You Have The Right To Bite

I certainly hope I am wrong, but I think we might be looking at the next “incident” in police work coming to us soon from Florida. See this article and video for the details, but in summary, here is what happened:

A young girl was being arrested for stealing things. That is because stealing is wrong. Then she resisted lawful efforts to handcuff her. That is wrong, too. Then she bit the police officer. Still wrong. Eventually the police officer grew tired of all this malarkey and punched the suspect once, pepper sprayed and arrested her. That is allowed.

The cop did right, the suspect did wrong. So that’s the end of this post, right?

Not so fast.

You see, there is a problem in this video; one that is clear as day, but many of you might have missed it. In this video, the cop is white and the suspect is not. That will make this arrest an “issue.” It shouldn’t, but it will. Note the interview in the news video. She is concerned that the cop did not explain what he was doing, and that he did not read the girl her rights. What? Her rights? Should he have done that before or after the bite?

Philosophical cop’s gangster timeline

I noted in my opening post that I have changed. In some sense, this blog is about explaining the experiences, thoughts, and feelings that have brought on these changes. The timeline is one such anecdote. Let me know what you think!

Gang violence is the primary issue in the city I police. Most of America’s large cities have a similar story. Last week in Chicago, a fifteen-year-old had his life cut short as he was charged as an adult in a tragic murder. Read the sad details here. New York is in the same boat, and so are Detroit, Dallas, and many others. Everyone always has a solution “of the week,” with politicians talking a lot, and doing a bit less. As this article shows, the Governator thinks another czar might help.