I’ve spent the past few days having a lot of long, intense conversations with friends about all the really heavy subjects you can think of.  It’s made me think about how important it is to boil-down complex ideas into short, simple statements.  So, I have a couple of those for you today.

What Matters Most?

What do we know about the universe?  We know that everything falls apart.  Given enough time, systems and structures decay.  Entropy is the gradual decay into disorder and it is considered the 2nd law of thermodynamics.  You might also see this as the inevitable course of civilizations or human works.  Everything falls apart.

However, there is one thing int he universe that completely defies this rule.  That is the life force.  This is the most unique and mysterious force in existence.  We humans carry this life force.  And, as far as we can tell, we are the only living things with consciousness, agency, self-awareness, a conscience, and the ability to dramatically affect our surroundings.

So, what matters most?  The preservation of this unique and spectacular phenomenon: the human being. That’s me, that’s you, that’s all of us.  The collective humanity must survive and thrive.

How Do We Fix Everything?

Of course, not a lot of people agree with my sentiments about what matters most.  Maybe they’ve never thought about it, maybe they’ve postulated some other formula of values that flies in the face of mine.  Maybe they think humans are worthless and worthy of extinction, or maybe they think that certain humans need to be killed to make way for their own kind of humans, or that humans need to be dominated and controlled.  I don’t agree with these sentiments, and some of them are in fact threatening to my existence and to the people I love.  So what can be done about it?  How do we fix the problems of murderousness, bigotry, and oppression so that future generations don’t have to face these familiar threats?

Every human being sees the world differently, and we in our long history have tried many failed strategies to make everyone see it the same way.  The 20th century was full of examples of this: traditional warfare, industrialized warfare, atomic warfare, totalitarianism, genocide, imprisonment, censorship–all various versions of coercion by force.  But, like the Hydra, each time you cut off one head it seems that two more emerge.  Coercion by force will not bring about the end of the threat of malicious force.  In other words, two wrongs don’t make a right.

No, I think the only way we can fix the world is through love and understanding–and patience.  Love is not empty sentiment, it is the active practice of treating other people the way you’d want to be treated.  Understanding is likewise no vague attitude, but an active practice of listening and learning and experiencing others’ realities.  Patience is also a practice.

We may not see the end of those malicious and harmful philosophies in our lifetimes.  It may take many generations to do away with these existential threats to mankind.   But, the more we practice saying and living the truth, the liars are bound to suffer and fail and diminish.

So, how do we fix everything?  We show compassion even to our worst enemies, we do the work to understand those who are different from us, and we wait patiently as the human race draws closer together.

(If my blogs have been too heavy for you lately, don’t worry, next week I’ll talk about push-ups.)

I made a comment the other day (on social media or my blog or somewhere) that I wish every one who wanted to be a police officer would come train with me first.  That wasn’t sarcasm.  I really do wish they could all come train with me.  Not only do I think they would be in better physical shape for the job, but I also think they’d develop a better sense of how to do the job well without causing harm.

Now I’ll talk about what I can do to help reform the institution of the police.

Use Physical Fitness as an Entry Point

When I train a police officer or aspirant, I use physical testing as an entry point, but in order to develop these abilities, they usually have to start with some mental training.  To pass their test, all they need to do is be able to run faster, run for longer, do more push-ups (better), and do more sit-ups (better).  Why haven’t they been able to do this on their own?  Like, why do they even need my help in the first place?  What they are really asking for is help developing the discipline and willpower needed to change their exercise habits and start moving the ball forward.

The process of training is actually pretty clear for these guys (and gals).  They’ve already done the test, which is a form of assessment.  That identifies their weaknesses and informs what they’re training needs to look like.  The problem is in the doing.  They may not have dug deep enough into their own motivations for becoming a police officer.  If they don’t understand the purpose of this and how it ties to their purpose as a person, then they will lack the willpower to do it.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way; but without the will, they won’t have much luck with the way.

Once we’ve identified the real, true, deep reasons why they want to do this, then it becomes much easier to create and reinforce discipline around this very specific set of goals.  I mean, you either pass or you don’t.  Can’t pass the test, can’t do the job.  The test is not the job, it’s just a minimum standard.  So, the level of discipline needed to pass the test is only a fraction of the level of discipline needed to do the job well.  I teach them to start now and build a strong self-discipline that will serve them throughout their career and their life.

