The Police Need to Calm Down

Police are too on-edge. They’re unruly, quick to decision-making, impulsive. They have absolutely no “chill”. 

I know it sounds like I’m generalizing, but the good ones don’t call the bad ones out, and that’s one of the fundamental issues.

They get “worked up” way too easily and fail to remain relaxed in moments of pressure. They have absolutely no calm over their stress and quite honestly act like children in costumes than adults with a job.



They need to embrace the Lazy Mindset and take the slow n’ steady path towards solving issues instead of quickly jolting to pull that trigger as soon as possible. They need to be able lean back and examine the scene entirely before barging in recklessly with a lethal weapon...or knee.

They need to procrastinate their decision before firing half a dozen round of bullets into a naked man’s chest. They need to seriously chill the fuck out and be able to, I don’t know, actually handle an emergency.

I can’t believe I actually have to write those words. That’s like saying “a chef should be able to cook” or “an auto mechanic should be able to fix cars”. Obvious shit, man.  I mean...

I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to say “a police officer should be able to handle emergencies.” That’s literally what he signed up to do! We’re putting people in the police force that CAN’T handle emergencies and then letting him get away with it. These people can’t do their jobs and are given the pass.

If there is anyone, any sort of role that should be able to remain calm at all times, it’s a police officer. Yet, somehow, that’s not the case in this country.

Police brutality. It’s an issue that has been going on for years.

BLM tried to protest against it peacefully.They tried kneeling during the National Anthem to say “black people are being killed by the police and that’s not what this country is about.”





But they were told that they were being unpatriotic. They were told that “all lives matter” and their point is moot. 

Look, the reason that they were kneeling is not the same reason others were standing. It wouldn’t have hurt to ask: Hey why are you kneeling?

That would have started  this cool thing called a “discussion”, but that’s not something people who disliked the idea of kneeling during the National Anthem wanted to participate in.

Instead, they just assumed it was out of disrespect for the military and the people that fought for their freedom. (And when you assume, it makes an Ass out of U and ME) . Ironically, you had people defending the “kneeling” of a murderer who choked Floyd to death.

Straight up: No one in BLM was kneeling to disrespect the military. That’s not what it was about at all. The kneeling was about making a statement on how fair the police were abusing their power, especially towards black people

It was actually a veteran who suggested to Colin Kapernick to “take a knee”, so chew on that for a moment. Besides, kneeling is a sign of respect. Sort of how you kneel and pray before the big daddy in the sky.




But anyway, the NFL went as far as fining players who chose to kneel during the National Anthem. Conservatives cheered “that’s the company policy. They can do what they want.”

Later, after all these riots and burning buildings, the NFLtried to backpedal a bit and said they “were wrong” and “should have listened”. Yeah, they should have.

While I’m not justifying the riots nor am I saying that destruction of city buildings is okay, I can understand the anger. They were almost left with no choice. I mean, they had tried so hard for so long to get some sort of justice, some sort of fair treatment, some sort of protection from the one is charge of “protecting” them in the first place...only to watch police officers *ahem* murderers in blue uniform, walk away with a slap on the wrist at best and paid leave at worst. There’s only so much unjust bullshit people can take before they lose it and...riot!

When you corner an animal, it’s gonna bite. When you leave a person with no choice but to retaliate violence with violence, when you fail to listen to their grievances, they’re gonna make you listen in whatever way they can.

It seems that the only way authorities were willing to listen was after stores were being looted, was after buildings were burnt to ash, was after people were quite frankly pissed off and had enough shit.

Now the officers involved with George Floyd’s death are being jailed. Now an officer who pushed an old man at a protest is being charged. Now justice is being served. 

It seems that the peaceful protests were futile and these riots were, unfortunately, helpful in waking authorities up and fix things. Again, I don’t condone violence in any way. It’s not the lazy way. But to ignore how effective it’s been in pushing fair treatment forward would be blind.

I mean what happened in response to the peaceful kneeling and nonviolent protests? 
They required officers to wear body cams. That’s really about it.




