today and it isn’t all about police.

There has already been a serious shift policing in the last 40 or 50 years.  It used to be that policing was a job that you went into if you couldn’t find any other work.  Several decades ago we had an Irish immigrant population that could not find employment anywhere and thus turned to policing in some of our major cities.  Returning war veterans unable to find sustaining work turned to policing, which incidentally resonated with veterans.  They wore uniforms and there were rules to follow, and an objective to be met though it wasn’t always clear what the object was.  At the time, curbside justice was tolerated if not encouraged.  Ironically, curbside justice may have been more beneficial to society than the criminal justice system if it wasn’t carried to extremes.  Without a doubt, some curbside justice went entirely overboard and should be labeled as criminal behavior.  However, the act of pouring out some kid’s beer and tossing his marijuana stash to the wind and embarrassing him (or her) in front of friends diverted more youth from the system than any juvenile judge or probation officer could possibly imagine.

These days, police have a minimum of a high school education and many have at least some college.  Many police departments actively recruit police officers with at least a two- or four-year college degree.  There are many pros and cons to the argument of hiring college educated police officers, none of which I wish to discuss here.  Likewise, many military veterans continue to turn to law enforcement for careers and many police departments readily accept veterans’ applications, and rightfully so.  They come into policing with discipline and willingness to follow orders.  Just as there are pros and cons to hiring college educated police recruits, there are also pros and cons to hiring veterans, again, none of which I wish to discuss here.  There are other things at play that contribute to the current bad day to be a police officer.

The easiest target is the entertainment industry.  It is by no means the only contributing factor and may not even be the biggest contributing factor, but it is a factor for consideration.  Not only does the entertainment industry provide training videos for law enforcement, but they also provide training videos for the public.  They portray an image of how the public in its estimation reacts to police intervention.

Closely related to the entertainment industry is the news media.  The public demands short sound bites of news and therefore the news industry delivers.  Unfortunately by providing instant and short coverage of events the entire story is generally omitted and facts are not fully covered.  Substituted in its place is commentary often slanted in the direction of those who have no restrictions on what they can and cannot say to preserve evidence for a trial in court.  Thus, police are subject to trial by media.  Many in the media are educated by liberal professors at liberal universities and carry with them a bias against authority and the establishment.  The bottom line is that police will never get a fair trial by the media.  While the media welcomes feel-good stories about the police, they are short lived and pale in comparison to criticism.

Yet, there is another issue at play.  It is subtle in nature but very real.  While we have had a shift in police attitudes and approaches we have also had a shift in public perceptions and attitudes.  Much of that shift has evolved over a very long period of time and comes from growing resentment built up over generations.  Paired with that is a growing generation that believes entitlement is something you are awarded for merely living instead of earning.

Every person who has ever donned a uniform and a badge has been accused of picking on teenagers.  Who hasn’t as a police officer dealt with a teenager who immediately retorted when stopped for a traffic violation that he or she was picking on youth simply because of their age?  Who has not been accused of stopping a minority because of minority status?  Many police officers have been accused of stopping minorities or youth in the middle of the night because of their status while under the condition of nighttime the officer had absolutely no idea who he or she was stopping.  What police officer has not gone ahead and issued a traffic citation or made an arrest when a person has talked his way into it when the person otherwise could have talked his way out of it by simply showing courtesy and respect?

There have been a number of recent high profile police shooting cases where the person involved was mentally or emotionally disturbed.  Unfortunately, these individuals are as capable of killing police as those who are in their right frame of mind.  Contrary to popular opinion, they do not walk around with signs hanging around their necks advertising their mental capacity.  Some people think that by yelling at the police who are dealing with a mental patient that they can prevent a shooting.  The fact is that yelling at the police that they are dealing with a mental patient serves more of a distraction than a help.  It takes a split second for an officer to turn attention away from the subject to end up being the one carried away to the morgue.  This, of course, assumes that police can even hear people yelling at them that they are dealing with a mental patient.  Just as we develop tunnel vision in certain situations, we also develop “tunnel hearing” in high stress situations or those situations where our attention is focused.

