Years ago the mental health community recognized that war vets would most likely suffer long term effects of war, a condition named Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD)
As the years have passed, it has been acknowledged that victims of abuse also suffer the same effects.
My internet has been downed by a local tree so I have been watching people being murdered by the police ad nauseam for part of a story I am working on.
As most of you know my adopted son was also murdered by a Seattle Police Officer so this is a very loaded emotional situation for me.
The whole #blacklivesmatter movement has brought to light the amount of minorities that are killed daily by police all over the U.S.
What they fail to even discuss is the fact that far more Caucasian are killed by police, nor will they acknowledge it because it would blow the wind out of some of their own personal arguments clean out of the water.
My son was white.
Make no mistake, he was in the wrong, he led police on a high speed chase through 2 counties, reaching over 100 mph at times.
He could’ve killed any innocent citizen or officer by his actions.
He goaded the police by lying and saying he had a gun, which he did not.
His BB Gun was still in his truck but the Seattle Police couldn’t have that little fact be known.
He was 100% guilty of being stupid and wreckless but it did not deserve a death sentence.
In July 2014 that police officer became my son’s Judge, Jury and Executioner, just like they do, dozens of times a day in this country.
Everyone agrees that there is a problem with cops killing the very people they are supposed to protect and serve.
No one can seem to come up with a valid reason why it is happening so much more frequently.
No one can offer solutions either
Since it has been turned into a “race issue” all we’ll see is, a few cops charged and back to business as usual
This is a mental health issue, I can stand loud and clear and scream it to the world and be strong in the conviction that I am right.
Not to diminish the fact that sometimes assholes with guns shoot people based on their race because they know they will not only get away with it; but they will get a paid vacation while a grand jury hears the case a year later.
Sometimes assholes with guns just shoot people because they can, that is a sad fact.
Not all cops with guns are assholes
The one thing that I noted after watching 100’s of video’s is the common expressions on the officer’s faces:
There were 3 distinct facial expressions
Terror
Blank Expression
Fascination
The Officer who shot my son appeared to be fascinated as he put 11 bullets into him, it was like a little boy with a magnifying glass watching ants explode. He murdered my son and he enjoyed the absolute power of the act.
Those types of videos are very rare.
The rest of the Officer’s seemed to be terrified or traumatized, some even appeared to simply just be “absent”
After a shooting whether the victim/suspect dies or not the police are put on paid administrative leave as they should be.
But… (there’s always a but with me)
How many of these shootings are caused by PTSD from on the job trauma that doesn’t involve gunfire?
I know, I know the NAACP is going to be very upset with me for giving killer cops what amounts to a legal defense.
I’m sure the ACLU will never help me again… oh wait, they don’t help anyone unless cameras show up first.
All this “F the police”, and “it’s us against them” bullshit is just that. The cops are human beings just like us, all nationalities, just like us and have feelings and emotions just like us. Strange right?
This also works out to the benefit of the cities, counties and states by creating the illusion of the “us against them” for police against citizens since the locals govts as if they have the officers best interest at heart. The truth is they are just covering the corporations butt.
The way to conquer is to divide and it works everytime.
It is a hard to pill to swallow when we have so many corrupt piece of garbage cops in such a small amount of space here in Snohomish County, but believe it or not, we also have 10 times as many good cops.
Yes I am fully aware that a cop KILLED my child. That should give me a free pass to the front of the Cop Hating line but I am also aware that there are good cops.
I and several of my friends, kids, and family members wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for the good cops.
Besides that: If you judge an entire class of people based on one person’s actions then you are just as prejudice as you claim anyone else to be.
Anyway back to my point: If you listen to the news and aren’t bothered by it then something is inherently wrong with you.
Most of us can be brought to tears just at the thought of a woman beat almost to death, a child starved beyond saving, a child’s brains on the splattered on the wall of their bedrooms, a human laying dying on the side of the road that you can’t save, a woman mutilated, a child mutilated or any number of horrifying things that Police and 1st responders encounter daily.
I firmly believe that the things they see are just as bad as any victim of abuse and any war veteran and if most were to be given a mental health exam they would ALL be diagnosed with PTSD to the point that they were eligible for Social Security Disability Benefits for life.
Instead of getting help or being seen as weak they either drink themselves to death, lash out at those closest to them, or simply eat the pain and die from it slowly.
Perhaps the saddest part of that is that I am referring to the good cops, those are the ones we are losing, the ones who are dying, and the ones who’s families are being destroyed.
The truth of the matter is that none of this will end until we stop viewing the other as the enemy. Until we realize that having a hashtag or a gun doesn’t make one stronger or better or even different, and that we are just humans trying to survive.
Then the municipalities lose but the people win, then we can restore some type of order in this county.
We need ironclad no holds barred legislation for each department in this state that whenever an officer is involved in a traumatic event that they are taken off of the streets for at least 2 weeks and are required to have at least 40 hours of counseling per year and 2 to 14 hours for each such traumatic event. They don’t even need to be off work, they can simply do desk duty types of jobs which will also help them learn about how their department operates, and give them a period of decompression.
No one gives them purple hearts, no medals of valor, occasionally they’ll get a piece of paper or a plastic statue from some Mayor around election time but that’s about it.
It won’t bring back my son, it won’t bring back anyone’s sons but maybe we can prevent it from happening every damn day.
Now smile dammit!
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