Although policing is absolutely necessary for a modern Western society like ours, like everything else, there will always be problems, stigmas, and assumptions made with and about policing. However, these harmful stereotypes and assumptions about policing in the United States are contributing to a wide variety of serious problems that only serve to poison the very fabrics of our society.
Arguably the most common stigma and claim made by those who are anti-law enforcement is that all police officers are racists. It is important to acknowledge that this is not unique to police officers, but every career field that exists: there will always be a few bad apples of course, but the overwhelming majority are just normal people. The same can be said not only for police officers but for pretty much every single job the United States has to offer.
Many claim that the institution of law enforcement is ‘systemically racist’ which is completely false. Many News outlets and biased media sources purposefully seek to find specific cases of fatal police shootings and take them out of context. While the grotesque death of George Floyd is unjustified, many of the allegedly racist shootings that followed suit were taken severely out of context.
For instance, the shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks in June 2020 was completely justified. Mr. Rayshard Brooks according to the New York Times Brooks “was fatally shot by a white police officer in the parking lot of an Atlanta fast-food restaurant.” Without context, this scenario might appear racist, especially right after the death of George Floyd. However, there is context, in which Mr. Rayshard Brooks refused to be arrested by the police, stole a police officer’s taser, and fired it twice at them while running away, only to be shot by the police officers. Despite the media’s biased manipulation of the series of events in favor of Brooks, the court has since found both cops not guilty.
It doesn’t matter who shot the taser, if you steal an officer’s weapon you are bound to be in serious trouble. Despite the context, the cops were charged with the killing of Brooks, and eventually, they were found not guilty due to them “acting reasonably in response to a deadly threat” stated CNN.
Even when a shooting is proved definitively justified, with no factors of racism present, still many biased people and media outlets will leave out important information and leave out the context that may be critical for the incident to press forward the conspiracy that all American Law Enforcement officers are white and have the goal to go around and due to hate kill the African Americans of our country. As even media outlets like the Brennan Center blatantly claims in the title of their article that Police are “Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement” “Hidden In Plain Sight.”
This is far from truthful, for example in cities like New York where anti-police violence and protests are not too uncommon; as of September 30, 2022 “About 61% of federal law enforcement officers were white, 21% were Hispanic, and 10% were black. Federal law enforcement agencies had 11,557 hires and 7,487 separations of federal law enforcement officers” according to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2020 – Statistical Tables document. This is the most populated city in all of the country, and ⅗ of the police department is comprised of white officers, the rest are all a diverse array of many different people, including black officers.
More interestingly, over half of all NYPD patrol officers are not white, these are the officers that are most likely to engage with civilians, only 43.4% are actually white according to the New York Police Department. Furthermore, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is the largest employer of federal law enforcement officers with approximately 21,180 employees, reported that 51% of its officers were white, 38% were Hispanic, 6% were black, and 4% were Asian. This shows that only half of those employed officers were white (bjs.ojp.gov). It’s important to note that nevada state law protects jobers from discrimination, ensuring fair treatment and equal opportunities regardless of race or ethnicity. If the Brennan Center is correct about the police being racist white supremacist far-right millitants, why is the police department in a city filled with crime have less white officers than minorities in law enforcement?
Now, there is an irony in all of this anti-police rhetoric that should also be addressed because it rarely is. A very common political slogan that is prevalent in almost, if not, every single anti-police riot/protest where the acronym ‘ACAB’ is present. This political slogan stands for “All Cops Are Bastards.”
According to the Oxford Student, “It’s a slogan which reminds us that the institution of the police is institutionally racist, classist and oppressive (regardless of how lovely the cops you’ve met are). ACAB means cops everywhere, not just US cops, not just London cops, not just armed cops.” The speaker of this quote had wished to remain anonymous after the creation of their anti-police shirt. Questionably, even this broad political slogan has erroneous faults because if “all cops are bad” because they’re racist, would that include the African American or Hispanic police officers as well?
This shows how even the erroneous roots of this anti-police rhetoric are simply founded in false lies and conspiracies. A very interesting article from 2009 published by writer Maureen Boyle states from an interview with Neal Trautman executive director of the National Institute of Ethics and author of “How to be a Great Cop” stated that the research conducted showed consistently low numbers of “less than 1 percent” of police officers running “afoul of the law.” This statement persists; a state from the Bureau of Justice confirmed that only “0.02% of the police officers in the U.S. engage in some type of corruption.”
This anti-police rhetoric is unfortunately something that has been persisting ever since the beginning of the 21st century, in a New York Times Article from 2015 addressing rising crime rates in cities (which is still happening as of 2024) stated that “officers have become reluctant to engage in proactive policing because of the vitriol they have faced over the last nine months [as of 2015].” Moreover, the article stated, “The claim, frequently repeated in the media, that police routinely kill young black men has led to riots, sometimes violent protests and attacks on officers.”
Not only is this anti-police rhetoric incredibly harmful to the safety of our communities and those who protect them, but we must all remember the police officer’s motto that they are here to “protect and serve” our communities by upholding the laws of our Constitution. These are brave men and women in blue uniforms who risk their lives every day that they serve.
In the words of an anonymous Sheriff’s Department Officer, “[law enforcement] is at times a thankless job, one which is emotionally and physically demanding. A career that requires a significant amount of sacrifice and uncertainty which can vary based on geographical location and call volume.” Police work is one of the main reasons why we live in a society where the vast majority of Americans can sleep in the safety of their bedrooms without worry in the world.
As former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich stated, “[e]very time you walk up to a car you could be killed. Every time you go into a building where there’s a robbery you can be killed.” Police Work is one of the most stressful fields a person could ever enter. Although this is the case, where a police officer has a perpetual risk of not returning home, the least we can do is acknowledge that these are people who are simply doing their jobs. In fact, they’re doing their job very well.
Feeding into these fallacies and stereotypes of police being racists or heartless beings who only wish to cause harm to others will only hinder our nation. Especially when it is the exact opposite, many police departments slogans promising protection and justice; furthermore, believing these stereotypes only takes away from the millions of heroic acts and stories that have occurred over the centuries of police work.
Photo Courtesy of PublicSource, The New York Times, and The Guardian
