Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Why does NYC hate its cops?
When I first came to NYC in the '60's I was just like Stevie Wonder, “New York City. Just like I pictured it.”* It didn't take long for the picture to change.
I was walking through the Bronx with a friend and as we stopped for a light I said “Hi” to a cop standing there and remarked that the weather looked like spring was finally here. As my friend and I walked away he asked “What the hell was I doing talking to a cop? You don't ever talk to a cop!”
In the '70's I remember NYC as a place where law and order had broken down. In the subway you put your back to the wall and scanned left and right, left and right. Once on the train you were regularly treated to gangs coming through, doing whatever they wanted. In many neighborhoods you walked fast and didn't look back.
Last week a motorcycle rider was killed in the Bronx when he ran into a police cruiser while trying to outrun the cops. Tragic but who was really to fault? Online, many exclaimed that the police deliberately ran him down. It had to be the hated police, it couldn't be the rider's fault.
I read the same news accounts and came away with a different view. Think of speeding toward a rail crossing. The lights are flashing, the train is blowing its horn, but the cops are on your tail and if you make it you'll be free. In the movies the outlaw hero makes it and the evil cops are stuck in frustration.
In the real world it's very different. The cop probably was trying to use his cruiser to block the getaway path and the rider took the chance that he could beat it. Since it wasn't the movies the end wasn't so happy. I wasn't there, I don't know the true facts. Neither were the cop bashers. I have to wonder why so many were so quick to jump to the defense of a person exhibiting criminal behavior in one of the most dangerous and crime ridden neighborhoods of NYC and so quick to condemn the cop trying to control the situation.
My guess is that a lot of the people weren't around in the '70's. My guess is that they don't live in the Bronx. My guess is that they know few, if any, cops personally. I'll also guess that if they were robbed, or burgled, or had their own motorcycle stolen they would call the police and not their friends. Very likely they would be online complaining about why the cops weren't doing more to make the neighborhoods safe and capturing the people responsible for such crimes.
Cops are real people trying to do a miserable job. There are good ones and bad ones. Some days they can do no wrong, on other days they make mistakes. They aren't helped by people who view them as an occupying force.
When was the last time you were on a street corner and said “Hi” to a cop?
* "Living for the City" is a 1973 hit single by Stevie Wonder for the Tamla (Motown) label, from his Innervisions album.
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Why do NYers hate the cops? For the blatant lack of respect they show ordinary civilians. Example: I had a bicycle stolen, from inside of my apartment, by a guy who crowbarred the bannister it was locked to off the wall. We got him on security camera not that this makes any difference. Note: this is on the border of bedstuy and hasidic williamsburg in 2009.
ReplyDeletePlacing some trust in the system I called the cops who came a few hours later, took a report and left. No big deal. Except that when a friend of mine spotted the bike a few days later and called me, they would do zero to help get the bike back.
He was standing with the bike but couldn't stay or take it because he was on his way to the hospital to meet his 9 months pregnant wife. A pretty decent excuse if there ever was one. The police refused to respond to a crime in progress with an open case behind it because I wasn't the one who spotted the bike.
That's just one, extremely minor example off the top of my head. Then let's get into their treatment of occupy, bicyclists, motorcycle parking, stop and frisk, blahblahblah
Cops in NY are lazy contemptable motherfuckers half the time and complete pricks the other half.
I think you are exactly correct in feeling that many people dismiss the intentions of cops, without acknowledging the often thankless job they do.
ReplyDeleteBut as you point out - some cops (like any other job) are good, some are bad. They DO make mistakes, and the footage of this incident, without having been there, does look like a bad judgement call was made, and resulted in an unnecessary death.
Sadly, it often takes situations like this to cause there to be a revamping of policy, or procedure. I believe given the offense, and the results, the police will most likely reassess procedure on car chases, like they have done in L.A.
Catching the bad guy needs to be weighed against the potential for innocent, collateral damage. In this case, perhaps a few more blocks of following (and not ramming) would have done the trick. Perhaps not, but the PR nightmare that this has created is certainly not what the NYPD is after, and definitely doesn't encourage people saying "hi" to cops on the street corner...
I like the cops
ReplyDeleteHowever if you watch the video of this incident they plowed into the motorcycle and did not slow down and instead kept going pushing the motorcycle into a pole, resulting in a death of one of the people on the bike - nothing looks accidental...
I believe the rider who died was also handcuffed
There are different degrees of breaking the law - smashing into a motorcycle with a car violently enough to kill one of the riders is not an appropriate response for an infraction of not having a registered vehicle