A senior US police officer has admitted he is not looking forward to his next few years on the front line and suspects there will be “exponentially more” deadly encounters between police and citizens.
What President Donald Trump could do to help, the deputy police chief from west-central Illinois suggested, is to “stop being Donald Trump”.
Simon, who asked that his real name be withheld, urged his fellow officers to find common ground with protesters while quelling the crime wave that has plagued many rallies over George Floyd’s death.
Police should do their best to ensure they’re “not making the situation worse with excessive force”, he told The New Daily.
He said officers should keep their “head on a swivel, hold the line, and stay safe,” while doing their best to bring looters, arsonists, assailants, and other criminals to justice.
But in a country awash with guns, poverty, and seemingly far more violence than other Western nations, Simon expressed strong fears of more deadly police encounters.
“I think that the police are inevitably going to find themselves in exponentially more lethal and non-lethal-force encounters than their foreign counterparts,” he said.
“As for the state of the country, I think it’s getting worse as far as political divisiveness, and I don’t see an end in sight for it – and the George Floyd incident isn’t going to help.
“As far as my job goes, in reference to the current unrest compounded by past controversies, I’m not looking forward to the next few years of being a cop.”
Message to protesters
Simon said he, like many other officers across the country, empathise with the anger felt by protesters.
“I have not met a single officer that thinks that it was appropriate for him (Derek Chauvin) to kneel on Mr Floyd’s neck for minutes on end, especially knowing that he had already been secured in handcuffs with three backup officers on scene,” he said.
Simon said he was “appalled” by Chauvin’s actions.
“I’m in the odd position of agreeing with the cause of these protesters where, in the past, I was against most of them.
“With the exceptions of the Walter Scott, Philando Castile, and Justine Damond incidents, I believe that most of the other headline-grabbing lethal force incidents were justified under the law.”
He urged Americans to stay clear of violence.
“I would ask them to keep their protests peaceful, knowing that many officers, nationwide, empathise with their anger and share it, too.”
