Yes, appearances matter. As Atamasama said, it’s not enough to be ethical, one must preclude the appearance of being unethical. That was the lesson at my place of work for a government contractor as well.
It is important for cops to look good. A key part of their role is being a trusted part of the community to enforce laws and protect people. It’s hard to do that role when they aren’t trusted by a large segment of the community.
Why should the suspect have to walk? Punishment? Of course they should have called for a car. The point was that the cars were all busy, so they decided not to wait. But they should have waited. Or else let the suspect ride double. Yeah, that’s happening. Or let the suspect ride and walk the horse? No, not happening. I know, throw the suspect over the saddle like a pair of saddle bags. Yeah!
With respect to the police, “we” are a mixture of customer and boss. We, as taxpayers, setup and fund the police force to work on our behalf to keep the peace and enforce the laws.
If the police use the power we have granted to them in ways that abuse the public, (without being necessary to keep the peace or enforce the law) what we think about it matters, and it should matter a whole hell of a lot.
And neverminding the way this makes the cops look, they should not do this also as a matter of respect for the accused. Lead a black man down the road with a rope? In light of what this means with respect to American history, rocks are truly required to be In the heads of anyone that doesn’t see the inhumane aspect of this. The top cop saw it right away.
Something bad did happen. White LEOs put used a rope to force a Black man to walk through town. It actually does not matter if the cops were on horseback, were walking alongside him, or were in an automobile while holding the free end of the rope. Well, that last one is definitley worse than the others. One would hope you do not need an explanation for that.
It looks bad because it is bad.
“Or anything”. Guess what. “Or anything” actually happened, and it is bad. No, the Black man was not actually lynched. But there sure is history–quite modern history, too, mind you–of Blacks getting lynched, even in Texas. Guess what all those lynchings had in common?
That’s not the fucking issue here.
They should call for a car so they don’t give the impression that they’re tying a fucking rope around a Black man and parading him through town. They should call fo r a car for transport. This might shock you, but it’s not the suspect’s responsibility to transport himself to the hoosegow. If a fucking car is not available, here’s a nifty idea: put the suspect on the horse with the cop.
Are you actually that unaware of the country’s modern history?
I’m honestly trying to figure out why a police department would even have a policy “for escorting a prisoner through town with a rope tied to his handcuffs and/or shackles while the escorting officer is mounted on a horse”.
Wait, paddy wagon is derogatory ? If so, I apologize for having used the word - in my defense, I only know one other way to call those in English, and Google told me “hurry-up wagon” was antiquated, obsolete and linked me to the 18th century, so. What’s the real word, then ?
It would be equally interesting to know when the last time the opportunity arose to apply this treatment to a white guy. You can’t claim someone is being treated differently without something to compare it to.
And you don’t think that kind of inaccurate reporting fans the flames? Accuracy matters. Man Being Walked Down Street by Mounted Cops While Handcuffed probably isn’t going to make you read any further. Black Man Dragged by White Cops on Horses! Now, that’s an eye-catcher!
I don’t know the name for the phenomena but people tend to believe the first thing they see/hear about any given event. Even when the belief is later proved wrong. Michael Brown is still held up as some sort of martyr. We have a President who uses this to his advantage on a daily basis. To say this guy was dragged is inexcusable.
I’m searching for data on how often mounted police make arrests. So far, I’ve found out that the standard procedure is to wait for a patrol unit, and that San Diego police similarly tied a prisoner to their saddle and walked him through the streets in 1986. Not surprisingly, the black community there was outraged and witnesses said it looked like a slave being taken to market.
That would certainly surprise me. From observation and direct experience, it’s lying face down with the officers foot lightly resting on your back. And the word “sorry” wasn’t used.
As to if that’s better or worse, I agree with management as quoted above: it’s better to lie with your nose rubbing in the gutter rather than to be paraded in public a couple of blocks.
I saw that on the TV news. Shows they had some awareness of the visibility of the incident, but not the prudence to reconsider.
That remark about dragging sounds more like a parent chiding an unruly child than a racist. Still, not the best remark out of one of Galveston’s “Finest”.