Before reform, some perspective on the police
‘Systemic,’ the last time I checked, means ‘universal’ and we may wish to tap the brakes on that explanation for unrest
Former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo’s statue went away the other day and, in his earlier capacity as a police officer and commissioner, he inspired no indifference.
“The only way to deal with some criminals is to ‘ spacco il capo,’” Rizzo was reported saying years ago. Translated from Italian: “Bust their heads.”
Philadelphia is one thing; try Chicago. In 1915, a city investigation uncovered repeated acts of police abuse — broken arms, body throws, kicks to the stomach — inflicted on women involved in a garment workers strike.
One of the Chicago cops involved said, “There were about 100 of them and we had orders not to allow them to parade in such large groups.”
But the women “became angry, spit in our faces, kicked us in the shins and fought and bit and scratched,” the cop testified. “That’s the reason we were forced to take them to the station.”
Take them they did — the Chicago Way.
As formative events go,
I don’t doubt for a second being strongly influenced by seeing Chicago police violence against demonstrators on TV during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. I was 19 at the time and it just seemed wrong and awful and despicable.
But then life pushes on and other things come into view.
In early 1971, killing time while waiting on my local draft board to make a decision, I picked up some easy work with the Richmond Yellow Cab Co. Better to drive through the night, I thought, less traffic.
Sitting out in front of the Broad Street Greyhound station on a frigid winter night, the passenger door of the cab suddenly swung open and in jumped a uniformed city police officer. This stocky guy, with an uncanny resemblance to Robert Redford, grinned at me and said, “It’s cold out there.”
Soon his radio barked at him — he’d been disciplined with a street beat after wrecking his patrol car — and he said, “OK, let’s go. Here’s your chance to do your thing for public safety.”
His name was Ray and that began a long friendship. He went into the Army before finishing high school in West Virginia and ended up a combat medic in Vietnam. He’d seen bad stuff, even watched his brother die.
He became one of many returning from Southeast Asia, uninterested in static employment and drawn to police work. The adrenalin filled a need.
I spent close to a year hanging out with Ray and his police compatriots, getting involved in things I had no business being involved in. But it opened my eyes. These people — police people — endure, confront and sometimes literally wrestle with everything.
That includes angry people, frightened people, damaged people, hysterical people, dead people and the constant threat of lethal violence.
Those Richmond cops, almost 50 years ago, were occasionally reckless, too often arbitrary, but consistently brave. They wanted the excitement of police work but took pride in the role. Ray became a detective eventually.
Years later, while in the Governor’s Office, I found myself in the company of Ron Watkins — often for long hours, at night, crossing the commonwealth in his state car, when you can talk.
Ron graduated from Poquoson High School in 1969 and joined the Marine Corps. Later he got into local law enforcement, then entered the ranks of the Virginia
State Police.
The department assigned Ron to the Executive Protection Unit, the troopers who tend to the governor’s security, and he later took charge of that group and served eight successive Virginia governors.
Ron lost his fight with cancer four years ago and I am not sure I will ever know anyone who better married the personal traits of decency, intelligence and quiet courage to the labors of police work.
We’re having a debate about big things involving the police, one that involves sweeping generalities and the deployment of words such as “systemic.” There are serious problems to be addressed and things to fix, no question.
But “systemic,” the last time I checked, means “universal” — and we may wish to tap the brakes on that one.
You may advocate broad policy reform at the state and federal level, but it has to play out at home, at the local level, where the police get hired, administered and managed.
And, as real as the present shortcomings may be — it’s hard to argue otherwise — we ought to never discount the value of the people who do police work right and well.
After writing editorials for
The Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in the 1980s, Gordon C. Morse wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then spent nearly three decades working on behalf of corporate and philanthropic organizations, including PepsiCo, CSX, Tribune Co. and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Dominion Energy. His email address is gordonmorse@msn.com.