We Want His Badge

Jan 30

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The chants were “We want his badge! We want his gun! We want his job!” These were the words of Rev. Jarrett Maupin, a protégé of Rev. Al Sharpton and a civil rights activist and protestor at a recent march against a police shooting in the Phoenix area.

Fox 10 in Phoenix decided on a little experiment, have an outspoken protestor take a “use of force simulation”. Check it out below.

and his after interview

After the simulation, in which he also shot an unarmed man, he said that the intensity of the situation was eye opening. He also stated that people need to comply and that you don’t lose dignity by complying. He still supports and calls for independent reviews of police shootings, but I believe his experience has also opened his eyes to some of the situations that police face.

In fact after this experiment he called for a lemonade summit with some community leaders and met with an Officer Ferrin who he previously wanted fired for his handling of an arrest of an ASU Assistant English Professor Ore (Professor Ore has a pending 2 Million dollar suit against the officer and ASU for excessive force, false arrest and violation of her federal rights to due process. After their lemonade summit they reversed their situation and now want the officer reinstated.)

Maybe this is what we need more of; looking at both sides. Have more police stations conduct similar use of force simulations to community activists so they can see what officers may encounter. Have more lemonade summits in which parties get together to know each other, discuss concerns, and learn why police do some things like handcuffing a suspect after they are shot.

I’m not saying every police shooting is justified, and I know just like everyone does, there are some cops who are dirty or too quick on the trigger, but if they also are faced with life and death situations, quite a few decisions require split second decisions and delay could result in their own death.

Posted on 01/30/2015, in Cops Gone Wild, Good Cops, Uncategorized, Videos and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. 35 Comments.

  1. Jackie Saulmon Ramirez | 01/30/2015 at 8:53 am

    Complying is part of the answer. Another part for me is when the officer shoots, they can shoot a person in the leg to stop them rather than kill them. A mentally ill person does not behave rationally and may continue toward an officer or other person and an officer can shoot them in the leg or knee. Believe me, they will not continue when a hole is blown in the leg.

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    • Xena | 01/30/2015 at 8:58 am

      Jackie,

      Complying is part of the answer.

      Indeed. Interesting that in the videos, the only “suspect” not shot was the one armed.

      Remember the man who complied and was shot anyway?

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Jackie Saulmon Ramirez | 01/30/2015 at 9:03 am

        I keep getting a 404 message – not found. I’m not sure which shooting you are speaking of.

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        • Xena | 01/30/2015 at 9:13 am

          Jackie,
          When I embed a video on the blog, I use an additional code that prevents the thumbnails of videos after the the video plays. If you’re accessing through an email notification, you might get that 404 error message.

          Liked by 1 person

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          • Jackie Saulmon Ramirez | 01/30/2015 at 9:28 am

            I remember this video now. The man reached to get his ID and the officer shot him several times. I guess education is needed on both sides. I do think, though, that if that were a white man, I think the encounter could have played out differently.

            Thank you for the link. I actually looked at it on your blog. I’m glad I asked.

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        • towerflower | 01/30/2015 at 11:13 am

          The shooting Xena is talking about is a South Carolina officer who shot a man in a seat belt violation and asked him for his information. The officer was fired and CHARGED. Levar Jones survived.

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      • towerflower | 01/30/2015 at 11:29 am

        Xena…..and in the case of the armed video, the activist was shot instead. Vehicle stops have always been a dangerous situation for police one of the reasons there is a limit on tinting on windows in some states like Florida is so that police can still see within a vehicle and not encounter an ambush.

        The case of the video above this LE officer was charged for the shooting in which the driver was complying. The man’s wallet was inside the truck and not on his person and he reached in to retrieve it, the cop reacted thinking the worst and was wrong in his assessment of the situation, especially after asking him for something. Knowing how dangerous vehicle stops and how police will be on the alert for sudden movements. I have instructed my son that if he is ever stopped that he keep both of his hands on the steering wheel and inform the officer that his registration/insurance information is in the glove compartment. That under no circumstances is he to make a move toward the glove compartment without telling the officer first.

