- Quote:
-
Civil rights activist hears from officers involved in police shooting first-hand
Like I keep telling the dummies, just ride patrol for one night, and your attitude just might change!
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/civil-rights-activist-hears-officers-involved-poli/nk3Ng/
- Quote:
-
ATLANTA —
A civil rights activist told two officers involved in a deadly police shooting, he will no longer take on a case without thinking of them first.
Rev. Markel Hutchins took part in an Atlanta police shooting simulation so he could feel what it was like in their shoes.
At WSB-TV's request, Hutchins sat down with partners of Atlanta police officer Mark Cross.
A suspect shot and killed him during a counter-drug operation in Southwest Atlanta on April 23, 2005.
"There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about that. That I don't see Mark's face," said an officer we'll call Grif. He does not want to use his real name because he is undercover.
"To see him lying there, there's nothing I could do, that's hard," said Lt. Fred Watson.
"I experienced a lot of anger at myself. Thinking I could've done more, should've done something different. Did I really apply everything that I learned at the academy. All the stuff I learned on the street,"
The same man who killed Cross shot Grif in the face. Watson then shot and killed the killer.
Hutchins is well known for leading protests and demonstrations after police shootings in Metro Atlanta and across the country. He spoke to the officers after going through shooting policy reviews and simulated shooting scenarios, with guns in his hands, at the Atlanta Police Academy.
"Having a colleague that you work directly with actually killed and then having to take the life of a suspect, I'm just curious, what has been the after effects for you as police officers?" Hutchins asked the officers.
"The immediate after-effect, the shock when that first happened seemed like forever to wear off. It just didn't seem real," Grif told him.
"This was a friend, this was a partner. Looking at him, he was a son. He was a husband. He was a father. A lot of people don't look at police officers as being human," Watson added.
Watson admitted it's tough knowing he took the life of another person, even if that person killed his friend and colleague.
"There are officers who go through a 30-year career and never pull their gun out during their line of duty," Watson said. "It's a situation where you don't want to use force against anybody, but in that situation I was forced to."
Hutchins told the officers he felt going through police policy and sitting down with the officers was important for community relations.
"How do we change the dynamic between law enforcement and community is the real reason I came here today," Hutchins said. "You are not my enemy. You are not the enemy of my son and young men in the community."
"Get to know the people in your community, doesn't matter where it is, what part of Atlanta it is," Grif answered. "You're there for the people."
"I look at it as the way you raise your kid," added Watson. "Teaching them this is law enforcement, this is a firefighter, this is a person in the military. Instilling those values about what public service means."
Hutchins also asked the officers about perceived secrecy.
"One of the things that I think puts the community or communities of color and the majority of the community at odds far too often with law enforcement is this blue wall of silence," said Hutchins. "How do we penetrate through that?"
"I think the biggest component is being transparent with the public," Watson answered. "Having open transparent investigations, partnerships with the citizen review board and members of the community."
Hutchins admitted to the officers that going through the police policy and sitting down with the officers is something he'll never forget, and will take out into the community with him.
"Every time that a family comes to me and says that their rights have been violated, I would have to consider you, after having met you," he said. "I will never handle a police situation exactly the same. My viewpoint has been enhanced in a way that I will be forever grateful for."
|