(ThyBlackMan.com) Let me start off by saying my prayers go out to the family of a young man killed by 5 black cops. I will not say much about y background in carrying a badge, as a training instructor and supervisor, but to say that I understand both sides of the coin very well. And any police officer who knows me will tell you that. Still, I make no excuses for what the five Memphis ex-cop murderers did. I have never blanketly backed the blue. So in this article, I am going to hit very hard about how bad cops are a menace to society and what should be done about them. Unfortunately, most prosecutors, judges and politicians do not have the courage to give bad cops what they deserve. And the community keeps on taking it until it happens again and again. I’m sick of it and I don’t have to be a victim to feel that way. What about you?
My Other Articles on This Topic:
https://thyblackman.com/2020/06/16/what-police-officers-wont-tell-you/
https://thyblackman.com/2019/06/06/must-the-police-protect-and-serve/
https://thyblackman.com/2021/04/05/how-to-end-police-brutality-2021/
https://thyblackman.com/2016/12/04/police-shoot-to-kill-training-the-flawed-culprit/
The recent incident where 5 murderers (ex-officers) killed Tyre Nichols in Memphis has drawn nationwide attention – and rightfully so. But what if it was not caught on video? Pull out your cell phone cameras people and use them. However, while police chief Cerelyn Davis seems so shocked, here is what many of you did not know. Chief Davis came from the Atlanta Police Department where she began working in 1986, I believe. She rose up through the ranks and was placed in charge of the Atlanta Police Special Operations Unit, including SWAT and the infamous Red Dog Unit which operated more like Denzel Washington’s unit in Training Day. https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/tyre-nichols-case-memphis-police-chief-was-once-fired-from-atlanta-police-department/AQOEVCMVXZHQPD2NILO5Q2EYWI/
Red Dog (now supposedly disbanded after they attacked the “wrong” people) was known for the same militant tactics that the Scorpion Unit in Memphis used. Hmmm. Chief Davis rose to the rank of deputy chief with APD. She was fired but reinstated on appeal then left and what do you know? She popped up as chief of the Memphis police department. So you have to wonder who started the Scorpion Unit in Memphis which contained all 5 ex-officers who murdered Mr. Nichols. My thought about what happened? Cointel Pro-type coons on the hunt who thought they were blue and forgot they were black. But they swiftly found out in a rude awakening that happened like lightning. Still, keep following this and don’t get happy yet.
THE MEMPHIS SCORPION UNIT WAS SUPPOSED TO STOP VIOLENCE
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/us/scorpion-unit-tyre-nichols-death.html
Police officers and commanders who are fired, caught with their hands in the cookie jar or far worse tend to move to other states where they are hired into the same or often higher positions. We need to watch that. But because Black Lives Matters was a paid off joke from the top (as I said from the beginning) and there is no citizen network from state to state to track bad cops “on the run” to new jobs, the public has no idea when the same bad cops are coming to your city. BLM was a BS pacifier to the black community, a pseudo-empowerment scam distraction.
NOBODY CAN AFFORD AN “EYE-FOR-AN-EYE” RETALIATION CYCLE
I have written articles on police brutality before, after the incidents with Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland and George Floyd. I have a great many friends who are police officers, supervisors and commanders and I tell them officers need to be held to a higher standard of the law if they are the ones who are supposed to enforce it. The higher the standard of expectation, the more severe the penalty should be when the standards are abandoned.
THERE ARE VERY EASY WAYS TO STOP POLICE BRUTALITY, bad cops, racist cops, violent cops, mentally unstable, bully and murderers cops. But one barrier is that too many politicians, judges, prosecutors and law-enforcement officials lack the courage and the agenda to deter and punish these atrocities. And in some cases, many of them don’t have the courage because they don’t know how to balance out severe punishment for police officers while encouraging the good cops. So what happens? They deal with each incident on a case-by-case basis and hope for the best. Officials living in denial, concealing departmental problems and sticking to the “blue code”. There are many good officers, but more bad cops than you know.
