Actual Black Person.: On the flipside. The best police interaction I've ever had.

Nov 22, 2011
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On the flipside. The best police interaction I’ve ever had.

So on the flip side of my previous post I will tell you about the nicest most wonderful cop I’ve ever met.

A few years ago due to my partner being hospitalized/having some financial difficulties we had to move in with a friend on Bainbridge Island which is wealthy and very -very- White.

I was one of two Black women on the island.

At night I walked home and it’s really dark over there. One night I was walking home and I fell down. I mean I totally ate shit and spilled my things all over the sidewalk, someone’s yard and the street.

I also pinched a nerve in my neck and scraped myself up.

I saw flashers on a cop car and thought for certain I was going to be harassed. Instead of demanding ID or wanting to know what I was doing there the police officer who was an older white man pointed his spotlight at the ground. He helped me pick up all of my things.

He also cleaned up my scraped knee like I was his granddaughter, put a bandaid on it and offered me a ride home via the scenic route since I mentioned I hadn’t seen something or other.

I said no because I was freaked out and thinking that the “ride” was a euphemism for take me in the woods and kill me.

I saw this same officer almost every day at some point on my ~~ride~~ walk..(damn I am tired)home. We introduced ourselves and after that for the duration of the time I lived there every time I saw him he would pull up, lower his window and say “Oh Hello Miss Barber how are you?”

We had conversations about horror novels. He did actually drive me home one night because I had to walk up a kind of steepish hill and he said there was black ice and he didn’t want me to “take a fall”.

Not once did he ever look or speak to me disrespectfully. Not once did he ever accuse me of doing something simply because something happened and I happened to be nearby.

He never made me feel afraid.

Around that officer I felt the way you are supposed to feel around cops. I felt safe and protected. I knew if he saw me fall down, or found me by the side of the road, or upset somewhere I wouldn’t get the what did you do, where are you going spiel.

Dear Police,

That is how people are supposed to feel around you. People are not supposed to see you around and feel sudden pants shitting terror that they are about to get a beating, get shot or just be generally terrorized.

Sincerely,

Shannon