I think we’d all agree that the police as an institution need a higher standard of entry testing and training, as well as a higher degree of self-discipline on the job.  This is my proposal.

Work on the Underlying Patterns

In the course of creating this discipline, the officers (or candidates) will also need to change their lifestyle and nutrition habits.   In order to support the physical adaptations they are attempting to create, they have to recruit their own body’s adaptive processes to their side.   They need all those Basic Lifestyle Guidelines that I just wrote about a couple weeks ago: Balance, Purpose, Hydration, Sleep, Energy, Rhythm, Recovery, and Digestion.  These will allow them to build the exercise habits, grow new muscle and neurons and mitochondria, and actually advance their abilities so they are able to pass the test.

But, there’s more to it than that.  Sorting out these basic routines and habits of life will also help to regulate their emotions and improve their mental health.  This means that you get a police officer that has less negative crap to carry around, an officer possessing of all his mental faculties, a happier and more self-actualized person who is safer and of greater service to others.  This is huge.  A better cop is a better cop.  I will say that again: a better cop (happy, healthier, nicer, more understanding and empathetic) is a better cop (more effective at the job they are tasked to do).

Impart Some Ethical Lessons

Ultimately, this work requires a lot of critical self-examination, a deeper personal relationship between the two of us, and plenty of time spent face to face working on stuff.  In all those conversations, I also attempt to impart some ethical lessons.

I don’t want this cop to be the cop who beats up a 14-year-old kid the way it happened to me.  I don’t want him to put a gun to an unarmed teenager’s head because he’s mad about having to chase him a few blocks, as also happened to me. I don’t want this cop to knock people’s wallets into the mud, kick people in the head from horseback, or otherwise disrespect the people he’s meant to serve (which I have also experienced).  I absolutely don’t want him to kill someone over race and become one of these viral video villains.

I want this cop to be one of the good guys, like the cop who worked in my school teaching us D.A.R.E., who knew me by name when he encountered me on the street.  I want them to be like the Sherriff who helped us out when we had some real bad guys living across the street. I want them to be a policeman that people respect because they earned it, because they deserve it.  I want them to serve their community, to protect the people who live there, indiscriminately.  Maybe by sharing some stories from real life, they will go into the job with a more holistic perspective.

So that’s my proposal.  I want to save the world one healthy lifestyle at a time.  I believe in the individual as the unit of social change.  I think the most moral and effective way to change the world is one person at a time and from the inside out.  Let me train every cop and we’ll see some things change for the better.

I have touched so little on race in this short series of blogs, and there is so much more to say.  So, what have I already covered?

• America has a long and ugly racist history that continues to this day
• Every child learns about it from a young age
• It’s really just a bunch of lies
• Some of it is true

This story started with how I learned about race in America.  I continued by talking about why I think all lives matter and why it’s important to talk about black lives at this time. Now, I’m going to talk about what I think we can do about race in the future, to stop these wars and animosities and turn this ‘problem’ into a ‘solution’.

I tried 3 times to write the ‘long version’ of this blog, with numerous personal stories from my own life used to illustrate each point, but there are just too many and it lost its impact.  Basically, I have tried to live a non-racial life from my first day out of the womb and it has served me very well.  I think I’ve had a positive impact on a lot of people and their attitudes about this sometimes-illusion/sometimes-reality of ‘race’.

Here are the bullet points:

Respect people regardless of color, class, or creed

It doesn’t really matter what that other person looks like, lives like, or believes like.  Underneath, they are a human being just like you.  They deserve the same level of respect that you feel you deserve.  Take people one at a time and treat them well, you will be teaching them how you’d like to be treated.

Make an effort to learn about people directly

Rather than trusting secondary sources (such as, ‘what daddy told you about ____ people’), go straight to the primary source: the people themselves.  If you want to learn about black people, hang out with some.  If you want to learn about white people, make a white friend. Et cetera, for all the colors and religions, nationalities, and economic spectra you can think of.

Stick up for people

If you respect people without distinction or prejudice, and you know about them from their own perspective–as in you understand their story the way they would tell it–well, then now you have a responsibility to stick up for them in the face of people who don’t.  So, when you see someone else making specious cover-of-the-book judgments or discriminating against another’s differences, or even just misrepresenting their story, then you have a responsibility to stand up for that person.