As a faction of the public becomes more and more brazen in its actions toward the police, police work is becoming more and more dangerous.  Our training teaches us survival skills.  Hesitation can be deadly for police while lack of hesitation can be deadly for a member of the public.  One would hope that there would be a balance there somewhere, but the desire for self-preservation is pretty strong.  The adage that a decision made in a split second by a police officer will be evaluated for years is never truer than it is today.  So true is it that I wonder why anyone in a right frame of mind would consider a career in policing today.

Some politicians are clamoring for more and more training for police.  Police generally like training, so that has the potential to be a win-win, but given the type of training politicians want to impose upon police it is doubtful that it will help.  Others want police to have other non-deadly force options for bringing combatants under control.  Some want more civilian control over policing, probably in the form of police civilian review boards.  There is a cry for tighter hiring practices.  Others want police departments to have the ability to share information with each other about police officers who have been disciplined so they won’t be hired by another department.  It seems everyone has a fix but is unaware of the complexities of such things as personnel law, expense, time, and the futility of their solutions.

Admittedly, there are problem police officers.  There are probably police departments out of control.  However, to paint all police departments with the same broad brush is a disservice to the officers who faithfully serve and the communities that they serve.

Sir Robert Peel (1788-1855), the Father of Modern Policing (1829) espoused nine principles for policing.  All nine deserve to be reviewed, but Peelian Principle Seven deserves some careful consideration as a cornerstone for the other eight principles.  “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”  It is highly doubtful that the public is aware of this principle that is as true today as it was nearly 200 years ago.  Meanwhile, the police have either forgotten this principle or have been boxed into a self-defense corner where it is nearly impossible to practice this principle.

Instead of police reformation it might be more appropriate to have police restoration.  That, however, will require the education of the public and assumption of civilian responsibility, something that seems to be in short supply in some sectors of the country.

2016 Erie Canal Towpath Bicycle Ride

I had often dreamed of doing an extended bicycle ride.  As years passed I considered what it would be like to ride west to east across Kansas or Nebraska.  Why those two states?  Because they are mostly flat and with a predominately west wind, it would seem easier to make the ride.  The only problem with Kansas and Nebraska is that they are both quite hot in the summer.

When we moved to New York, my sights fell on the Erie Canal Towpath.

The original canal crossed New York from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo at Lake Erie.  It ran 363 miles.  Construction began in 1817 and has 36 locks.  It has an elevation differential of 565 feet.  Commerce before the canal was done primarily by pack animal. Creation of the canal reduced shipping charges by 95 cents on the dollar.  All work on the canal was human and animal powered.  The original canal was 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep.  Animals pulled a “slip scraper” to help move earth.  Surveyors and engineers had little or experience in civil engineering yet managed to be precise in their work.  Most of the laborers were from Scotland and Ireland.

This is me on the first day of the ride.  The picture was taken in Pittsford, New York, at about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 7, 2016.  Please note the helmet.

I saw only two canal boats.  While there were other boats on the canal, this one was a tour boat.  These folks were friendly and waved and greeted me as they traveled down the canal.

My first real break on the first day was in Palmyra, New York.  This was close to the halfway point in the journey.  Susan met me here and treated me to lunch.  I was sweating already and the temperature was already in the 90s. Notice the book in front of me.  It is a map of the route.  It was accurate sometimes.  Two of the most important items I took on my ride was a GPS that had an odometer and a mileage chart that I created before the trip.  These two items helped me know where I was most of the time.  Villages along the path did not have welcome signs on the trail.  There was only one time when the book map was a total failure and that was because of a path closure and detour with no directions as to where to go.  I lost very valuable time because of that.  It cost me about eight miles that I had to make up the following day.

This was one of the many locks along the trail.  This particular lock had a dry dock.  The lock could be filled with water then drained completely dry thus allowing for painting and repairs.

