For the last couple days, videos of NYPD officers being doused with water and even being hit with an empty bucket have gone viral. Such actions are shocking to the conscience. That officers of ANY agency can be disrespected so blatantly and those treating them in such a fashion can get away with it… it’s unfathomable. Don’t New Yorkers understand the end result if things continue the direction they’re going? Wait… no, of course they don’t. Not anymore than those in Baltimore do. The lack of respect for law enforcement that seems to be growing in big cities WILL lead to worsening conditions, skyrocketing crime rates, low law enforcement employment rates and, eventually, all out war on the streets. Make no mistake: NONE of the following is meant to lessen the severity of what those NYPD officers endured. NONE of the following is meant to condone the criminal actions of the disrespectful citizens. I open with the link to the video and this brief commentary because the incident is a glaring example of how actions can be malicious; similar actions can be innocent.
Let me relate to you a different story: The year was 1988 and it was a hot July day. A police officer who worked a relatively small community was patrolling and came upon an intersection where several of the families were related. Given that there were three corner homes (the fourth corner was a small park) and then four more immediately bordering them (seven homes total), that four of the homes were owned by members of the same family made it somewhat of a small enclave. It was not uncommon for the cousins to all be out in the street – and they were always mindful of traffic – or in one yard or another playing. One of the family patriarchs was a police officer for a neighboring jurisdiction, so the on-duty officer had good relations with he and his family members. Most of the kids were under the age of 12 but some were in the 15-17 year range.
On this particular day as the officer pulled up, he saw his brother officer sitting on the front steps of his house, watching over the children as they played. The children were having a ball, involved in a water-balloon fight. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but the on-duty officer parked and got out, and walked over to exchange a few words with his off-duty brother. He was there maybe five minutes when one of the younger kids… maybe eight years old… came running over and smashed a water balloon onto him. It was quite unexpected and while mildly aggravating, the child obviously meant no harm and was just having fun with Officer Friendly. The officer didn’t get upset, although he was mildly aggravated as stated. The off-duty officer / family patriarch counseled the child on how such actions were unacceptable when an officer was on-duty and most especially in uniform. The child, duly chastened, went running back for more water filled balloons to attack his cousins and siblings.
A few minutes later, as Officer Friendly was preparing to leave, another “child” – this one fifteen years old, threw a water balloon and hit the officer in the back. When the officer expressed his anger over the attack, the 15-year old feigned innocence trying to claim that if it was okay for the 8-year-old then it had to be okay for the 15-year-old. But there were significant differences: the age, the intent and the performance. The 8-year-old had run up in full view, laughing and smacked the balloon against the officer’s front. They both got wet and the child was giggling the whole time. It was obviously fun. The 15-year-old threw the balloon from some distance, at the officer’s back, and when first observed after the impact had a smart-ass sneer on his face indicating his lack of respect and malicious intent. The officer considered actually arresting the 15-year-old for assault and battery, but before he could get those thoughts formed coherently through his anger of being hit with the balloon, the off-duty officer / family patriarch was off his front steps, had hold of the 15-year-old by the shirt collar and was literally dragging him back to his own house, berating him along the way. (There may have been a few smacks to the head from the off-duty officer who was the 15-year-old’s uncle, but my memories grow hazy since it was so long ago.)
The primary difference between the two actions is that one was meant in innocence and the other was malicious. When you think about it, the basic reality of them was not much different. Both were water balloons. Both were performed by a minor. Both resulted in the officer getting wet. Those similarities recognized, one was done by a child having innocent fun who didn’t know any better. The other was done by a young adult who knew better and whose idea of “fun” was showing disrespect to an officer in such a time, place and way that he felt he could get away with it.
THAT is the challenge we have with criminals and citizen disrespect in our big cities today. People who may normally act within the law embrace the ability to go unpunished – based on the words and actions of the elected representatives who habitually deride the police – and commit disrespectful, often criminal acts somehow believing that it’s okay simply because they can get away with it.
So much has changed in the past few decades. Back in the late ‘80s when the event described above occurred, if officers were making an arrest and were attacked – even with water – by citizens, backup would have been called. Arrests would have been made. Resistors would have been fought into handcuffs and, as necessary, taken to the hospital before going to jail. They would have been charged with a plethora of things from assault and battery to obstructing justice.
The change in police reaction is the direct result of several things:
- Political pandering for votes at the cost of general respect for law enforcement.
- Mainstream media sensationalistic attacks on law enforcement.
- Two generations (now, at a minimum) of parents teaching their children that police are bad or evil and to fear them rather than respect them or appreciate them.
Unfortunately, the mainstream media is never going to change and neither are the politicians as long as there is power and money at the end of their insulting rainbow. The ONLY way we can hope to reverse this course then, requires active family involvement in the direct education of children that law enforcement professionals are here to HELP not hurt and should be respected and appreciated instead of insulted and disrespected.
Under no circumstance should anyone ever feel it’s okay to interfere in any way with an officer making an arrest unless it’s to offer assistance.
