NYPD in Black and White

"What did you think of the shooting in the city the other day?" my friend on the other end of the line asked. He's a retired NYPD lieutenant with 20 years of service.

"What shooting?" I asked - me a retired NYPD detective shot in the line of duty in a bungled buy-and-bust narcotics operation.

"Where the cop shot the other cop," he said matter-of-factly.

"What??!!"

It was another case of white-cop-shoots-black-man - and not the first time in New York City history when the black man turned out to be another cop.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Well," he said after a pause, "another inexperienced young Turk, lacking discretion and judgment, assigned to an anti-crime unit." It brought to mind the Diallo debacle, where four white cops assigned to a street crimes unit panicked and fired 41 shots at an unarmed black man, standing in the doorway of his home in the Bronx. Street crimes unit, anti-crime unit. The name may change but the game is the same.

Most white plainclothes police patrolling the streets of Harlem or the Bronx seem to take for granted that every black or Hispanic male "knows" they are cops, while at the same time assuming that just about every black or Hispanic male is a likely suspect of some misdeed. When I was on the force, cops responding to a call for police assistance in a dispute involving a white and black man would invariably approach the white guy asking, "What's the problem, sir?" I remember one black man saying shyly, "I am the one who called."

Officer Omar J. Edwards has been forever silenced. He is unable to defend himself against the unfair slights of posthumous revisionism, the blaming of the victim.

He was running with his gun drawn, the academic desk jockeys will say.

Officer Edwards had his gun drawn because he was dealing with a crackhead who had broken into his car. Sure, I know what the patrol guide says and what it doesn't say. But no self-respecting police officer is going to see his personal effects rifled and not take immediate action. The report seems to indicate that his shield was properly displayed.

He shouldn't have turned around when he heard someone tell him to stop and drop the gun, the cop self-defense mantra goes on.

Let's get real. Sure, the patrol guide mandates you "remain motionless when so ordered." But the average person is going to look to see who is giving the order.

(One night when I was on the force, I was on duty, wrestling a burglar to the ground, when an unmarked car swerved around the corner. I thought they were coming to assist me, but the two clowns who called themselves "cops" opened fire without saying a word. It was only their bad shooting and my quick response in hitting the ground, thanks to my military training, that saved my life. In the aftermath, after some clever writing and rewriting, they were promoted to detectives.)

And the question remains, was Officer Edwards given a chance to drop his gun before he was cut down in a hale of bullets?

Officer Omar J. Edward, father of two, young, proud, dedicated, still wearing his police academy tee shirt after two years on the job, lay dying on a New York City street, hands shackled behind his back. Mentally teetering between life and death, he was not consoled by his fellow officers to "Hold on, you're gonna make it." He was just another black "perp" victim of police indiscretion, and the higher command's inability or smug unwillingness to properly train and assign its officers.

I was not consoled by my fellow cops either, when I lay bleeding on a filthy tenement landing. No, the assurance came from an old man of color, soothing me and encouraging me to hold on. It felt good.

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Comments

[SCMagnolia]

"I was not consoled by my fellow cops either, when I lay bleeding on a filthy tenement landing. No, the assurance came from an old man of color, soothing me and encouraging me to hold on. It felt good."

Thank you, that felt good as well.

[Truth11234]

Greetings Mr. Serpico:

I've been impressed by you for a very long time. So much so, that after becoming a NY Police Officer, I also became an undercover cop in the Manhattan North Narcotics Division and writer after my retirement. I'm of the 'old school' nature and usually don't 'Monday Morning.......' what happens when another cop on the street has to use deadly physical force but I've been sickened by the quick trigger of many white cops on the job. Being a black man and retired Detective, I've seen the worst that the NYPD has to offer. Everything from improper training of cops to 'sticky fingers' during that whole 911 ordeal, I've seen it all. In myopinion, the foundation of most of NYPD's problems is that the job has systematically forced the experience off the job, making it impossible for the new blood the opportunity to learn from them. 'The blind leading the blind' is the sad result and with it, horrifc endings like the last 'friendly fire' incident. At last count, I think it's 112 incidents where white officers shot an offr on duty black or non-white officer and 0 the other way.

