Several times in recent days I have witnessed NYC police doing excellent work. These were just seemly minor things, not enough to write down in any reports. Just good neighborhood policing, I’d call it. However, in a bustling city such as this–in any city, really–”seeming minor things” can suddenly develop into something much bigger if not handled properly.
These recent incidents remind me, and I hope will remind you, that the overwhelming majority of police in this country do good, responsible important work on an hour-in hour-out, day-by-day basis.
This is not to distract or downplay in any way legitimate cases of police malpractice nor deny that racial insensitivity–and sometimes outright racial prejudice–exist, and that problem should be addressed as a local, state and national concern.
But context and perspective are important in assessing what the police do and how they do it. That includes remembering that most police want to do the right thing, try hard to do it and succeed far more often than not.
In considering this you may want to keep in mind that I spent some of my early years as a reporter working the “police beat” in my hometown, Houston. I learned in those days–including nights at the police station after midnight–the good, the bad, the pretty and the ugly that are part of what police do.
You may want to argue that this resulted in bias. I prefer to call it experience.