As mentioned in the previous picture, this particular lock had a dry dock.  This particular boat was getting a fresh paint job while I was there.  Unfortunately I was downwind of the spray painting that was taking place.  I took a brief break anyway.

Andy and Bonnie Underwood and their dog met me at Port Byron and treated me to refreshments and company while I was stopped here.  Their visit was most welcome.

Since I was dedicating the ride to law enforcement it was only fitting that I get my picture taken with a law enforcement vehicle.  This particular one was driven by Deputy Westover.  He was at the park at Port Byron with a half dozen trustees from the jail who were doing cleanup work at the park.  Westover respectfully declined to be in the picture.

I specifically chose to ride 120 miles on this ride.  On average, 120 police officers die in the line of duty each year. This year's ride was for those who have already been killed in the line of duty and those that I am sure will be killed before the end of the year.  My only fear is that I didn't ride far enough.  My hope is that I rode too far.

There have been at least three generations of the Erie Canal from what I could tell.  Obviously, this one isn’t in use any more.  It serves as an example of how Mother Nature reclaims her land when it is abandoned.  It was not at all unusual to see sections of the canal that had fallen trees, weeds, cattails, and other water vegetation growing.  Surprisingly, there were very few ducks and geese along the canal.  However, I saw a blue heron and a bald eagle on the ride.

This is part of an old canal lock just west of Weedsport, New York.  There’s some pretty fancy artwork there.  There were some parts of the abandoned canal that were completely covered by vegetation and barely noticeable unless you happened to be paying attention.  This one just happened to be in a clearing alongside a highway.  There are old abandoned locks visible along the New York Thruway (I-90).  This one was on NY-5.

Mother Nature won here, except it is now part of a park in Jordan, New York.  It was right after I left this area that I was caught in a torrential downpour.  There was heavy rain for about 20 minutes.  The only shelter I could find was under an elm tree, which provided absolutely no shelter at all.  Everything was soaked, including a $300 camera that was in a waterproof bag that wasn’t so waterproof.  No.  The camera isn’t working.  To give you an idea as to how much of a storm it was, I had to stop three times to cross over trees that had come down on the towpath.

While I stopped for a break I noticed this flag in the distance.  It was a nice reminder of those who built this great nation and specifically of those Americans who labored on the canal.  I took this picture with the camera that was later ruined.  The flag was in Jordan and was several hundred yards away from me.

This is Nine Mile Aqueduct just a few miles from the west side of Syracuse.  This picture was taken on the second day of my ride and a couple of hours after the rain storm.  Notice the puddle on the trail on the left side of the picture of the aqueduct.

The trail consists primarily of paved sections, highway, and crushed limestone that is quite smooth in most places.  The only problems with the crushed limestone is that  when it is wet the bicycle tires pick up the pieces of limestone and coat your legs and bicycle.  It feels a bit like being stung by bees – mile after mile.  In some areas the limestone can be a couple of inches thick, which makes it a little difficult to traverse.  Think what it is like to walk barefoot on dry beach sand and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

The ride was in early September. There were a few early signs of Fall; however, temperatures were in the 90s.

Half of the trail between Syracuse and Rome falls within the Erie Canal State Park.

This is one of the original bridges on the canal.  This part of the canal is no longer navigable, but the bridge is usable.  Notice how low the bridge is to the water.  Passengers on canal boats would have to leave the top deck in the open air and go below in order to go under these bridges.

During its peak year, there were 33,000 passages on the canal.  While several of the barges carried consumer goods, many also carried immigrants and vacationers.  Some canal boat captains provided entertainment on their boats (generally a band).  Sleeping accommodations were provided on the boats by hanging curtains down the middle of the inside of the boat and having women sleeping on one side of the curtain and men on the other side.  Beds folded out of the walls on the inside of the boat and cots were used in the middle of the floor.

