GREATER
BOSTON RELIVED, SHOWS THANKS
PUBLIC GIVEN
RARE GLIMPSE AT RISKS TAKEN BY COPS DAILY
(Saturday April 20, 2012
Boston, MA) It took a horrible high
profile, mass casualty event, a tense few days of investigation and 24 hours of
a real life drama including a car chase, a gun fight, a suspect on the run, a
dead MIT Campus Police Officer, and a harrowing night and day of being
“sheltered in place” but when it came to an end last night there was much
cheering, applauding, back slapping and relief.
The residents of Boston and its sleepier suburbs Cambridge and Watertown
poured into the streets shortly after the second suspect alleged to have been
responsible for Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings was finally apprehended. Maybe it was just a collective sigh of relief
and spontaneous outburst of pent up nervous energy that had people here shaking
hands with Police Officers and members of the Law Enforcement Community
(LEC). Indeed, there was certainly an
air of sincere gratitude towards the scores of men and women in the LEC multi-agency
task force who had killed one suspect and captured the other within a 24 hour
period spanning Thursday to Friday night.
But, cynically, there was a dose of irony in the jubilant scene. It is sad that it takes sensational events
such as those that transpired in the Greater Boston Area this past week for
people, regular, every day, law abiding people to demonstrate any thanks,
gratitude or appreciation for the men and women of the LEC who protect and
serve their communities.
Boston, like other big cities
in the northeast has historically been a liberal city. Urban voters across the country tend to be
more left-leaning and vote for Democratic candidates with an almost blind
loyalty. Some of the most liberal
members of Congress have come from northeast states such as Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and many of the mayors
of cities from Boston to Philadelphia have been Democratic stalwarts. Given
the liberal nature of the populations of these urban meccas there have been
times when the residents of these areas had contentious, if not openly hostile,
relationships with their local Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA). Some of the oldest cities in the northeast
which are of course some of our Country’s oldest, experienced dark chapters
when Police Departments seemed so alienated from the public they served that
the “us” against “them” mentality was endemic.
One not even need to go back to
the racial strife in the late 1960’s that engulfed many American cities and in
particular cities in the northeast to identify episodic occurrences when the
people of certain cities seemed to actually view their Police Departments as
occupying forces hell-bent on oppression of specific demographic segments of
the population and suppression of some of our most basic constitutionally
assured civil rights including the right of assembly and freedom of expression.
As these words are being written
the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is litigating a lawsuit brought in
federal court regarding the legality of their controversial “Stop and Frisk” program. Despite New York City being the safest “big
city’ in America enjoying crime rates in all major categories at 52 year lows,
the suspicion and distrust towards the men and women of NYPD, particularly in
the African American and Latino communities runs high.
Some of the Police Departments
in these cities have their own skeletons in their closets in the form of
corruption and a wide range of malfeasance but the last few decades have seen
dramatic reductions in Police misconduct not only in the biggest city in
America with the largest, most professional Police Department, New York City, but
in Departments from Jersey City to Baltimore.
Yes, some Police Departments are still plagued by high rates of Police misconduct;
Philadelphia and Camden come to mind, but
the majority of Police Departments have spent a great deal of resources, time
and effort at better training their rank and file members in everything from
diversity training to community policing tactics. And the dividends are apparent where these
efforts were most sincerely embraced.
The men and women compelled to
seek a career in policing, be it an urban or suburban Police Department or a
rural Sheriff’s agency do not enter the profession looking for attention,
public acclaim, or routine pats on the back from their constituents. Actually, most are relatively humble, decent,
hardworking, conscientious, fair minded individuals who readily accept the
risks and rewards of their occupation with equal aplomb. What is difficult for many of them to accept,
however, is the degree of disrespect, animus, and contempt they so often
encounter even in the most trivial, routine aspects of their day to day working
lives. There are those in society who
resent authority no matter circumstances as well as those who feel their
personal mission in life is to “catch” Cops doing bad things. It may be easy for the uninitiated to draw a
conclusion after viewing a 32 second clip on YouTube that does not depict the
scenario in an accurate light and usually does not include the sequence of
events prior to that 32 second clip. But
that is the nature of our hyper-wired, voyeuristic culture.
This is not to rain on anybody’s
parade. The citizens of the Greater
Boston area no doubt witnessed scenes they’d never imagined they would see play
out in their neighborhoods. Swarms of
heavily armored, Kevlar-plated SWAT Teams, regular local Police Officers and
military-type armored vehicles going block by block, if not house by house, in
search of the second suspect in last Monday’s bombing. It was
frightening for all involved and it gave those people a brief and highly surreal,
dramatic glimpse into the workings of the LEC.
It was hour by hour a vivid demonstration of the risks the men and women
of the LEC are willing to take and take every day in much less high profile
settings. Every time Police Officers respond
to the call of a “domestic disturbance” they never know what they will
encounter as is the case with virtually any call the Police respond to. No call is ever really “routine”. Each time a lone Deputy pulls over a car on a
dark, lonely stretch of rural blacktop somewhere in America he or she cannot be
certain of what they are confronting. Yet,
approach that vehicle they do; yes, with caution, training and experience on their
side, but still, a potentially volatile situation.
Members of the Law Enforcement
Community across the country are killed in action with disturbing regularity
and, aside from their families, friends and colleagues their deaths are marked
by few others. Collectively we are
willing to pause and give thoughts when a “celebrity” or professional athlete
dies unexpectedly yet few in the communities, civilians, if you will, pause or
give much thought when a local Cop or Deputy is killed in action. Some of the more cynical will say, “Hey, they
knew the risks, they chose to do what they did for a living”. This is certainly true, although the specter
of one’s own mortality is a reality to everyone who dons a LEA uniform daily;
they perform with valor and will give their lives to protect a stranger. That is the long and short of it.
We should mourn for the loss
of life and for those horrifically injured at the Boston Marathon bombings and
we should also take a moment to recognize the unarmed MIT Campus Police
Officer, 26 year old Sean Collier who was shot and killed by the bombing
suspects while they were on the run as well as Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority (MBTA) Police Officer, 33 year
old Richard Donohue who remains in critical condition as of this writing.
MIT Campus
Police Officer Sean Collier,
You will
forever be remembered, respected
and honored
for your service and sacrifice.
MBTA Police
Officer Richard Donohue still
Prayers and
wishes for a rapid and complete recovery.
Thanks to all the fine men and women servicing
in the various LEA that brought the seize
of Greater Boston to an end without additional
loss of life.
Job well done.
in the various LEA that brought the seize
of Greater Boston to an end without additional
loss of life.
Job well done.
TAGS: BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS MANHUNT, BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT,
FBI – ATF TASK FORCE, ONE SUSPECT KILLED, SECOND SUSPECT APPREHENDED WOUNDED,
SHELTER IN PLACE, GREATER BOSTON LOCK DOWN, GREATER BOSTON LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES,
LIBERAL NORTHEAST, POLICE RELATIONS WITH CITIZENS THEY SERVE, EDITORIAL
COMMENT, SOCIETAL OBSERVATION,
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