We may never know exactly what happened when a Madison
police officer shot and killed Tony Robinson earlier this month. Too much has
already been said by people who know very little about what happened. All they
needed to know to spout off was one of two things: an unarmed black kid was
killed by a cop; or, a cop was assaulted by a crazed kid and what you’d expect
to happen, happened.
As a nation, as a state, and in this case, even as a city,
we are too divided to really listen to each other. Too many people insist on
being heard, yet they have no time to listen. For too many people, there’s no
middle ground; it’s all black or white. For some, the President is a Kenyan
Muslim who’s going to declare Sharia Law and appoint himself President for
Life; for others, he’s doing the best job possible under extremely trying
circumstances. Scott Walker is either the antichrist, or the reform Governor the
Badger state needed.
And now, among too many people in Madison, it would seem
that anyone who “questions the manner in which police services are provided”
(to paraphrase a meme from the movie “A Few Good Men” that’s going around a
lot) is automatically a cop-hater. No middle ground, no rational discussion.
Either you support the cops and never question anything they do, or you’re a
cop-hating anarchist who doesn’t deserve the protection they provide.
When NBC Reporter Ron Mott and other national TV people did
their damndest to paint the incident in Madison as “another Ferguson”, the
local reporters told them to look around. Madison and Ferguson have nearly
nothing in common.
The Madison cop who shot and killed Tony Robinson will not
face criminal charges. I base that opinion on the FACT that in the entire
history of Wisconsin as a state, in only ONE incident where a cop shot and
killed a person did the police officer face criminal charges. And there are dozens
of such cases every year. We can debate how cops should be trained to react in
these instantaneous and extremely tense situations, but, it’s not going to
affect the outcome of the Tony Robinson scenario one bit.
My bona fides as a non-cop-hater are solid. My grandfather
was a Wisconsin State Patrol officer. Two close family members are cops.
Another is an FBI agent. From childhood on, I was taught that the cop is there
to protect you, someone to seek out when there’s trouble. No one in my family ever
told any child “the policeman will come and put you in jail if you’re not good”.
But my experiences are not the same as a lot of other
members of society.
What’s it like to be a cop?
I don’t know, and never will. I have opinions and attitudes about what
it must be like to be a cop, suppositions formed from impressions gleaned while
talking with my family members who are cops. But I know about as much truth
about what it’s really like to be a cop as most folks know what it’s really like
to be a tuba player.
Let me share one story with you. On a hot day last summer,
I drove my giant gas-sucking SUV to the Octopus Car Wash on Park Street. It was
a busy day with lots of cars in line. Right ahead of me was one of those
Madison Police Department TEST (Traffic Enforcement Safety Team) cars – a big,
black, unmarked Crown Vic bristling with antennas but carrying regular
Wisconsin auto plates.
The uniformed Madison cop who was driving the unmarked
cruiser was just ahead of me in the line at the cashier’s station, and as he
stood in front of the huge glass widows that let you see your car being washed,
I came up and stood next to him and started talking to him about his Crown Vic.
How many miles on it, was it comfortable enough to be his “office” for an
eight-hour shift; did it perform and handle well; did he get to take it home -
small talk. He politely answered all my dumb questions.
I asked him if he knew another Madison cop, a cop who had
been my daughter’s varsity basketball coach at LaFollette High. He did (no surprise);
that led to more small talk. One of the other girls from that basketball team
is now a Madison police officer. Just conversation, passing the time as the
guys at Octopus dried and polished our cars up. Just a few minutes of
inconsequential communication.
Our vehicles were both finished about the same time, and we
walked out of the customer waiting area and headed toward our cars. The
officer, who was a step in front of me, stopped and turned and said “hey –
thanks for the conversation.” I gave a somewhat quizzical look and said “sure,
why not?” He said “nobody just talks to
cops like that any more unless they know you personally. They either have an
angle and want something, or they just plain don’t like cops. It’s pretty rare
when somebody treats us like another guy just waiting for his car in the car
wash, and passes the time by just making conversation."
That’s pretty sad.
Cops, be safe out there. Not all of us hate you.