The towpath is alongside the canal, which is on the left in this picture.  Here the towpath bridge and aqueduct cross over a small river that is on the right side of the picture.  There are several stream, creek, and river crossings on the canal, but many have been put out of service essentially draining the old canal.

There are occasional benches along the way.  There were about a half dozen parks or highway roadside parks along the path.  Much of the path along the canal is surrounded by trees, which is not the case on highway portions of the trail.  When there are covered picnic tables you tend to take advantage of them.  And when there is a shade tree over a picnic table, you take advantage of that also.

During the hay day of the canal, trees did not line its banks.  Remember that mules and horses had to tow the boats, so there could not be obstructions between the towpath and the boats on the canal.  Occasionally boats would meet each other while traveling in opposite directions.  A right of way pattern was established that allowed a team of mules or horses to cross on the lower and closer side of the canal while the other team crossed higher.

Dirt that had been in the path of the canal was dug up and thrown to the side to create the towpath.  There are portions of the canal where dirt was brought up from both sides of the towpath to create the towpath.  It is in these areas that the canal is actually higher than the surrounding earth.

My ride ended in Rome, New York at Fort Stanwix.  This is me about ten minutes after I arrived.  Though the trail crossed some fairly busy streets in Rome, most of the trail was on side streets with very little traffic.

Most of the people that I met on the trail were recreational day users out for their daily run or ride.  But, there were exceptions.  I met a couple on a tandem bicycle traveling from New Hampshire to Buffalo.  They were stopping along the way visiting the various museums along the way and staying in motels and bed and breakfasts.  I also met a man who was backpacking to Ohio.  “Handlebar” was a 70 year-old retired tech firm founder and wore a kilt.  In both cases we stopped and chatted with each other and exchanged trail information and used the chance to visit as an excuse to rest a bit.

The two pictures here are of me at the beginning of my ride and at the end of the ride.  You can see that I am no worse for wear.  Though I lost seven pounds over the three day ride I am certain that most of the weight loss was water.  That is in spite of the fact that I was constantly drinking water during the ride.

Would I do it again?  I suppose so.  In fact, I am hoping to do a 35 mile stretch later in October between Rome and Herkimer, New York.  I'm hoping I can talk a few friends into coming along with me.  Would I do the same stretch again?  Probably not except for the stretch between Syracuse and Rome.  Too much of the trail was on the highway between Lyons and Port Byron, New York.

Why I Cannot Support Donald Trump at Present

I previously wrote why I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton for President.  When I did so, I mentioned two key attributes that are important to me.  They are character and competence.  Those two attributes trump (please forgive the use of the word “trump” in this sentence) the next important motivation for voting for a candidate.  That motivation deals with alignment of a candidate’s platform with what I would like to see a president do while in office.

Let me begin with character.  I’ll end there, too.

When speaking of Hillary Clinton I described her demeanor behind the scenes and how different it is when she is in front of a camera or a crowd.  I do not have the benefit of first-hand, personal observation of Mr. Trump.  What I’ve seen on public display, however, provides me with enough information to draw some conclusions.

First of all, his public use of profanity is not even close to that of Clinton’s private language.  That does not excuse his language.  His public use of profanity tells me that he is insensitive to others.  It is not the kind of language I would expect from a national leader let alone someone who is going to be on the world stage and a leader of the free world.  While I want a president who is a straight shooter, I believe it is important that presidential language should reflect the values of the represented society.  Though it seems profanity is the norm these days, I don’t think our republic wants a president who depends upon shock value to get what s/he wants.  In fact, I think the leaders of most other countries will find it offensive.  Well, maybe the president of the Philippines might not find it offensive.

I believe he is a narcissistic personality.  While he says that he wants to make America great again, that is exactly the problem.  HE wants to make America great again.  Whether or not you believe that America is no longer great is not the issue (personally I believe we’ve lost our greatness but I don’t see anybody else stepping up to the plate).  It is all about him and what he will do as President.  Don’t get me wrong, every presidential candidate stumps on what he or she will do as President, but his campaign is too much about him.