But body cams didn’t do shit. Body cams, if anything, allowed people to see even more evidence/video footage of police officers doing a shitty job at being a police officer and shooting innocent people with no legitimate reason.

There was still no justice. There was still no fix for the fundamental problem.

Despite the dozens of videos showing  trigger happy cops taking the life of innocent people, none of these officers faced any real punishment.

And worse? They were often defended in their actions. Not a single cop came out and said “that guy fucked up as a cop.” Nope. Instead, it was something to the effect of “he did what was necessary, his life was threatened, or, my favorite “the guy was RESISTING ARREST...blahdy blahdy blah!”


Cops’ Behavior is Unacceptable.

In NO other industry would such trigger happy behavior be accepted. None. At all. Yet we excuse police officers for 

Think about all the low-wage workers that have to deal with the “Karens” on a daily basis. From refusing to pay for a coffee that she has to make herself and it’s “not her job” to do so to refusing to follow store policy and enter a grocery store with a mask on, there are just shitty self-entitled people in this world who offer no respect.

But the workers at the store can’t pull out a gun and shoot the bitchy customer or throw a hot cup of coffee in their face for acting, well...bitchy. They have to remain calm and handle the situation with poise and grace.




Imagine the backlash if everytime a retail or restaurant customer started yelling, someone on staff put a bullet in their skull to shut them up. You wouldn’t hear the end of it! And that specific business would certainly shut down, or at the very least, the staff involved would not only lose their jobs but face heavy legal repercussions.

 Imagine if people used the same arguments as they do for cops though. “You should know not to piss off a cashier. When you upset a cashier, you just risked your life.” Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it. Well it sounds just as ridiculous when you replace the word “cashier” with “cop.”

It doesn’t matter how “stressful” the situation is or how “bad” the customer is acting, in no way does whatever sort of circumstance happening warrant wielding a gun and firing multiple shots just to teach the person a lesson.

Yet people argue that a police officer’s job is “oh so stressful.” I’m sure it is. But that doesn’t give them the right to act out billergerently. That doesn’t give them the right to justify their immoral actions. They should know better. It’s their job to know better. It’s their job to literally handle crisis effectively, rationally, not act on impulse.. Yet it seems the people who should be able to handle crisis best (police officers) are actually the worst at it.

A cashier at Wal-Mart or barista at Starbucks is expected to practice a higher level of emotional control than the average police officer, someone apparently trained on how to handle emergencies.

If you can’t handle the heat of the kitchen, then stay out. And if you can’t handle the “stress” of being a police officer and wind up killing someone innocent, then turn in your badge and stay the fuck out of the job of “protecting people”.



But they were NOT innocent!

Some of the victims of getting murdered by cops were in fact criminals. But okay, let’s take a look at this, shall we?



Things like selling untaxed cigarettes or using a counterfeit $20 bill. Woah, big crimes there.

What’s the punishment for that though? Death? ….really?
Not only capital punishment but one without a trial. Just instant death.

What kind of back ass water country you tryin’ to live in here?
Should we chop off your hand if you steal a candy bar too?

And if he was resisting arrest?
First of all, he was resisting choking to death. There’s a difference.
Second, there are definitely about a dozen and a half non-lethal ways to handle that sort of thing, mmm k pumpkin?

I’m not even a cop, but I can definitely think of ways to not kill a person when they’re resisting arrest. Death should certainly NOT be the consequence for refusing to put on handcuffs.

Let’s not forget about Brock Turner who literally raped an unconscious girl behind a dumpster. He happened to be white. He just got a slap on the wrist again, a few months in jail and a “Oh just don’t rape again” sort of thing.

I don’t know where your morals lie, but I’m bargaining to think that using fake money is maybe, kind of, at least a little, less serious than ya know, rape!



The police are supposed to be protectors of the people NOT deadly enforcers. While certainly, crime cannot go unpunished,  I don’t like the policy of “kill all criminals” (or people who MIGHT be a criminal, for that matter).





NOT All Police. Just a few bad apples!

