Letter To Fer Case Study

Dear New York Times letters editor, Thomas Feyer,
Firstly, I would like to say that while I do agree with your statement about how law officials have a dangerous job and deserve a medal, I believe that it’s because those officials have those badges and statements like that, encourage officials into believing that what they do has no consequences and being that they, “are the law”, means they are above the law. For example, the incident with the Eric Garner case with the officer that put the man in an illegal chokehold. Yes, while if necessary an officer has the right to subdue a person if they believe the person may be a threat to themselves or others, which did not give the officer the right to subdue Garner into a chokehold especially after Garner stated multiple times that he could not breathe. You claim that people and the media are being scornful towards the police without the full story and causing a bigger uproar; however, there was a video of the entire incident and there was still people doubting that the officer did anything wrong. Its moments like this where there is credible evidence and people take the side of the
officer because Garner was African American and the cop was white.
However, I do believe that the reasoning behind officials neglecting their job is because of their fear of an incident happening and it being misconstrued into something else.
Not only that; but following incidents in Baltimore, the Baltimore police union has stated that many officers are afraid to use force. Officers are afraid to do their job because of the fear of going to jail. While I do not condone the incidents that have taken place in Baltimore, I understand the recent uproars. But I do feel that things could’ve been handled differently. But then again, I believe that officers would use their “fear” as an excuse for their actions. Being a law enforcement official means they’re putting their lives at risk, but that does not mean the officials should ignore their training and basic protocols and result into panic and act on that
fear.
Another example of an official using their fear as an excuse for their actions would be the incident in Cincinnati where Officer Ray Tensing shot an unarmed man because he claimed that he “feared for his life;” stating he thought he was going to be dragged by Samuel DuBose’s car. However, there is a body cam on officer Tensing and there were also multiple witness accounts explaining how that was not the case at all; that officer Tensing was in no danger, but yet Samuel still ended up dead from a gunshot wound to the head. How do you justify this man’s actions as fearing for his life? Officer Tensing stopped the car for not having front tags. He then states that the does not believe that DuBose has a valid license since it was not on his person. Samuel; trying to explain the situation, attempted to leave because he was confused for being pulled over. Yes, there was no reason for Samuel to leave, but that did not mean that Officer Tensing needed to use him weapon; especially when there was not a weapon on Samuel’s person. Again, the whole story is there on camera and from a witness account to confirm without invalid and false attacks from the media. It’s moments like that; that cause African Americans to fear for their lives because something as simple as a traffic stop ended up in death. So, it’s not the media hyping things up and causing people to protest and speak out; its officers like Tensing that are causing problems for themselves because they feel as though they deserve respect and will receive respect because they are the law and have a badge.
As you can see though past and present events, African Americans have a reason to feel the way they do towards law enforcement. While I do agree that some of African Americans tactics of show their feelings could’ve been done in another way, it’s also law enforcement officials to not let their beliefs and their feelings get in the way of them doing their job. Although a law enforcement officials’ job is a dangerous and demanding occupation that does not give someone to overstep their boundaries and abuse their power, because black lives matter.