[StillIRise]

I'm reminded of an incident that took place when I was teaching in an inner-city high school. As students were passing classes, a huge fight broke out. As we awaited security, several teachers, including myself, attempted to break the fight up. One of the teachers was a middle-aged, bald-headed, impeccably dressed African American man. The security guard who finally came onto the scene was white and was relatively new to the school.

Rushing onto the scene, the security guard ran past the students milling around the fighters, ran past the two fighters - two Hispanic young men - and grabbed the African American male teacher, flinging him to the floor and then pouncing on his back. Of all the people there, this security guard saw only one person who aroused his suspicions - a black man! Even the students who were fighting stopped and joined with one another to pull this security off of their teacher! None of us could believe what we were seeing, but it was obvious to all of us - students and teachers alike - that the security guard had misidentified the perpetrator because he was blinded by skin color.

Thankfully, he didn't have a gun!

[AmericanWarrior]

POWERFUL! ! !

[jimbobre]

The overarching problem with the NYPD and many other police departments is de facto General Warrants have been instituted in black and Hispanic neighborhoods to increase arrest numbers and permit politicans to claim they're successfully fighting crime. The framers of the constitution specifically banned General Warrants (4th Ammendment) because they are more the tools of politics than police work. The American colonists, themselves, were abused by general warrants called Writs of Assistance. General Warrant is the real name for what we call "racial profiling."

Consider, the NYPD will make over 600,000 (recorded) stops of citizens in 2009 under the guise "you fit the description.." or some other reason. Based on prior history, only about 8,000 arrests (1%) will follow from these stops. The only justification police can provide for the 99 to 1 ratio between stops and arrests is "stops are made in high crime areas," which is the very definition of a general warrant. Real probable cause stops, based upon actual observation of suspicious activity, would surely lead to a better ratio between stops and arrests (and a lot less stops).

Police officers support general warrants because they can lead to promotions. An officer in a NYPD street crime unit can make detective in 18 months, instead of the normal 36 months. The only requirement is to meet the unit's arrest quota. Sometimes, the need to reach the arrest quota leads to a Diallo, Bell or officer Edwards.

[BigBagel]

Actually there's a law that if a police officer is in an investigatory assignment he/she has to be promoted to detective once he/she has served in that assignment 18 months.

[coolchange]

Thank you, Mr. Serpico.

[urfree2speak]

Think about it, this man lay there dying with his hands behind his back a fate worse than a rabid dog's we are too gullible in this country. some would day craven in the face of organized violence done everyday against citizens of this nation.
The sooner we all wake up and realize that the fastest way to everyone living in an "communist like totalitarian state is to stand idly by while one segment of the nation (blacks) are butchered ...maimed ,tortured. We will all soon loose our most precious God given right FREEDOM! Does not matter anymore WHAT color you are ......we must STOP treating men that are "drunk" on the power granted to them by the people.....like champions. When these people behave like zeros...granted I have met so many gifted and dedicated men and women who are policemen, the fact remains when one kills needlessly ...a "union" should not be allowed to save his job, a life is just to precious.

[BigNelson]

You see, those white racists who take laws into their hands should know that, they themselves are not Americans. They should read the history of the U.S.A.

They should ask themselves this question. Where are the indigenuos Americans. The Cherokees, the Real Indian Americans etc. If they want to carry on with their devilish behavours and thinking, then they should create their own world.

Those who are making noise of who is American or not should know that their ancestors came also. So, they have no justification to say that the U.S.A belong to them.

[qdog112]

THANKS FRANK

[robert234]

A FACT OF NATURE: If there were no colors of any kind, cops will automatically find somebody to shoot, and if they can't, frequently they simply shoot themselves.

[wadenelson1]

And yet the NRA wants to arm MORE citizens, some of whom will eventually be running down an alley with a gun drawn, and no uniform.

Am I the only one who gets THIS take-away?

