(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Policeman Advocate [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-01-28
The following poem is a work of fiction — this was written in response to the fatal beating of a black man by police officers that was in all the news this week. This poem is about what I wish had happened instead...
Policeman Advocate
It was an early morning call
Or late night call at 2:05 am,
Since I'm on the night shift
I never know how I will write it
In my report.
It took me four minutes
To get from my desk onto
The streets,
Three minutes to the scene,
There was plenty of street light
And store window lights,
So I wouldn't need to hold a flashlight.
There were five of my fellow cops
Surrounding a citizen –
A thin black man
Flailing on the ground,
Officer "S" was shooting pepper spray at him
When I shouted,
"Self-control."
I didn't know the back story
And didn't need to know the back story,
I had two jobs
Stop my brothers and one sister
From committing a crime
And to safeguard the citizen –
Most likely into an arrest.
"Self-control" I shouted a second time
Although my first command
Was already taking affect.
The can of pepper spray was being re-holstered
And all the cops had straightened up their backs
And were taking a deep breath.
"Good, "I sighed to myself.
As I approached, the officers adjusted their spacing
To make room for me,
While still making sure
They could keep the man in the dirt
From getting up.
The citizen was thrashing about
– Having gone temporarily animal –
Controlled by the flight or fight syndrome
And the accumulated lifetime racism
He no doubt had experienced.
A quick glance at the faces of the men
And one woman standing around me
Showed they were transitioning, too,
From being animals to being
Thinking humans who are servants of the law.
"You're safe now," I told the citizen,
"I'm your advocate,
"Take a deep breath, relax,
"But stay on the ground.
"When you're ready, I am going to
"Poor water on your face
"To wash away the pepper spray,
"But stay on the ground
"Breath again, relax, relax."
I took a few beats, getting a wash bottle
And a cloth out from a waist pack,
While the citizen began to settle down.
I also instructed officer "L" to retrieve
A bottle of drinking water from his car
Or from mine if he was out,
The other four cops were silent,
Relaxing themselves a bit, too.
"Okay, now," I continued with the citizen,
"Stay still, I am going to start pouring the water."
I did, then handed him the towel,
He patted his face,
Then I rinsed his eyes a second time.
While this was going on I had been
Observing his actions and examining his body,
There didn't seem to be any real damage,
Bruises, of course, and maybe some muscle strain,
I had arrived in time to prevent
The damaging beatings and kickings
That happened too often,
And which I was sworn to prevent
When I could.
"Try sitting up," I now instructed,
"But stay on the ground."
He sat up,
I instructed Officer "L" to hand the citizen
The water bottle,
After the citizen took a sip
I told him what was going to happen
Next,
"In a few minutes, I will ask you stand up,
"And place your hands behind your back,
"Stay relaxed and quiet, if you can,
"The danger of this moment is over,
"I will place hand cuffs on you,
"Then escort you to my vehicle,
"And then, we will proceed to the police station."
"I do not know what got us all here,
"But you will have a chance to explain
"What happened and to contact others,
"I will be there the whole time.
"The initial police officers who stopped you,
"Will also be going back to the station,
"In their own cars.
"Any other officers will be released
"To go back on patrol,
"They will give reports on this incident
"Before the end of their shifts."
It took a couple of minutes to sort out
Which cops needed to go back to the station
And which could go back to patrolling,
I also checked to see that their body cams
Were all functioning and had been uploading
As scheduled to the Police Department's
Cloud system.
And that's what happened,
The rest was routine.
That's what I do as an advocate,
Right now there are 1 in 30 like me
On the force,
The goal is to have 1 in 5 officers
To be trained to act as an advocate
While on their normal duties,
With the expectation that through osmosis
Every officer will absorb enough
To be able to maintain their self-control,
At all times,
And make the streets
Truly safer.
Carl Scott Harker ©2023
__________________________________________
My latest book of poetry is now available on Amazon, you can find great poems in here: An Engineer of Words.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/28/2149862/-Policeman-Advocate
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