BAD COPS WILL STOP MURDERING UNARMED CITIZENS IN AMERICA WHEN THE FIRST BAD COP IS MADE AN EXAMPLE OF: TRIED, CONVICTED, SENTENCED TO DEATH AND EXECUTED BY THE “JUSTICE” SYSTEM
Police unions have far too much power. For many of them, their agenda is to support police officers no matter what the officers do. In Atlanta for example, the APD gave Garrett Rolfe his job back after he shot and killed Rayshard Brooks who was fleeing with a police officer’s weapon then kicked Brooks while he lay on the ground dying. Former Mayor Bottoms had to know that would happen when she ordered the chief to fire Rolfe without due process. Bottoms knows the law very well. But then the city turned around and gave the family of Rayshard Brooks a million dollars. Stop playing these games. Are local officials rewarding the police officer for his behavior, paying off the family to keep quiet or both? No amount of money should be acceptable. And if families accept money, they need to use most of it to set up the means to legally combat bad cops. Politicians, you need to stop playing all sides to ensure re-election.
NOBODY SHOULD BE ABOVE THE LAW – ESPECIALLY POLICE OFFICERS
Bad cops, murderous cops and police brutality will not stop until the lawful consequences legally match the unlawful behavior. If the communities want to stop police brutality and bad cops, they are going to have to elect political officials, judges and prosecutors who have the courage to make this happen. In Atlanta again, Paul Howard, former DA for Fulton County, was hated and feared by many police officers. I never had a problem with him, but then again, I never tried to hide behind a badge to break the law. Nor did I let my authority change my character and my identity. Unfortunately, I cannot say that for many of my police friends. Paul Howard would prosecute anybody who broke the law, as it should be. But what happened? Because Buckhead (the upscale area of Atlanta) and the Police Union could not control Howard, they pushed to replace him. That is the truth and anybody plugged into Atlanta and Fulton County knows it.
DOUBLE STANDARDS FOR POLICE OFFICERS OVER CITIZENS?:
There should be no double standard favoring police officers as more privileged than the public they are supposed to serve. Yet those very double standards happen every week in America. In many cases, a police officer can lie to you. But if you lie to him, you could be charged with a misdemeanor for giving false information to a police officer. If the police officer takes a warrant out on you, as soon as the Sheriff’s department serves it, you will be arrested. But try to get a warrant on the police officer. It is next to impossible in most major cities. And if a warrant is served on the police officer, many times the officer has several days to turn himself in, he or she gets processed and goes right back out the door. How is this equal protection under the law?
WHY “BLACK” LIVES DON’T MATTER
https://thyblackman.com/2018/06/07/why-black-lives-dont-matter/
A dangerous tone of favoritism towards police officers has been set in America for a long time. When they make critical mistakes in the very law they were trained to enforce, all of a sudden a bunch of supporters want to say the officers are only human or just people too. If they are just people too, why are they getting special treatment that regular people do not get? And dangerous tones like this coupled with police officers like Derek Chauvin who is fighting to get his job back make for incentives to try and get away with unlawful behavior. The climate is all wrong.
If a police officer is arrested, he or she is not put in with the general population. Again, preferential treatment. So while some of you may say that is for his or her safety, that is their problem. They should’ve thought about that before they committed the crime. If you commit a crime, you will go in general population once you are arrested. They should too.
Special treatment of police officers directly works against citizen equal protection under the law as a constitutional right and the special protections that police officers enjoy have developed a mindset that they are entitled to such special protections, even when they act outside of the law. Another big problem. And politicians with re-election aspirations will shield bad cops while playing all sides and only expressing verbal outrage or attending a vigil or rally for a photo-op.
CAN BAD COPS BE STOPPED?
When police officers are convicted, on death row, sitting in the gas chamber, the electric chair or dying by lethal injection for what they have done, police brutality will begin a cycle of coming to a screeching halt. The message? Take an innocent life and you will legally and lawfully lose yours bad cop. Why don’t we see our current African-American politicians, civil rights activists and religious leaders calling for that? Lack of courage. I’m not afraid to call for that, but also, I am smart enough not to get into politics, owe people favors and look the other way.