Do things with people of different backgrounds

Co-action is how we take this unity-in-diversity thing out of the realm of theory and into the realm of the real, physical world (praxis).  Like sports?  Play and watch sports with some people of a different ethnicity who also like them.  Like going to church/temple/mosque?  Visit some churches/temples/mosques with historic ties to different lands than yours and see the commonalities you all have despite your differences.  Like music? Food? Chess?  Anything you like to do can be done with a more diverse group and the experience will be enriched.

Incorporate elements of other cultures into daily life

If you think that you live in a monocultural world and follow monocultural practices, you my friend are dead wrong.  No one’s entire lifestyle exists in a racial, cultural, ethnic, or religious bubble.  Everyone uses technologies that were developed by other peoples (even back to the really basic stuff like axes, boats, and wheels), eats foods that came from distant places, and follows mental processes (like language, math, or reasoning skills) that were developed by someone long ago and far away.  Embrace it.  Develop a diverse mind, diverse diet, and diverse set of useful habits.

Become a member of a new race

In the final analysis, I agree with the assertion of Haile Selassie I in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in 1963,

“We must become members of a new race, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations, but to our fellow men within the human community.”

Historically, biologically, and theologically, we are all members of a singular Human Race.  This other stuff of colors and face shapes and all that is just a series of accidents of geography, population migrations, and cultural practices.  We need to get over all that past stuff and just be part of one Human Race again.  Sure, people will still look different from one another and do things differently from one another, but that is not a cause for disunity.  If we want to last, and have a good time of it, we’ve got to be one.

Sometimes I will feature quotes in my blogs.  Today, here’s a quote from my own mouth:

“I’m not gonna tell you how to think, but I am gonna tell you how I think.”

That’s basically a mantra that I live by, so why shouldn’t I behave the same way on the internet, in my blog or on social media?

I’m talking about George Floyd not because I want you to change your mind about something.  I’m merely trying to impart my own thoughts on the matter.  The desired effect is that you get in touch with your own thoughts on it, so you’re not just reverberating with the most loudly-broadcast thoughts of other people.

I will keep talking about George Floyd because his personal story is an important reminder of what is wrong with America’s culture of race and racism, as well as what is wrong with America’s police system.  We tell a lot of stories about our country, about how it was, how it is, and how it will be.  But, ultimately, it is these stories of actual human lives that matter most.  These are the stories that teach us truth, that impart the biggest lessons.  These are the stories that we remember, not only out of respectful memory for the individuals involved, but because of the larger narratives they encompass.

We remember the stories Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman because they were born in to slavery, escaped it, and agitated until it that horrific institution was eliminated.  They remind us why we never want to return to that sin of human slavery in this country, nor allow it to continue in any other place on earth.

We remember the stories of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. because they were ministers and leaders within their communities who were assassinated by powerful forces who feared their influence.  They remind us that power will try to exterminate truth, but truth will always outlive power.

We remember the stories of Amadou Diallo, Eric Garner–and now George Floyd–because the police who approached them had already judged them and convicted them in their own minds, and then made themselves the executioners.  They remind us that skin color is still cause for differential treatment and increased threat of death in this country, and that is an untenable position.

 

Yes, police lives matter.  But, not in the manner of a protected class, or of spoiled children who feel they are beyond reproach.  Police lives matter exactly as much as all other human lives.  Their lives need to be respected as other people’s are, and secured as are other people’s.  I don’t want police to die on the job, and I don’t want them to live miserable, tortured lives either.

If we want to start showing more care and compassion for police lives, we can start by re-examining the job we ask them to do.  Police are often put in an impossible position.  They are confronted daily with the worst elements of our society, with us at our worst, with our worst behaviors.  Then we ask them to treat everyone they encounter with civility and respect.  Well, how can they do that when so many of the encounters they have involve violence and disrespect?  We are asking them to treat every civilian as their employer, but the job is conditioning them to treat every civilian as a suspect and a threat.

It Starts With Reform

If we care about police lives, then we need police reform.  Reforms can potentially lessen the psychological burdens of the job.  Reforms can hopefully help reduce the frequency of physically-violent encounters.  Reforms can remove the fear or self-preservation instincts that stop police from speaking up agains unethical orders or improper conduct of peers.

If we care about protecting police lives, we can start by dismantling the culture of unthinking solidarity.  If every cop has to stand by the bad cop because they cannot show disunity, then that bad cop will continue to tarnish their name, to invite retribution, and to put the good cops in danger. We can’t have police unions protecting bad cops.  We can’t have police departments firing good cops because they choose to speak up about the bad behavior of their colleagues.

