As a cop, where do you draw your professional line?
When do you decide to stop following marching orders – or just do your job – when it conflicts with the protection and service to which you swore an oath? Likewise, at what point do you become consciously aware that your orders conflict with that service and protection?
For what, if anything, will you place your personal conviction to protect and serve other Americans over your professionalism?
I almost refuse to believe that the officers lack awareness of the fact that this water source supplies the only clean drinking water to these people, and if anything goes wrong with the pipeline’s construction or everyday use, from completion until forever, these people will simply thirst to death and die – a second gift of genocide to the native Americans from the contemporary Americans. The police officer sawing that cast-like restraint with a handsaw (no possibility of harm there, right?) totally knows that, right?
Actually, he if knows not, that suggests an entirely different, uglier problem that could exist within the policing regimes: brutal, unadulterated ignorance. Sadly that possibly and probably exists, although a separate issue and topic to tackle, compounding bad situations much like this, and creating an environment where people seemingly get murdered by police officers, execution style, for what appears as not adequately stroking authoritarian ego – my, harsh perspective and opinion that I do not apply to every police officer.
So how do real police officers perceive the actions of these police officers installed at the Dakota Access Pipeline construction area? Do real cops believe that corporations over step the rights of humans for corporate greed, yet must comply with their job for personal, familiar security, or do cops find these protesters – protesting their most basic right to water – a true problem and feel they need stopped?
That perspective obviously affects the impact on his or her role and actions taken in any situation. It may even allow them to disconnect slightly, to facilitate actions that others, the general population for example, may find harsh (or unlawful, cruel, even treasonous).
Silent wars hide in the headlines
We face new wars. Corporations actively waged nothing short of a war upon the Native Americans fighting for a basic need of survival: clean water. An entity resembling the shattered remains of a people controlled government has waged war upon the consciousness of said people, subconsciously instilling fear of enemies, neighbors, the different. That same entity waged war upon the consciousness of our police forces, a similar tactic, subconsciously instilling fear of losing control of a person pulled over, a small group of people, a large mass of protestors, the people. The simple objective of these two collective-couscous altering wars facilitates a loss of control - revolt - in the people while simultaneously crafting a deeper alliance by police forces to the higher governing forces that write their checks.
I sincerely hope that the police have not generally become so insensitive from policing (and I often do fall short of remembering how dangerous and stress generating a police officer’s life becomes) that he or she cannot recognize simple human indignation when it occurs. I feel bad for what I would consider a ‘good’ cop installed in situations like this. I think I can safely say most of us do not go to work with the pressure of the possibility of unknowingly becoming part of a situation that could pivot the history of an entire nation, a very powerful nation, filled with very power entities (corporations), with interests in a situation that you now manage via the authority invested in you by a people that you may or may not be letting down.
What do you do?
What do you do as an officer when you truly feel that your marching orders defy your oath? If you feel conflicted in any way as an officer and you would like to express any concerns you have in policing that you feel you cannot adequately discuss or address with your superiors – I would love to hear about it. I have no interest in names, identifying information, or subjecting anyone to a loss of their employment. I just want to hear from the real mean and women facing real and heavy problems that might need outside exposure and analysis. Shoot me an email with anything you would like to share to brandonjcarver@gmail.com.
