Remember the episode in The Wire when the lieutenant created “Hamsterdam”, a section of the city where the law was null and void? It seemed farfetched at the time, but now it seems as if life is imitating art. In the month since the Freddie Gray riots, 42 people were killed in the city of Baltimore, marking the month of May as the deadliest month on record for the city since 1972. When asked the cause of the spike in murders, one Baltimore City police officer stated that the “good” guys are letting the “bad” guys win. According to two Baltimore police officers that spoke with CNN under “anonymity“, the officers in Baltimore feel as if they aren’t going to be protected for doing their job so they are basically “standing down” and letting the “criminals” win. Citing the six officers that got indicted for murdering unarmed citizen, Freddie Gray, the officers claim that the indictments lead them to believe that the system won’t protect them for doing their job. Some of the officers’ statements are downright facetious. For example, one of them remarked: “I think the public really, really sees that they asked for a softer, less aggressive police department, and we have given them that . . .”
So. . . because the city finally charged miscreant police officers for MURDERING an unarmed man, the officers are crying foul? Kind of makes you think, what exactly, do the officers think is their job? Last time I checked, their job was to protect and serve. They are supposed to UPHOLD the law. So, if they are acting in accordance with the law, what do they have to fear? I’m slightly confused.
There has been a history of police abuse in Baltimore and multiple settlements against the Baltimore police department for excessive force , well before the Freddie Gray incident sparked a major riot. Now, because the citizens and (finally) the system is demanding some type of justice, officers are behaving like spoiled brats that take their ball and go home when they don’t win the game? Again , I’m confused. See, these officers are sworn to protect the law. That very law deemed that their colleagues acted illegally. Therefore it would stand to reason that these officers should be on the side of the law. If a suspect was found guilty by the courts yet continued to proclaim their innocence, those very officers would still cuff him/her and cart them off to prison because the system found them guilty . Now they are silently bucking the same system they’re supposed to represent because their colleagues murdered a man (allegedly)? Again , I’m confused. If the officers don’t want to do the jobs the taxpayers pay them to do, and instead want a blank check to terrorize citizens, then maybe it’s better that they get off the streets. However, give up the badges so that we will recognize them as “bad” guys too.