You make some very good points in this post.

To elaborate more on the Oscar Grant shooting being a blue vs, non-blue incident, in my view, I would say that police abuse of authority results from the implicit and sometimes explicit instruction during the course of a law enforcement officer’s career that police are in a constant us vs, them – blue vs. non-blue – struggle.

Even when some departments claim they are instilling community policing and public relation skills in officers, rarely does it overcome the much stronger themes of blue vs. non-blue.

There is always legitimacy to an officer approaching every incident they deal with in a cautious manner because it is true there are some very dangerous people who are hell bent on hurting others. Because of that Officer Safety is constantly preached. However, it is taken too far by some officers when they wipe all other considerations off the table such as civil rights and basic understanding of communication skills which de-escalate a problem instead of ramping it up. Some officers confuse Officer Safety with overly aggressive tactics which were either improperly taught or an officer incorporates such because of their own character traits.

That almost always leads to problems especially because many people whom officers deal with are just every day folks who truly mean no harm or just got caught up in a problem event.

Very little time is spent, in my view, teaching officers how to handle incidents with diffusing tension as the goal. It is not often role-modeled or rewarded in departments.

I enjoyed reading through some of your posts.

I wish you success in your effort regarding your experience with Miami Police.

That’s quite an informative website you have there. I recommend it to all my readers.

http://bluemustbetrue.com/

That ultimately is the basis for police abuse of authority.