Sunday, May 9, 2010

Seattle Police Officer Apologizes for Being Bigoted

Late this past week Seattle police searching for suspects in an armed robbery took two Hispanics into their custody. They threatened one Mexican man, already on the ground and in their custody, saying "You got me? I'm going to beat the (expletive) Mexican (expletive) out of you homey. You feel me?"  The second expletive was "piss" and I can only assume the first was "fucking". They punched him and, as one radio announcer so gingerly put it, one cop contacted the Mexican's head with his boot. Read: he kicked the guy in the head while he was in custody on the ground.


According to later articles, the police officer with the bigoted mouth was abjectly sorry for his behavior. It's hard to even conceive of forgiving him on that ground. When he had the power he unleashed a torrent of abuse on what turned out to be the wrong guy. And he felt no compunction on using physical force on someone already under control and not giving any fight.


As someone who has worked in the area of police oversight for over 14 years, the saddest thing is that such behavior is not surprising. Policing tends to attract more than its fair share of bullies and thugs. The work provides opportunities for unleashing such behavior unacceptable in normal society. Had the suspect been the actual armed robber,  the officer would have gotten away with little to no reactions from the police administration or public.


But this man who took the brunt of this officer's thug-ness was innocent. The cop obviously held if not a deep seated hatred of Hispanics, at least a huge degree of disdain.  It was discriminatory behavior in its most raw form.


The question now is, is an apology a sufficient get-out-of-jail card for being such a bigot? I say no. It's simply not good enough. But neither is the normal punishment meted out by the police department. It's not good enough to punish him by making him lose vacation time (a long-standing method of upbraiding police who go wrong.) It's not enough to change his detail or station house. What's needed is to make him work with the people he apparently despises. Put him in an Hispanic neighborhood and make him walk the beat. Or make him responsible for wayward Mexican juveniles. This cop has to learn about the culture he so obviously thinks is worthless. Let  the people he works with determine when he's ready to rejoin the regular force.



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