Activist Neighbors, Unruly Cops and Uneducated Dispatchers causes Rise in Brutality

The murder of Trayvon Martin captured the nation’s attention regarding blacks being seen first as criminal instead of victim and with the acquittal of his murderer George Zimmerman; it told America that making this type of mistake was okay.  The murders at Newtown instructed us that bad things happened to good people and since the individual who did the shooting was killed, we should not have anything else to fear.  Never mind the facts that this mentally challenged child had clean and clear access to all types of weapons which should have never been the case.  Now comes Ferguson which reminds us that some people still see anyone different from them not as a fellow human being but a mistake made by God.  Just when you think we couldn't get any dumber, here come two more stories that makes those of us who know compassion feel like we are all alone.

The first is an article titled “Black teen in white foster home pepper-sprayed by police who mistook him for burglar” by Scott Kaufman for Raw Story reporting “The foster parents of a Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina high school student are furious after neighbors mistook their son for a burglar and called police, who responded by pepper-spraying him in his own home, WTVD reports.  Stacy Tyler said she had left her home unlocked because she knew her foster son, DeShawn Currie, would be arriving home from school. When neighbors spotted Currie, who is black, entering the Tyler residence, they immediately called police.  Officers then pointed to a photograph on the mantel of the Tyler’s natural born children, all of whom are white, at which point Currie became angry. After a brief argument, officers pepper-sprayed Currie in the face. Stacy Tyler arrived home to find Currie being treated by EMS for the pepper-spray, and quickly cleared up the confusion with the officers, who told her that her foster son had been threatening and belligerent.  Currie insisted he was merely offended by the officer’s suggestion that he could not possibly be part of the Tyler family.  “I had moved into my room, and I’m feeling like I’m loved,” he said. “And then when they come in and they just profile me and say that I’m not who I am. And that I do not stay here because there were white kids on the wall that really made me mad.”

Now whether that neighbor did not care to have a black kid living in their neighborhood, knew that he was adopted and still called citing a burglar, we will never know for sure because no one is going to ever investigate that part of the story but what we do know is when neighbors attempt to help secure a neighborhood, it needs to be in a situation where they know as much about their neighbors as they should, for no other reason than to refrain from embarrassing themselves, embarrassing the neighborhood, community and city or being the reason a young person is killed because of an unruly cop.  We have seen too many instances where unruly cops have gone way too far citing their protection but what about the protection of the innocent?

Another major flaw in how law enforcement has gone so awry these days is uneducated dispatchers.  Dispatchers are the ones you call when you need police and fire and they are supposed to be your lifeline to these warriors of justice but lately we have been seeing the results of dispatchers who are not properly trained and who do not have a clue how much more they are required to do.  Dispatchers have a duty to make police officers hold the line and some of these unruly acts may have been prevented.  How is simple, dispatchers are able to instruct officers at the scene and because they do not relinquish that control until the supervisor of that watch is on scene.

Why this is important to understand can be found in an article titled “Indiana doctor married less than a day kills wife, self” by Bill McCleery and Associated Press.  In this article it reports that “An argument between newlyweds that began during their reception turned deadly only hours later when the groom fatally shot his new bride before killing himself, police say.  Vigo County Sheriff's Office deputies responding to frantic 911 calls Sunday found Kelly Samson, 50, shot several times in the torso and head with a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol. They found Dr. George "Scott" Samson, 54, dead in the basement after he apparently shot himself once in the head with a .45-caliber handgun.  While she was on the line, dispatchers heard what was thought to be multiple gunshots in the background.”  The whole story is that Kelly Samson called 911 three times before help arrived.  An educated dispatcher would have dispatched the police to the address, recorded the address on a tip sheet and not had to question Ms. Samson as often as she was while begging for help before she was killed.   The condescending tone she used clearly made the wife feel unworthy, instead of trying to make sure that Ms. Samson were safe.