11 Dallas Police Officers Shot - 5 Dead - 1 Civilian Injured - Enough Is Enough!

July 8, 2016, New York, John A. Smith, Editor and Founder of Get Involved For A Better America blog, and Facebook page Stop The Obstructionist Tea Party    
  
     Working in New York City's Emergency Medical Services I had occasion to come in contact with police officers immediately after they were involved in a shooting. I transported some of them, included one that had shot himself in the foot from the extreme amount of adrenaline released in your body when someone shoots at you. And yes, I transported the body of a dead police officer, Ray Canon of Smithtown, NY. who was killed by four 16 and 17 year old who were robbing Frenchie's Bike Shop on 108th St. and Flatlands Ave.

     My first comments must be that my heart and sincere condolences go out to the families and friends of those officers shot, and killed. We MUST  do some things to try to prevent the things that are happening in this country. The hatred, racism, gun violence, unjust shootings, and a host of other problems that lead to events like what happened in Dallas, Louisiana, and Minnesota.

     I came in contact with, and/or transported, at least 10 police officers immediately after they were involved in a shooting. I can tell you this, not ONE of them were "happy" to be involved in the situation. I had a partner in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) left to go to the NYPD academy. After 9 months of training he graduated and was put on the streets of New York City (NYC.) After only one month on the streets he found himself in a shoot-out. The massive amount of adrenaline released when he was shot at caused him to draw his weapon and start firing. He missed his foot but emptied the gun BEFORE he was able to raise his arm up to a level position! He quit the next day and returned to EMS.

     The officers I treated and transported were in varying states of shock, one was staring into space and couldn't speak, all were shaking uncontrollably. I was once stopped at a light at Springfield Blvd. in Queens when a car passed by rapidly with an unmarked police car right behind. The first car stopped abruptly about 100' past where we were. The driver got out and started firing at the police officer in the unmarked car. My partner and I realized the bullets had to go by our ambulance really close. That was sobering. The point is no police officer is looking forward to being in a situation where their life is in danger.

     We must ask ourselves the following questions and come up with reasonable and effective solutions. We must be honest with ourselves. Here are some questions I would like discussed along with my beliefs:

1.      Q: Are some Police Officers racist? Yes. In any profession with as many people as the police departments you are bound to have some that are racist.  Action needed: There must be better screening, action taken when an officer does things that are racist and superiors that know of a racist cop must get them out of law enforcement. As a Paramedic I treated every patient as if they were a family member. Once in awhile I would get a partner who was clearly not in the right place as far as how they treated certain patients, I refused outright to ride with them. 
2.      Q: Do police officers perceive people of color to be more dangerous and therefore a bigger treat? Yes. I believe that there are some officers who perceive people of color to be a bigger threat. I think that one reason is that out of all the most dangerous situations officers have been in a majority is with people of color and therefore feel when they are in a dangerous situation with a person of color they are more at risk. But this goes for other people as well. For instance, when PCP ( a hallucinogenic drug) was popular I would encounter someone high on PCP, they were many times presenting with eyes bulging, sweating profusely, and  often would not feel any pain, even when hurting themselves. You can bet that officers who had to deal with people in this state also perceived that the person presented a bigger threat. Action needed: There is no way stop someone from perceptions that they have or get. However, training could help officers recognize their perceptions and try to deal with them. People need to understand that police officers are often confronted with real threats and sometimes only have a split second to react. However, training might suggest that the first thing a police officer does when presented with a threat is to assess whether they have a way to back away, deescalate the situation so that they can process the situation and threat. This won't be the case in some situations. If the officer has a few seconds to assess the threat and situation there may be a different outcome.
3.      Q: Why are officers on the street after they have been recognized to use excessive force on numerous occasions? Action needed: Administration and Supervisors must also be assessed. There are indeed departments that have systemic problems where the administration itself is bad. They, the administrative personnel and Supervisors that  have to be removed if they themselves are racist or have a mentality that is not conducive to good policing.

          These are just a few questions that I have, there are many more.  We must understand that the large majority of police officers go out everyday, putting their lives on the line, deal with the most dangerous and violent people, and have the mentality that they are there to protect and serve their communities. For the families that lost a police officer in Dallas, a father, a husband, a brother, ( I don't know if a female officer was killed, if so, a wife, a mother, a sister, etc.) it's a horribly sad event that happened.