I'm Beyond Tired of the Tackleberry Type Cop At This Point

Police misconduct is not a new topic. Nearly 5 years after Colin Kaepernick began his protest against police violence against black people, we find the officer that killed George Floyd last year in a trial, a video last week of uniformed member of our military get pepper-sprayed in Virginia for failing to comply with conflicting commands, and just the other day a video surfaced of an officer that claims to have mistaken her gun for her taser before fatally shooting an unarmed victim. All of these victims were unarmed black men. Needless to say, when it comes to police violence against black people, we have definitely not overcome it.

While some of the officers have been disciplined and even fired for their actions in these incidents, I've been thinking to myself: "Why do we as a society allow these Takleberry type cops to remain on the police force?" For those who don't remember, Tackleberry is a character from the Police Academy movie series, who was an extremely overzealous officer, who loved to immediately take measures to the extreme. While it was funny on film, the officers who do this in real life are less than amusing and in many instances fatal.

I, for one, am beyond tired of the Tackleberry type officers, who show up to a scene so amped up that they are unable to deescalate themselves or the situation they find themselves in. Such situations are both unnecessary and extremely dangerous for everyone involved. They are also expensive, costing us invaluable lives and millions of dollars in settlements, which our communities ultimately pay for. While I understand that we as a society have placed roles on officers that most are not best suited for (i.e. dealing with persons with mental illnesses), the complete lack of a sense of humanity displayed by the Tackleberry type officers is a problem that will take more than the proscribed cultural sensitivity training to address.

Lack of Empathy is a Bad Trait, Especially for a Cop

The underlying issue with the Tackleberry type officers is their lack of empathy for the victim in the situation they have control over. This "callous" type behavior was noted with Derek Chauvin after the tape of him kneeling on George Floyd for nearly 10 minutes was released. This lack of empathy is a bad trait in the general public, but most of the public don't carry a gun on them as a part of their job.

I would like to believe that I'm a fairly empathetic individual. As such, I believe it makes me a better lawyer, educator, public official, as well as husband, father, friend, and man because it gives me the ability to see myself in the metaphorical shoes of those who I deal with on a variety of levels. If I lacked this empathy though, I feel that while it would make me a far worse person in most areas of my life, at the end of the day, the worst thing it would translate for on a professional level is being a crappy lawyer, educator, and public official. None of those would likely increase someone's immediate chance of dying, because I don't carry a gun and the right to use it as a part of my profession. Cops do, and as such, the trait of lacking empathy makes them far more dangerous to our society.

Why the Virginia Incident Was Full of Multiple Layers for Me

The incident in Virginia stuck with me for a couple of reasons. First, seeing a black man in uniform being treated with such a lack of respect by law enforcement, while not surprising, is always disturbing to see. I was later informed that the victim is also a fraternity brother of mine, who pledged at Virginia State University in 2016. This news gives me just another reason to hope that he gets justice.

Second, in a strange twist of fate, I noticed that the officer that originally pulled over the victim has the last name Crocker. The reason it struck me as interesting is that it is the same as my grandmother's maiden name, and seeing that her parents grew up in the neighboring county from Windsor, Virginia, where the incident took place, I thought that it might be possible that he is somehow related to me. I have no idea he is actually related, but the idea that he might somehow be a relative stuck with me.

In particular, I recalled how in December 2016, I made a trip to Southampton County Virginia, which both neighbors the county where the incident took place and is the county where the infamous Nat Turner rebellion took place in 1831. I went to visit the courthouse and look through the court records of the Crocker line of my family during that trip and by doing so found all sort of information, like seeing my 4th great grandmother's name on the free negro registry in the early 1800s. I also visited a couple of cousins, while in the area, whose information I received from other cousins who had made the trip to this part of Virginia before me. In the process of my visits, I drove from Ivor, Virginia to Chesapeake, Virginia, which took me directly through Windsor, Virginia. I thought to myself of the irony that if when I drove through Windsor, Virginia, after just researching my Crocker lineage, a potential relative named Crocker could have been responsible for calling dispatch and summoning a Tackleberry type officer on me, leading to me being held at gunpoint or worse.

This hypothetical may seem random, but it shows that many of us have potential ties, which should give us even more reason to be empathetic towards each other. And the older I get, the more I realize that those ties go further than we are able to comprehend at a given time.

Conclusion

It is beyond time for us to demand that our law enforcement do something to address the Tackleberry type of police officers. These situations are costly with regards to human life, as well as department resources when they are inevitably sued by the victims and/or their families. I'm beyond tired of them and suggest that we address their lack of empathy as a serious matter or it will continue to cost us.