If we care about police lives, we have to stop arming them like the military.  They are not trained like the military.  They are not in a war zone facing similarly-armed enemy combatants.  They are not–and should not be–under the protections of war-time law.  They are meant to be serving communities.  However, in inner-city communities, they often behave as an occupying force.  They are meant to be protecting civilians, but they are often seen as only protecting the folks who look like them or have their level of income and above, protecting those folks FROM the other civilians who don’t look the same or enjoy the same levels of privilege.

We All Play a Part

If we care about police lives, then police–as an institution–need to re-think how they relate to one another and to their communities.  Police need to speak up about what is right and what is wrong about the job they are asked to do, about the way they are instructed to do it, and about what they see their colleagues doing.  We civilians therefore have a responsibility to speak with the law enforcement officers we know and encounter socially.  We need to make them feel safe with the idea of reforming their own institutions and make them comfortable with building closer connections to the communities they work in.  We need to challenge their group-think when it presents itself, and challenge any bias or immoral tendencies they exhibit as we get to know them better.

If you are a police officer or a police supporter, I hope this gave you some food for thought.  If you are against the police, I hope you were able to reflect on how they are not always bad actors, but sometimes victims of circumstance.  I hope we are all able to grow closer in this time of crisis, rather than farther apart.  ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ is a truism, so let us all work to find common ground.

I’ve had several people ask me lately, “Why are they saying ‘black lives matter?'”  And follow that with, “I wish they would just say, ‘all lives matter.'”

I have explained that this IS precisely what they are saying.  They are saying that all lives matter, but that black lives are the ones who are being treated as if they don’t.  So, the phrase ‘black lives matter’ is a reminder not to value some people’s lives any less just because of the color of their skin: value all lives equally.

But, I understand the sentiment behind their objections.  In fact, I like that phrase, “All Lives Matter.”  I want to co-opt it.  I want Americans to remember that all lives matter, and when we remember that all lives matter, here is a list of things I want you to think about:

• The black people who are killed by police, killed in prisons, murdered in racially-based crimes, and acts of street violence.
• The white people who are killed by police, by prisons, by domestic violence and murdered over personal disputes.
• The brown people killed at our borders, working in our fields, by diseases of lifestyle and the conditions of impoverished neighborhoods.
• The red people who have been killed by our government and Anglo-American western expansion, and who continue to die from poverty and neglect.
• The yellow people killed in the jungles of Vietnam and World War 2 concentration camps, as well as those dying in today’s iPhone factories.

And do we really have to use these dumb-ass color terms anymore?  Let’s remember all the lives of all colors who are lost in our wars every day.  And all the lives of all the colors who needlessly die at the behest of large corporations and monied interests.  And all the lives lost through poverty, neglect, abuse, preventable disease, and interpersonal conflicts.

I want you to think about the kids, like my little brother, who died in misguided wars while the politicians who sent them over there kept themselves and their own kids safe over here.  And think about the kids who died because a drone piloted by someone in Langley, Virginia blew up their schoolhouse far away in the Middle East.

Think about the unborn children who are killed in abortion clinics all over this country.  Am I going too far?  Maybe you should also think about the women who would die from childbirth or pregnancy complications if they didn’t have those procedures, or the unwanted children who are found dead in dumpsters.

There are no simple answers.  Just a lot of hard questions and hard work we have to do, starting within ourselves, our families, and our communities.  Left-wing and Right-wing can’t save us when they’re both wrong.  More antagonism and partisanship can’t bring us closer together.  Further disrespect for human life will not result in saving lives or improving quality of life.

While you’re at it, I want you to think about the value of your own life, and the life of that person you call your enemy.  Find purpose, know yourself, and see the same potential in others.  Make an attempt to understand them and you will understand yourself better.

So, yes, all lives matter, but today we’re saying black lives matter.  Do you see why?

I wrote about George Floyd on Monday, and I will continue to say his name, but it’s not just about George.  Lot’s of people in the country have been killed over race, and/or killed by police.  These two things aren’t always combined, but when they are, it is especially egregious.  Today, I want to talk about a few of the other recent incidents, just in case you haven’t heard about them or don’t know the story.

