6/8/2020

DJT,

            Have you ever had an encounter with the police? I have had 3. In the 1st, a gang of 3 kids were breaking into our car at 3AM. I watched them go through the car while my partner called the police. The SFPD came a few minutes after the kids fled & apprehended them up our street. The police took me in their squad car to ID them & then took me back home.

            In the 2nd one, a person was pounding on our door, saying that someone was trying to get her. I called the police because she sounded deranged. It took the police a while to get to the scene. An African American woman led the brigade of officers and gently spoke to the person at my door & was able to convince her to go with them. I was impressed they were able to de-escalate the situation.

            In the 3rd one, a very drunk young man was dragging a young woman by the hair while a group of 5 young folk yelled at him to stop. I happened upon the scene and walked over to the drunk guy & told him he was making a bad choice. I spoke to him calmly, expressing genuine concern for his well-being & told him that his mom would be very alarmed about what he was doing. He let go of the woman. She and her friends ran off. I expected that he would, too, but he stayed & talked to me. While I was busy trying to diffuse the situation, my husband went to the police station and reported the incident. Three officers arrived while I was speaking with the guy. One asked me a bunch of questions while the other two took him away.

            Each encounter left me with a positive impression of the police. They treated me with respect. Maybe I got lucky or maybe, being a White woman, they didn’t perceive me as a threat. Or maybe the situations were low-key & didn’t put them into panic mode. In any case, I have heard from enough Black men that they are NOT treated with the same courtesy & they have had many more encounters than I have. I believe police have a hard job. Sometimes they do it well. Sometimes they don’t. A change might help.

HYITL,