I feel I should mention, in case I haven’t made it clear enough already: there are good police officers out there. In fact, I’d wager that most of them want to stand up for justice and do what is right.

The problem lies in that fact that the good ones don’t call out the bad ones. They even go as far as defending them. There’s this sort of “brotherhood pact” where all cops stick up for each other no matter what, and that needs to stop.




Cops need to call each other out on their bullshit. If there’s a cop and he’s not making the most rational decision in an emergency, if he’s literally murdering an innocent civilian, cops need to have the calm courage to say “That cop is a bad cop” in the same way a musician might go to a local bar and see an awful band perform and be like “that guitarist is a bad guitarist.”

He wouldn’t defend him and say “Well, it’s a nerve-wrecking situation being up on stage. You never know how the crowd will react.”

Like no, shut up. His guitar is out of tune. He’s a bit too drunk to sing in key. He sucks! He’s giving all other guitarists a bad rep.

If you can’t honestly call someone out on their bullshit, then you’re just as terrible as they are.

The Catholic Church tried to cover up pedophiles and now the police with murderers. 

Again, that’s not to say all cops are abusers or murderers or bad people, but the ones that are, deserve to be reprimanded by their own “brothers” in the police force.

Applauding “the good cops” is like applauding a good waitress. Like, she greeted me with a friendly smile. She kept good small talk.She didn’t even throw the mashed potatoes at me when she served my dinner!

Meeting the expectations of your job doesn’t warrant a “participation trophy.”  You did your job the way you’re supposed to. Good on you.

These “good cops” are the ones doing their jobs the way they are supposed to.




Bad People WANT to Be Cops

If I’m a bad person, if I’m racist, bigotted, or just terribly sadistic and enjoy torturing or murdering others, I’m gonna look at cops, see how they get away with that shit, and be like “I can kill people and not face any sort of punishment. I can just say they were resisting arrest and look at that. I’ll be free of charge.”

Seeing all the videos of cops literally murdering people on screen and not getting any sort of legal repercussions, if I’m a bad person, I’m gonna be like “Wow, I can live the thug life, I can do all the sick things I want to and hurt other people, without facing any of the consequences of the law.”

While not all cops are bad, bad people are going to be attracted to becoming one because it offers them protection from consequences when committing horrendous acts. Society literally sent the message that cops stand above the law.

If you’re enforcing the law, you should probably abide by it as well. Just sayin’. Hold yourself accountable to your own standards.

When I think of the people I want to keep me safe from harm, I want the most moral and just people, not someone who is attracted to the power that comes with holding such a position and can easily abuse their power.







There Needs to be a Focus on De-escalation

Most of the training hours for the police force are spent in the shooting range. We wonder why there are so many cases of police shooting civilians. Well...

We’re literally training cops to shoot!!

If most of the time in Police Training is spent aiming and firing at at targets, what’s the first thing that’s gonna be on their mind in a hectic situation?

Pulling the trigger, of course!

Instead of practicing their firearm skills so much, what they should really practice, what they should really adhere to is remaining calm and using de-escalation skills.

Cops are barely trained right now to deal with drama. They don’t know how to simmer down someone acting reckless without stopping his heart.

They’re basically told: “You might have to shoot, so here’s how you shoot.”...and so they shoot or kill in some other fashion.
Really they should be told “only shoot if you ABSOLUTELY need to and even then, procrastinate the shooting and wait ‘til the last second.”

I understand there are some dangerous situations a cop may find himself in, but they need to learn to relax and not treat every single person like some sort of threat to their life, especially if they’re unarmed and naked.





They need to be able to “read the room” and read body language. I’m no professional psychologist (or police officer for that matter), but I can tell in that George Floyd video that the man is literally begging for his life, not attempting some sort of ruse. 

I mean unless the dude is some sort of Oscar award-winning actor, you can tell he’s legitimately losing life force in his breath and crying for help. Cops should be able to recognize this.

Like if me, a lazy dude, can see in someone’s body language that they’re not trying to pull a fast one or whatever, so should a “professional” crisis handler.