Ahmaud Arbery

On February 23rd of 2020, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was shot to death while jogging near Brunswick, Georgia.  While this was not a police killing, it was a racially motivated killing, which ignited outrage about the ongoing consequences of racism in America.  Ahmaud’s killers were not arrested until 74 days later, long after the video of the killing had gone viral.  One of the killers was a former police officer still connected to current officers and prosecutors.

Breonna Taylor

On March 13th, police in Louisville, Kentucky, used a battering ram to bust down the door to the apartment of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician. This happened just after midnight, and they were serving a “no-knock” warrant, but it is hotly disputed whether they gave warning or not.  Breonna was shot at least 8 times by police and killed in the ensuing firefight between police and her boyfriend, a licensed gun owner who claims to have shot in self-defense against unidentified intruders.

Sarah Grossman

On May 30th, 22-year-old Sarah Grossman was demonstrating at a protest in Columbus, Ohio when she was tear-gassed police.  She later died in the hospital from respiratory issues as a result.  The use of tear gas in warfare was banned by the Geneva Protocol of 1925, but police in the United States continue to use it on protestors to this day.

David McAtee

June 1st, 2020, again in Louisville, Kentucky.  This time, David McAtee, a chef, was protesting when the police and National Guard came in to enforce a curfew.  He was killed by a National Guard bullet in a shootout between protestors and officers.  The police involved had turned off their body cameras.

Sean Monterrosa

June 2nd.  Police in Vallejo, California, respond to reports of looting at a Walgreens.  They find a dozen people and several cars in the parking lot.  Most of the people flee, and the police give chase, resulting in a car chase.  However, 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa kneels on the ground with his hands up and is fatally shot.

Rayshard Brooks

June 12th.  27-year-old Rayshard Brooks passes out in his car in a Wendy’s drive-through.  Police report to the scene and wake him up.  He submits to a breathalyzer test and it turns out he is slightly above the legal limit.  When the police attempt to arrest him, a fight breaks out and Rayshard steals a taser from one of the police.  He is then shot in the back and kicked by officers while he lies on the ground bleeding.  All of this is on video.

There have been more.  These are only the ones I know about within the past couple of months.  There have been many widely-publicized killings of African-Americans by police over the past decade as social media has made these videos available to all of us.  This year, over 780 videos of police violence against protestors have appeared on Twitter since the outbreak of protests on May 26th.  Most of those killed have been African-Americans.  Let’s not pretend this isn’t happening.  Let’s talk about why and what we can do to make it stop.

First of all, I’m talking about this stuff because it is topical, and because I’m not gonna like myself if I don’t say something.  I have been on many different sides of the police in this country and in others, so I’m not coming at this with armchair opinions or a list of statistics.  I’m going to tell some of my own stories about my own experiences and relationships with the police, and how that has formed my opinions about them.  This is really just the Cliff’s Notes version, but I will talk more about some of these things in the future.

• I was in D.A.R.E.

The first encounters I remember with police officers were in Drug Abuse Resistance Education.  This should have been called “Drug Abuse Receptivity Education” because it just made the kids who were already likely to do drugs more knowledgable and enthusiastic about them.  This gave me an early impression of the police as conscientious and well-intentioned, but misguided in their efforts, out of touch.

• I was family friends with a policeman

One of my kid brother’s best friends had a father who was a police officer.  He was a really nice guy and a family man, but there were elements of his personality that were ugly that I’m sure were reinforced by the job.  I noticed he was never particularly discriminatory to individuals, but he would say racist things that came from his experiences on the job.  There was also an edge of thuggish machismo when talking about work.  I felt like this was what was meant by, “power corrupts”.

• I was a teenage runaway

I ran away from home when I was 14 over some conflicts with my parents.  I’d had a rough childhood and was headed in a pretty bad direction.  I ended up hanging out on the streets in downtown Portland with a bunch of punk rockers and street kids.  One day, a group of about a dozen police came across the street to bust us up on the pretense that we were taking up too much sidewalk space.  I was beaten up badly by a group of police officers who threw me against a wrought-iron fence with spikes on the top, and kicked me on the ground repeatedly.  They were throwing me around with my arms bound behind my back, so you know you can’t brace your fall with your arms that way and you get pretty hurt.  I remember a hippy kid gathering signatures for some petition, and when he saw what was happening to me he busted out a polaroid and started shouting, “you pay their salaries and this is what they do to your kids!”