It is highly doubtful that many of the black political, local law enforcement, religious and judicial leaders of today would have marched with King, fled with Harriet Tubman, stood with John Lewis on that bridge nor resisted oppression as Josiah Henson did. THE BLACK COMMUNITY IS LARGELY REACTIVE INSTEAD OF PROACTIVE, RARELY FOCUSING ON PREVENTION! Many of the black “leaders” of today would probably have been too busy trying to fit into the “good ole Massa’s plantation”. Bad cops likely know this.
So here we go again, just as I said in my other articles. And what will the black community do? Be outraged for a while and then hit the snooze button and forget it until the next incident happens. What will the police unions and police foundations do? Support murderous cops. What are the pastors doing? Likely much of nothing, as usual. Am I outraged? Hell yes! And I plan to continue to use the power of the pen as well as confronting the policies of local law-enforcement and the friends I know in key positions to make a difference. What are you doing?
A BADGE SHOULD NEVER BE A SHIELD FOR A MURDERER
Families and communities have legal and lawful options. Stop being afraid. Stop ignoring these incidents. Pull out your phone and record. Buy and use dashcams. Know how to share the information you find, how to expose bad cops, and how to spot them instead of just plying around on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. As an African-American man in America, I will do all I can to lawfully and legally help stop murderous cops. By the way, a side note. For those of you who are reading this article and work in a law enforcement capacity, just know that I am insulated. Very insulated with friends in the right local and federal places.
The black community has become docile and neutered. Where is Black Lives Matters? Bought off and quiet. Where is the community pressure on local politicians? Where is the King family? Where are the calls for police commanders, judges and prosecutors to resign? Where is the SCLC? Where is the NAACP? Where is the Nation of Islam? Where is the National Action Network? Where are you? Too much of the black community has become part of the problem by tolerating murderous cops while only complaining. The 1960 approach is not working.
I have written on the topic of police brutality and how to end it. But the community is going to have to step up more legally and lawfully than prayer vigils, rallies and protests. My hope is that murders at the hands of police officers stop happening before Americans have had enough and resort to vigilante justice. I don’t advocate that, but I would certainly understand why.
NON CITIZEN NOR OFFICER CAN AFFORD AN “EYE-FOR-AN-EYE” RETALIATION WAR, BUT UNFORTUNATELY ONE HAS BEGUN
Our society teaches respect for authority. But what if that authority is the problem and not worthy of respect? Our society teaches us to follow the law. But what if those who are tasked with enforcing the law are those who chose to violate it? Our society teaches that police officers are to protect us from criminals. But what happens when the police officers ARE the criminals?
TO THE BAD COPS, ABUSIVE COPS AND MURDEROUS COPS:
You have gained nothing but disrespect and violation of your oath. God knows that nobody gets away with anything like what you are doing. You reap what you sow. Karma is a boomerang. And what goes around comes around. I do not advocate vigilante violence nor any illegal act against you. But neither can I stop the cycle of retaliation and repercussions that you are helping to spin. I do not want it to be open season on cops. But you have to avoid making it open season on unarmed citizens. STOP! And if none of this bothers you, I suggest a psychological exam.
TO THE PROSECUTORS, JUDGES AND POLITICIANS:
Do your job without prejudice or bias. Stick to your oath. Stop looking the other way. If the victim of a bad cop was your child or brother or father, you wouldn’t want to turn a blind eye. Prosecute bad cops to the fullest extent of the law and stop playing games and politics. You were entrusted by the public to protect them, and that includes from bad cops. If you are afraid to do the job, vacate the position and let someone step up who will. And stop letting things quiet down then dismissing the charges so bad cops can go work somewhere else and repeat their actions.
TO THE MINISTERS, PASTORS AND CLERGY:
Christ was very proactive and so were both the Apostles and the Prophets. They did not shut up and they did not allow themselves to be shut down. Many of you church leaders could never have walked the path of Christ, a path that left him unpopular . He was despised and rejected of men. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53). But He was never a coward trying to fit into the world, make money from it and be loved by it. I cannot say the same for you pastors who say His name but never stand up as He did. Where are you? Why are you so often detached and quiet? You were told to be in the world but not of it. Yet you often act just like it.
