When we shoot somebody, even if it’s justified, you better believe it’s tearing us up inside. Some officers can’t even come back to work after that. Remember, most of us never have to take a shot during our careers.—Nakia Jones
Every time I teach a policing class, I ask who in the classroom has ever reached into their pocket while on duty and given someone money for food, gas, or shelter. All of the hands go up. —Rex Caldwell, of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission; retired police chief of Mukilteo, Washington
There are thousands of stories of officers doing wonderful things to interact with their communities. For example, in Iowa, an officer bought a single mother a car after hers was totaled. —Sue Rahr
There are officers of all races doing good deeds every day, things that the public doesn’t see or hear about.—Nakia Jones
Kids wanting to get inside the squad car to run the lights and siren. A parent thanking us for bringing their kid home. A victim thanking us for writing them a report even though they’re the one getting bandaged up at a hospital. These are the things that restore our tattered faith in human nature. —Chicago police officers who blog anonymously
We can’t say the American criminal justice system is broken because there’s not one system: we exist as 18,000 different departments. There are departments doing it right, and departments doing it wrong. —Mike Davis
When someone is caught with a small amount of marijuana, our officers can either make an arrest or issue a ticket/notice to appear. The legal criteria for giving a ticket (as opposed to an arrest) is that they have stable employment, ties to community and assurances they’ll show up in court. The reality is, if you live in a lower socioeconomic area, you are less likely to meet those criteria. So is that cops being biased or is it because the laws as written disproportionately affect those in lower socioeconomic conditions, many of whom happen to be black? —Bob Gualtieri, Sheriff of Pinellas County, Fla.
When white people don’t comply or make threats, police officers follow through on their training and try to talk them down. With African Americans, it seems to me that my colleagues don’t always use the same tactics. They just go right in. It frustrates me when I hear officers say, “Well, he didn’t do what we said from the beginning.” Fine, but that doesn’t give you the right to plug him.—Eric Quarles, PhD
When I became a police officer, I was that person who wanted to save the world. Now, so many people hate us. It doesn’t matter if we’re black or white; they say, “You all wear blue.”—Nakia Jones
Body cameras? Most good officers are like, bring it on. We want to put them on so the community can see what we go through and how hard our jobs are. —Nakia Jones
Television characters are created for all sorts of reasons, but when Norman Lear came up…
When salons and barbershops started closing, the future of people's hair became uncertain. Some braved…
UPDATED 12/15/020 Bewitched originally aired from September 17th, 1964 to March 25th, 1972, and still…
The popular 1978 musical film Grease will finally be added to the National Film Registry.…
Danny Trejo's rise to stardom began with dubious circumstances. He utilized tricks he learned in…
Sharon Osbourne revealed that she has tested positive for coronavirus on social media. She also…