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        • Xena | 01/30/2015 at 11:39 am

          Towerflower,

          Vehicle stops have always been a dangerous situation for police one of the reasons there is a limit on tinting on windows in some states like Florida is so that police can still see within a vehicle and not encounter an ambush.

          True. In the simulation however, the person playing cop stands at the end of the vehicle as the suspect moves to the back of the vehicle. I thought that law enforcement was trained to seek cover in such situations or at least move to where they can see the suspect.

          When my son went through police academy training, he was taught to always touch the trunk of vehicles to make sure they are down in the event someone is in the trunk. As a law abiding lay person, I would have never thought about that. Yesterday I was watching the television program “Cops” and sure enough, saw an officer lay his hand on the trunk of a vehicle as he approached the driver’s side.

          By the way, in the simulation, non of the cop players instructed the suspect to not move.

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          • mindyme62 | 01/30/2015 at 3:20 pm

            ooo, the hand on the trunk thing.. I had heard they always touch the tail light so their fingerprint will be on in it, just in case…..

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    • Xena | 01/30/2015 at 8:59 am

      Jackie,
      I also found that what is missing from the simulations are;
      bullet proof vests; and
      the use of tazers or pepper spray

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Jackie Saulmon Ramirez | 01/30/2015 at 9:04 am

        Yes, tazers and pepper spray, while dangerous in some cases, would still be a better option as opposed to shot dead.

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      • mindyme62 | 01/30/2015 at 11:06 am

        Even complying won’t save one’s life. We know this. What we want is accountability when they make mistakes, when a life is lost. We as civilians, aren’t allowed even one ‘oopsies’…

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        • Xena | 01/30/2015 at 11:45 am

          Mindyme,

          What we want is accountability when they make mistakes, when a life is lost.

          Exactly!
          Law enforcement officers are people, and people make mistakes. When their mistakes are defended by what they thought, then it comes whose life was more important; their life or the life of an innocent person; followed by their “authority.” It creates a situation of distrust.

          A physician has license and authority to administer medicine, and especially during surgery, has to make split-second decisions. Making a mistake can kill a person. They are held to standards and so should every other profession who uses tools that hold the power of life and death.

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    • towerflower | 01/30/2015 at 11:19 am

      Shooting a person in the leg or arm doesn’t always stop the threat. Police are trained to eliminate the threat and they are trained to shoot for the center mass of a body. Remember this isn’t Hollywood where all cops are expert shots where they can shoot a knife or gun out of someone’s hands.

      A person doesn’t always have to be mentally ill to continue, a person hyped up on adrenaline can do things one would normally not be able to do, think of people who can suddenly life a car off a person when in a normal situation wouldn’t be able to lift a car. Then you have the reactions to some drugs that a person might be on.

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  2. towerflower | 01/30/2015 at 11:44 am

    One of the reasons I wrote this article is to highlight this experience by an activist. Rev. Jarrett Maupin was a very outspoken activist in the Phoenix area who feels that police are too quick on the trigger. He was given an opportunity to see things from the other side and he said it was an eye opening experience. He put himself into a cop’s shoes to see situations that they may encounter.

    I would love to see other community activists also take this simulation and to see more of the Rev. Maupin’s lemonade summits take place. I believe that this might help heal the divide that exists in some areas. I would love to see more police who are willing to sit down with community leaders/activists to address the concerns of the community. Personally, I would love to see an independent group review any shooting by police, this needs to be taken out of the policing agency’s hands……you don’t have the fox also guard the henhouse.

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    • yahtzeebutterfly | 01/30/2015 at 12:54 pm

      Yes.

      Communities and police need to come together and have these dialogues and simulations.

      Additionally, white police officers should be participants in simulations where, dressed in plain clothes and innocent, they should be negatively profiled and criminally stereotyped and thrown on the ground or up against a car and roughly searched by a police officer of a different race. (or have the white officers bring their teenaged kids for that treatment while their white police fathers watch.)