TO THE GOOD COPS (The Vast Majority of Officers):
Stop defending racist, abusive, mentally deficient, bully and murderous cops. They are not your brothers and sisters in blue. They are those who shame the uniform, violate the oaths and make your job harder. I realize it is Hell for you to stop a bad cop from breaking the law because you will run into backlash at the station and amongst your peers. But even if you have to find another job, don’t lose yourself, your soul, your integrity, your identity and your character. You have to look up and you have to look in the mirror. We appreciate you and we need you to stand up for what is right, not just automatically for someone who has on a badge like you.
TO THE COMMUNTIES OF AMERICA (ESP. AFRICAN AMERICANS):
What you allow is what you deserve. The brutality and murder at the hands of bad cops keeps happening because you wake up and unite for a minute then hit the snooze button until another incident happens. Then you follow the same pattern again. Do you wonder why bad cops think they can get away with what they do? If you don’t unite, step up, stand up, speak up and legally take steps to weed out the bad cops, you become part of the problem – not the solution. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Use legal, lawful, strategic, unified, consistent, effective, up-to-date means of getting results. Stop using the old 1960s methods of protests, riots, vigils, rallies and Kumbaya. Don’t you see that the powers that be have learned how to ignore, neutralize and bypass those efforts, attempts and methods? Stop just shaking your head and being sad or scared. Especially for all you who say you have faith, what are you scared of? The lion’s den is waiting. So if you stop being a dumb sheep and start being a lion instead of just watching Black Panther at the movies, you will understand how to wake up, stay awake and step up to tackle this problem.
If the latest black victim to die unjustly at the hands of the police was a Caucasian Jon Benet type, the white community would be losing its mind, especially if the cops were black. If the latest African American victim of bad cops had been a young college white boy from GA Tech or Princeton whose dad was a corporate businessman or judge, the incident would never have played out as it did and you know it. If the victim in Memphis was a Caucasian Karen, heads would roll all the way to convictions – and faster than they are rolling now. The police chief would have already quit or been fired. We all know this is the truth.
TO THE POLICE FOUNDATIONS AND POLICE UNIONS:
Many of you are disgusting opportunists. You have too much power and you know it. You are about capitalizing on police officers to make money from them. You want to blanketly back the blue and that is both wrong and ignorant on so many levels. You want to support bad cops, no matter what they do. As long as thy keep paying those dues. You need to be blocked from raising money for them. Let them struggle just like the families of bad cop victims have to do. Some of us know what you are really about. A bunch of “non-black” people who found a niche market and who play on community respect for the police and local law enforcement, using that to fill your pockets just like many police foundations. And many police officers join you because they feel they have nobody else to back them up. Thus you are preying on them too. Oh yes, you are.
IN CONCLUSION:
Justice wears a blindfold because she is supposed to be unbiased, guaranteeing equal protection under the law. But that is a lie. Justice just has her eyes closed or rather covered to the truth. She might as well stick her head in the sand since she has it stuck up somewhere else. Equal protection under the law would also mean there would have to be equal punishment under the law. But that is not true either when it comes to bad cops. Every legislature likely knows that.
Still, equal protection under the law is supposed to be a Constitutional right. But today its more of a joke. Some seem to be far more “equal” than others because of the badges they carry. They are statistically treated better than citizens. And overall, they suffer far less penalties when they commit the same crimes as citizens. THAT IS UNJUST, NOT JUSTICE! The gay community would not tolerate such injustice. Even animal lovers do not tolerate such mistreatment of their dogs. Surely human lives are worth much, much more. Or they should be. Even the lives of unarmed African Americans. And while you may think it’s not my place to say, I hope Hell has special hotseats for every bad cop who murders an unarmed citizen.
If you have been a victim of police brutality, or you or a family member have suffered worse, contact me at Trevocraw123@gmail.com. The outcome is not hopeless and citizen who know what to do legally and lawfully are not helpless. POLICE BRUTALITY HAS TO STOP!
Staff Writer; Trevo Craw
A Free Thinker, who loves to talk about Politics, etc. Also, all about uplifting the Black Community even if it doesn’t fit your mindset. One may hit me up at; TrevoCraw@ThyBlackMan.com.