His marital infidelity speaks volumes.  First there was the affair with Marla Maples while married to his first wife.  Then, to quote Mr. Trump in his book The Art of the Comeback: “If I told the real stories of my experiences with women, often seemingly very happily married and important women, this book would be a guaranteed best-seller” (http://www.nationalreview.com/ corner/430381/donald-trump-ben-sasse-twitter-question-marital-infidelity).

On the plus side, Trump appears to be very social and ambitious, attributes that should make for a good president.  He also appears to be purpose driven.  However, I believe he is a bit roguish – no, a lot roguish.  He downplays past mistakes with a shrug of the shoulders.  His past business dealings may have been completely legal, e.g., bankruptcy (at least four), but I wonder about his multiple use of bankruptcy laws.  Just because something is legal doesn’t make it right.  Perhaps a single bankruptcy can be excused, but multiple claims wave a red flag in the face of character in  my humble opinion.

Along with being roguish, I think he is a thrill-seeker.  There is nothing wrong with being a thrill-seeker.  There is social science research that points to this particular common attribute among police officers and criminals.  I note that one of those two groups keeps its thrill-seeking within the bounds of the law in the vast majority of occasions.  In Mr. Trump’s case, I believe his thrill-seeking is reckless and with little regard for the consequences to others.

One characteristic I would like to see in a President is the ability to make quick decisions based on available data.  His public behavior suggests to me that he really doesn’t think things through before he shoots off at the mouth.  He doesn’t seem too concerned about details.  As much as he doesn’t seem too concerned about details I question his concern for others.  I think this falls in line with his narcissistic personality.  As President he will be the boss and will give the orders, but good bosses listen to their subordinates and rely on their expertise.  I think that Trump is so self-centered that he will not take the advice of subordinates.  I see that as a major character flaw.

I have no problem with people who want to make their living in real estate; however, when that real estate involves casinos I have a problem.  Just because gambling seems to be America’s favorite pastime doesn’t mean that it is right to make money off the backs of others.  If you choose to gamble, that’s your business, but I’ve seen too many losers at the tables that translated into losers with the mortgage, bills, and feeding and clothing families.  And any addiction to gambling is too many addictions.  To build and front a casino where this happens is simply morally wrong in my humble opinion.  You are entitled to your own opinion on gambling.  If you have an opposing view on this issue you are welcome to share it on your own blog or Facebook timeline.

I find him to be duplicitous.  He appears to say what he wants to say at the time he says it in order to gain the favor of the people he is speaking to, which on its face appears to be contrary to what he has told others.  I use the word appears above with caution.  Not having seen his complete stance on issues I may not understand how things he has said in one setting dovetails with something different he has said elsewhere.

I want to add a favorable comment here about a couple of specific issues that I believe many people have wrong about Trump.  Contrary to popular opinion, I do not believe Trump to be racist.  I also believe that in his professional business dealings that he treats women as fairly as he does men.  I’m fairly certain that what he says about women does not accurately reflect his behavior in a business or professional setting.  If elected as President of the United States I fully expect him to have multiple women serving in cabinet and deputy cabinet level positions and that he will relate to them the way he will relate to men at those and lower levels of government.

The title of my remarks here is Why I Cannot Support Donald Trump at Present.  I want to emphasize the last two words in that title: at Present.  The jury is still out on Mr. Trump for me.  Right now I cannot support him simply based upon his character.  He’s loud and boisterous and very self-centered.  He appears to be erratic.  He shows little concern for others, but unlike his primary opponent, at least he is publicly showing it. 

At the risk of sounding like Donald Rumsfeld, there are things we know about both Trump and Clinton and we know that there are things that we don’t know about the two of them.  But with Clinton, we don’t know what we don’t know.  As Rumsfeld said, there are unknown unknowns.  I think his remarks about knowns and unknowns are referred to as the Johari Window or something like that.  I find that to be a dangerous political minefield.