They’re treating civilians like they are prisoners in the concentration camps, giving either torture or death as a punishment for not “falling in line” correctly.

The justice department shouldn’t be about forcing citizens to “fall in line”. It should be about protecting those citizens.

Even if that means, the cop has to put aside his frail little Ego and power-hunger for a second to save a life. And if anything, they should value the lives of others over their own.

In Canada, the police, before they start their shift and go out on patrol, take the time to meditate and ease their mind. They put themselves in a state of peace first thing, so that they can better handle the stresses coming their way.

I think we oughta take the cue from our northern neighbors in the states and have cops embrace their inner calmness, their inner-laziness, before starting their day.

Violence is NOT the Answer.

Despite all the peaceful protests, there wasn’t enough change until after things heated up in riots.

The officers involved with George Floyd’s death have been charged and jailed. 

That’s a step. But still not enough. We need a fundamental fixing to this whole thing.


They’re protecting property, not people. The deaths of the innocent were not enough to make the changes we need to see.

A few ruptured buildings though? Well now things gotta change! Now this is an important issue! Now everything that's been talked about for years must be made a priority!

It’s sad to see how authorities value assets more than human life. While it’s great to see steps towards change, it’s unfortunate that it took damaged property to make that happen, as if black lives weren’t enough over all these years.

I won’t go as far as to say that “the violence was necessary” but it certainly did get people in positions of power to finally, FINALLY listen (not as if we haven’t been trying to make a statement, peacefully, for quite a while).

I’d venture to say that the combination of cabin fever from quarantine and people’s already built up resentment of police brutality made George Floyd’s story the final straw. You can’t force lock everyone inside and then demonstrate that cops are still killing people without them wanting to barge out on the streets in rage.

The entire justice system needs to be re-worked and hopefully cops can learn to relax in their laziness instead of pull the trigger.

Meanwhile, the entire public is torn. Everyone’s arguing for their “side”.

We’re on the verge of a civil war. The United States has never been so divided.

On top of that, we’re still in the midst of a global pandemic, with the CDC saying that the riots are “breeding grounds” for COVID-19.



Hopefully we can lean back and  listen to each other this time, before it escalates even further, even more destructive, even worse. 

We need to realize there is no “side” and all these fights of race, gender, political party, is all to keep us fighting amongst ourselves, instead of fighting for what is right and fair for everyone.

We all want the same thing. Peace. Harmony. We want happiness for all.

But we keep trying to separate ourselves and trying to find reasons to be different, reasons to disagree.

And instead of talking, we fight. We call each other names. We riot on the street. Just to get each other to listen.

But what if we just stop. Wait. Procrastinate. And actually fucking listen for once.

Listen to the grievances of others. Understand them. I mean, we could have avoided this whole flaming riot thing had people done that in the first place during the peaceful “take a knee” protests.

But no, people couldn’t listen and had to raise more drama about patriotism and whatnot. You can’t eliminate drama with more drama.

We want our cops to be able to de-escalate crisis and handle it with poise and grace, to analyze the whole situation before acting recklessly.

Perhaps we need to look at ourselves and be able to do the same between one another.




Like cops, we can’t assume the other person is the bad guy just because we feel threatened or hurt or insulted. We have to be able to actually look at what’s going on and understand the other person’s perspective, understand their struggle.

Actually listen when he says “I can’t breathe.” Don’t keep kneeling on him to the ground. Don’t assume your life is in danger.

We have to ask ourselves. Do we really want to set the streets ablaze every time we make a point?

Do we really want people out on the streets wielding machine guns and storming state capitols every time they want to make theirs?

A lot of this drama could all be avoided if we took the time to lean back and listen to one another, instead of posting memes that insult the other “side”.

Stop taking sides. There’s one side. Human beings. That’s the side we’re all on. This isn’t a competition. This isn’t a challenge.

If you want others to listen to your grievances, then you must offer the same favor in return. You can’t be heard if you never let anyone else be heard.

You can choose to listen or choose to keep fighting and get more intense. I say we take the slow n’ steady path, as always.





Take it easy,

N8
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