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      • towerflower | 01/30/2015 at 1:50 pm

        Agreed, maybe activists can come up with their own simulation in which a cop has to face what others do.

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        • mindyme62 | 01/30/2015 at 3:15 pm

          We know they face danger. They signed on for that job. What we want is accountability when they make mistakes. The mistakes they make can’t be caulked or glued like in other jobs. Their mistakes take human lives.

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    • towerflower | 02/02/2015 at 1:45 pm

      This one does not have as good as an outcome. The troopers were cleared in the incident saying “they should restraint” in the situation.

      http://www.koco.com/Trooper-cleared-in-case-where-elderly-man-was-beaten/24724972

      This link also has some of the video of the stop, they said the actual beating is not shown. I’m not defending the cops in this but I think more has to be done to recognize deaf drivers…….The officers approached from the rear of the car but he has a sign on the driver’s window, meanwhile orders are coming from the rear. Mr. Pearson also opened his door–now making his window sticker not visible and reaches under his seat, for his card showing he is deaf. One of the things investigators said that the restraint cops showed was not pulling their weapons but instead rushed the door. This is one of the things I said that cops fear…….pulling over a driver and not seeing what they are reaching for.

      Maybe we need to have a deaf sticker placed on the rear of the vehicle or something on the license plate to identify them as deaf to help alert police approaching from the rear that the driver cannot hear them. Obviously the system they have now doesn’t work.

      Mr. Pearson’s trial is about to begin and his attorney has requested 6 special sign interpreters, Mr. Pearson doesn’t sign with the normal American Sign Language but uses a different dialect of it. They are also concerned about interpreters getting tired from the constant mental work and signing. The prosecutor isn’t fighting that request saying he has never had to deal with a deaf defendant. The judge will most likely approve it after providing proof that sign interpreters get tired after a certain amount of time.

      Hopefully this man gets a good jury and they give him a not guilty verdict.

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  4. mindyme62 | 01/30/2015 at 3:23 pm

    Watch the video, he NEVER raises his cane..

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    • towerflower | 01/30/2015 at 5:13 pm

      There is good news in this case, after a state legislator got involved Wingate’s conviction was overturned and the officer…..Whitlatch….originally only received counseling for her errors….that is until the Chief became aware of racists comments she posted on her FB page. She is now on desk duty, away from the public, while another investigation takes place to determine her fate. The Chief said that they will also review all of her arrests. Wingate also has a pending lawsuit.

      http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seattle-police-officer-reassigned-after-questionable-arrest-comments/

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      • Xena | 01/30/2015 at 6:59 pm

        Wow! Towerflower. Thanks for reporting this. It’s good news.

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      • mindyme62 | 01/31/2015 at 1:00 pm

        “We are working to reform the Seattle Police Department, and behavior of this nature seriously undermines our efforts,” O’Toole said. “I was hired because of my track record for reform and my commitment to bias-free policing. I knew this would be a difficult job, but days like this make me even more determined.”

        The Seattle Police Officers Guild did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Whitlatch’s behalf.”

        This is wonderful news towerflower! Thank you

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  6. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/30/2015 at 4:39 pm

    I imagine that police cadets are given far MORE training than the civilians that took part in the simulation as to how to react….far more physical and martial arts training for alternatives to the use of a gun…far more gun training under stressful situations……far more techniques to defuse situations.

    I imagine this is why the public expects more from police officers.

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    • Xena | 01/30/2015 at 5:11 pm

      They don’t actually give martial arts training, (at least, none of the LE’s I know were given it), but they do teach take-down techniques. Also, they try recruiting those who are in martial arts, but most of the good ones are not interested in having a job where they might have to kill. REAL martial arts teaches just the opposite.

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  8. Kev | 02/03/2015 at 11:20 am

    Wow! That really is an eye-opener. Seriously, I mentally put myself in their places and I have to admit, I don’t think the results would have turned out any different.

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