• I was a protestor

After that, I decided to get involved with police brutality protests.  These happened every October or November in Seattle, if I remember correctly.  This is where I learned some of the stories of other people like me who had been victims of excessive force, and I met families who had lost loved ones needlessly to police violence.  I learned that people were dying from this, because I met their survivors face-to-face and heard their stories.  Put a personal face on a problem and it is much different than a statistic or a new article that gets your hackles up.  This is real and it sticks with you.

• I was a thug & a criminal

I developed my ideas about protest into a thirst for riots and revolutions, and from that into outright street violence.  I learned every word to NWA’s “F**k the Police!” and the 4Skins’ “All Coppers Are Bastards”.  I got in a lot of street fights, at first justifying this as I was only beating up neo-nazis and white power guys, but later just fighting anyone who I didn’t like or who looked at me funny.  I stole stuff, I trespassed, I defaced property, I hurt people.  During this period of my young adulthood, I was picked up by the police and put into jail several times.  I saw how the culture of city police and rural police was different.  When my former D.A.R.E. officer arrested me in my home town, he remembered my name and was pretty nice about it.  When I was arrested in the city, police roughed me up and threw my wallet in the mud.  I was once chased by police for 5 blocks and tackled to the ground with a gun barrel jammed into the back of my head.  I was strip-searched on the street in NYC during stop-and-frisk just because they didn’t like the way I looked.  I also noticed how easy it was to get away with most crime if you’re not being totally stupid.  It seemed like city police weren’t actually preventing, investigating, or creating solutions to crime, they were merely intervening in the few edge cases when they got a timely call, and retaliating whenever they had the opportunity.

• I was in a riot

One time, I was in downtown Seattle for the Mardi Gras parties, walking around with a video camera while people partied in the streets.  I saw how the scene got crowded, and then got worse when the police fringed the area and created pressure to compress the crowd towards the center.  I watched how a large street gathering gets turned into a riot.  I saw gangs come in and settle beefs with each other.  I watched a guy get stabbed by a dozen dudes.  Meanwhile, the police with riot shields and those on horseback were pushing the crowd closer and closer together, making it harder for people to escape.  Then they started lobbing tear gas into us.  People couldn’t escape.  I was jumped by a gang of guys who was trying to steal my video camera, then they got jumped by another gang who pulled me and my camera out and set me free.  Police were not helpful in any of this.  As I was trying to get away, I asked a mounted cop a question and he kicked me square in the head.  They did not disperse the crowd, but they did turn it into a riot, and that’s when opportunist vandals and looters showed up.  Seems familiar…

• I was into CrossFit

So far, most of these experiences with the police have been negative, and I truly did not like police at this time.  I would never call them, no matter what happened.  That would be considered snitching.  Then I got into this thing called “CrossFit”.  Now I was working out with a lot of guys (& gals) who were in the military, law enforcement, fire, and competitive athletics. I made friends with some cops.  I started to hear their stories of on-the-job life and I understood that “thuggish machismo” thing a lot better.  Heck, I was completely a macho thug by this point myself!  I started to understand the human side of cops, and how they weren’t that much different than me. They were tough and disciplined and hard-working.  They believed in what they were doing, most of the time.  And, the every day challenges of the job changed them in ways they did not expect.  I helped a cop friend celebrate his 50th birthday and we bonded.  I started to think that there was a use for these people in society, that they served an important role.

• I worked in film & TV

Working on TV commercials and Indie films, I had the experience of actually hiring police.  I saw how easy it was to put police onto your payroll officially (through their employer), and how that bought you a certain set of privileges you wouldn’t normally have.  On one side of the coin, we got the really friendly, happy side of police who were getting paid handsomely on their day off to just hang out and do non-dangerous stuff.  On the other side, we got to see the corruptibility of the institution.  I met a few corrupt cops tangentially during these years, learning that some cops make side money beating people up for night club owners or covering for people who use their businesses as fronts for drug-dealing and prostitution.  Badge, uniform, gun, these are the trappings of authority, and that authority can be bent to varying uses based on who is paying the bills.