When you're not wearing a uniform, and have a gun drawn, police are NATURALLY going to assume you're a bad guy and not a "helpful vigilante."

And yet this is what the NRA wants MORE of, not less.

[RoseMerry]

Wow. It had been so long, I forgot that Mr. Serpico was a real person and that movie based on his heroism is not a work of fiction. What a treasure it is to have him provide this unique perspective on this horror.

[chazmanr]

Frank, you continue to be an inspiration. Great article and great insight!

[Serpico]

The fact that troubles me is that no one seems to be aware or care that Edwards whether white or black cop or civilian was a mortally wounded human being and lay dying with his hands shackled behind his back while three of New York's finest stood over him, as a friend stated,"like a big prised 8 point buck".
He was a human being and should have been accorded the dignity as such.
What crime was he guilty of?
He was someones son, father, husband, brother, in this particular case a brother officer.
This is the issue that must be addressed if we are to call ourselves civilised.

[robadeaux]

Civilized? That's a joke, right?

[doug108]

Cops are trained to handcuff people they have just shot. Shooting someone doesn't necessarily mean the attack is over. It's not TV. Your safety and the safety of everyone around you is at stake.

Suppose you're a cop who just shot someone. You think you've disarmed him, but he has another gun tucked in his waste band, or stuffed down the front of his pants. You don't cuff him. All of a sudden this guy jumps up and starts shooting again. Who carries the liability now?

[JKDMan]

You've always been one of my heroes, Frank. Great to see you contributing to HuffPo.

[porkido]

"He was running with his gun drawn, the academic desk jockeys will say."

Um, yeah, why WAS his gun drawn?

[CantBelieve]

If you had bothered to read this article, or any other article about this incident, you would know that his gun was drawn because he was chasing a suspect who had just broken into his car.

[alenaspoppa]

"Officer Edwards had his gun drawn because he was dealing with a crackhead who had broken into his car. Sure, I know what the patrol guide says and what it doesn't say. But no self-respecting police officer is going to see his personal effects rifled and not take immediate action. The report seems to indicate that his shield was properly displayed."

[olmossy]

Somewhere I read they found his shield in his pocket.

[emncaity]

"Um, yeah"...

...figured it out yet?

[qdog112]

BECAUSE HE WAS DOING HIS JOB.

[StillIRise]

Pathetic!

[princeofthecity]

"Well," he said after a pause, "another inexperienced young Turk, lacking discretion and judgment, assigned to an anti-crime unit." It brought to mind the Diallo debacle, where four white cops assigned to a street crimes unit panicked and fired 41 shots at an unarmed black man, standing in the doorway of his home in the Bronx. Street crimes unit, anti-crime unit. The name may change but the game is the same.

why is it so seemingly easy to become a cop in the first place? because we need more cops as our society becomes ever increasingly messed up? well then, as law enforcement becomes more important then accordingly we should be spending more time recruiting better qualified people to do this job, not people whose motivation for becoming a cop stems from the lack of ambition to do anything else, and a promising pension - "i only need a 2 year degree from and i can become a cop, i'll do that"

a lot of these cops do lack discretion and judgment - CLEARLY

[JC1c1]

You get what you pay for!

The amount of money police officers make is very low. People with Bachelors degrees or higher are going to be recruited with better pay to state or federal levels. The cost of training a police officer, to put them into an academy at the cheapest is 40 grand. That is just the academy.

If they offered better pay you would have much more people willing to sign up to be police officers and then the depts would be able to choose the best from the applicants.

Also there are so fewer cops on the street that they are overworked and the dept can not make time to make sure that they are at the firing range, that they run through certain mock ups.

In my state most of the depts require a pysch exam, lie detector test, random drug screening and have to have so many credits of classes each year. They also have to spend a certain amount of hours at the gun range. They usually do most of these things on their days off bc there arent enough police officers to cover the street to do it while working. Add the amount of time they have to go to court.

You get what you pay for.

[BigBagel]

Total pay for a NYPD officer at full pay: $90,829. That's without overtime. I'm sure they'll take more if you want to give it to them.