Editor,
I take the role of civil police seriously.
However, in the past few years I have had a few run-ins with the police at parties, on the road, even at my house, that have really left my confidence in their role "to serve and protect" unsure at best.
The latest of which was on April 1. I was walking my puppy at the Duck Pond. I sat down to do some reading and he ran off. I caught up with him following another puppy around and was walking him away when someone caught my attention and pointed past me. I turned around to find a UNM police officer nearly on top of me and yelling in my face that my ears "must not work right," that I "must be deaf."
I just kind of blinked at him and didn't know what to think. Then he continued yelling in my face that my dog was "terrorizing the wildlife," that we were "invading privacy" and that if I ever brought him back that he would "put the dog to sleep." His rant continued for some minutes during which I apologized at least three times, to no avail.
Finally, when he paused in his monologue, I told him that my ears were working fine, but someone calling "hey" on a campus full of people doesn't usually attract my attention. He replied with, "Well, when I call you, you had better turn your head."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Irritated, I told him that the state gives him a gun and he thinks he's God. He didn't like that. He took my license and found nothing on my record. Then he grudgingly shoved the card back into my hand and said, "Have a nice day."
I do not want to be humiliated and antagonized by a cop for losing my dog. Cops aren't paid to yell at or to impose their egos on people. They are "enforcers of the law," not abusive parents. I don't throw things at police cars or oink when they pass by. I was not being outwardly confrontational with the officer and cannot understand his hostility towards me.
I've seen and experienced cops who shout, shove, grab, mace, choke and kick people who are not resisting or on some PCP trip.
I once watched a couple APD officers kick and punch a man in the back while they had him bent over the trunk of his car in handcuffs. Every time they punched him in the kidneys, he would twist to one side and the officers would punch or kick him again. This poor guy couldn't speak English and if the officers could speak Spanish, they sure weren't trying too hard.
I've been choked and kicked because I was looking at a police officer who wrongly suspected me of drug trafficking. I guess I was luckier during this latest incident than I was, or others have been, in the past, probably because I was in an open space with many people watching.
The question is: should the public live in fear of the law enforcement that is supported by them? Should it be OK to see or experience a cop using unnecessary force, verbal or otherwise, with a person? We should think about it.
Javier Cardoza-Kon
UNM student