• I went to University

The biggest thing that changed my mind about police during University was an assignment for my Law class.  We were told to go spend a day at the courthouse observing trials.  I was instructed to look at the docket specifically for a case that sounded interesting and had some live testimony going on, not just to walk into any random courtroom.  The room I ended up in told one of the gnarliest stories I’d ever heard.  The man on trial was a biker gang leader, arms dealer, chop-shop owner, and drug smuggler.  The WA state patrolman whose testimony we heard that day detailed how they arrived with two SWAT teams at the front and back gates of the man’s compound, announced their arrival on loudspeakers, and received gunfire from inside the compound in return.  They battered down the gates and entered, fanning out inside the compound to flank the house and get to the gunmen.  Inside the compound, there was a large collection of stolen vehicles.  They found a shooting range with target-practice effigies of nuns and minorities, including black cops like the man testifying.  They entered a barn filled with drugs, including literal tons of marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines.  They found an armory with military-grade equipment, including rocket launchers.  After a prolonged shootout, they apprehended the suspect.  So, maybe we need some cops after all?

• I traveled the world

After college, I traveled through Asia, Africa, and Europe on a 6-month backpacking adventure.  A couple months later, I was back in Africa for most of a year.  In the following years, I lived again in Africa, traveled to Jamaica, and lived in Thailand.  I’ve continued to make international trips about once a year.  I saw police who were scary, like the Cambodian border police who locked me in a room and hid their badges when they were asking for a bribe (these guys were former Khmer Rouge).  I saw police who were friendly, like the baton-wielding (no firearms) police in India who directed traffic and dispensed with helpful driving directions.  I saw police who were armed like the military, patrolling in armored vehicles as if they were in a war zone.  I saw other police in other countries who weren’t armed at all, but were more like a helpful neighborhood guide or security guard.  I rented a house from a quasi-fascist cop in Thailand.  I was stopped on the road and pressed for bribes countless times in Kenya.  I started to see the commonalities between all police (that they wield the threat of physical violence & represent the authority of the state), as well as the differences between police in different cultures (some are trained well and incentivized to serve their communities, while others are poorly-trained and are incentivized to only serve themselves).  Some police are motivated by ethics, morals, and values.  Some police only value their own power and personal gain.

• I trained LEOs for their PT tests

Then, I kind of accidentally got into the business of training law enforcement officers to pass their PT tests.  It actually started with training recruits for the military, then training people from my CrossFit classes who wanted to pass their upcoming military, fire, or LEO PT tests. Soon, the local police department was hitting me up every time they had a recruit who was on the fence, or a tenured officer who had failed their annual test.  I met a lot of guys who worked in a lot of different law enforcement jobs, or aspired to do so.  I did a lot of listening and learned about their values, their ambitions, and their challenges.  I saw how important it was that they be confident and well-prepared, both mentally and physically, as well as in their training.  Weak cops, dumb cops, or poorly-trained cops are dangerous.  Healthy cops–with stable home lives and routines, good physical preparation, and sharp minds–were more likely to de-escalate situations, make good choices, and keep people safe.  I tried my best to impart some mental toughness and moral reasoning into these guys, from my own life-lessons and stories, while also preparing them physically.  I like to think I made a positive impact on some people who went on to law enforcement careers, while I also helped some people realize that it wasn’t for them.

• I lived across the street from a meth house

And then there was the time that I relied upon the police.  We’d spent a full year shopping for homes before finding something within our modest price range that we liked and were ready to move right into.  It’s a nice house, with a nice yard, and close to friends and family.  The only problem was the beaten-down trailer across the street.  This house was constant trouble for the entire neighborhood, with drug customers coming and going 24 hours a day like a McDonald’s drive-through.  There were frequent fights and yelling matches in the front yard, and police or Sherriff’s deputies stopping by a couple times a week with lights flashing.  They picked up stolen cars over there, arrested people for drugs and domestic violence.  It was a bad scene, and it was only 10 yards away from my front door.  I started asking some of the police I knew from the gym for help.  Actually, one of the guys I was training worked for the Sherriff’s task force that was responsible for that place.  It was a long saga, and the neighbors across the street did retaliatory attacks on me–such as yanking my mailbox out with a tow hitch–but eventually we got them out of there.  Now our home is a safe place to live and a safe place for our kids to play.  I also met some local cops who live in the area and whose kids go to school here.  These guys are accountable to their local community and they actually care about it being a nice place to live.

So, are cops good or bad?  It depends.  Do we need them or don’t we?  It’s complicated. I have learned that they are just people like the rest of us, and just as prone to corruption or fallibility.  It’s all about the institution and how we use it, about the culture of the society and the cultures of the law enforcement agencies themselves, about the training they receive and the roles they are asked to play.  I’ll tell you this for sure: we can definitely do better.