Students should not fear police
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Rick Hale
Police worry students have no respect for justice, so they hit students over the head with it. Students think police don’t sympathize with them as fellow humans beings, and that they have no respect for individuality or moral integrity, and so they learn to duck.
It’s becoming obvious that the relationship between students and police is an unsuccessful one, because it isn’t a relationship at all.
One of the things I’ve recently noticed is the multitude of advertisements that want students to continue living on campus. Prejudices regarding personal development aside, this could only be an effort to make the university some much-needed money. Many students living in the dorms — especially juniors — would very likely cause a crackdown on minors in possession on campus.
Such an effort obviously would be applauded by MSU Provost Kim Wilcox, who has been striving to remove the “party school” label from MSU for some time now. But it’s important to realize that the removal of a label is meaningless; ripping the label off a bottle of Burnett’s will do nothing to improve its taste.
But advertisements on cafeteria tables seem trivial when compared to some of the more alarming situations I’ve seen:
An East Lansing Police Department car driving by a front porch on M.A.C. Avenue where a bloody fight took place against the side of the house in front of 30 students. The fight ending before the East Lansing Police Department car returned, and not one student — including myself — reporting what happened.
Beefed-up police cars coasting behind a sophomore who is wearing long hair and a Volunteers of America coat as he walks home from the library on a Thursday night.
Another shark of a car speeding through a red light on Grand River Avenue — with no siren — a few months later, right past that same sophomore, who is stumbling on whiskey legs, but now has a buzz cut and a tidy wool coat.
Two students getting jumped on Grove Street. No one helping them to find their wallets in the dark. No one asking whether the gashes on their faces were serious wounds — all while a police car idled at the end of the street.
Someone in a crowded basement by the beer pong table saying, “Cops cops cops cops cops.” The basement instantly becoming quiet and then empty.
A police officer with long blonde hair, jeans and an Iron Maiden shirt stealth-MIPing every freshman “Martyr In Possession” walking down the sidewalk. No requisite badge in sight.
I’m being honest when I say that police are frightening more people in this city than they’re protecting. I know they have a job to do, but inciting terror is most emphatically not a part of that job.
Who is right and who is wrong, then? What do right and wrong even mean?
These are questions with no right or wrong answers. So, rather than focus on the “whether,” humor me while I consider the “why.”
Why do students drink? Because it provides a momentary escape from the world of structure, classes, clocks and expectations.
Why do officers care? Primarily because that escape sometimes involves a car, and that car can sometimes permanently prevent people from returning to the world of structure, classes, clocks and expectations.
My own middle name is a monument to the most horrible consequence drinking and driving can have. I understand genuinely why police so ardently want it eradicated, and I agree with them.
But I believe their current methods are staggeringly unsound. I’m not the only one who’s appalled when an East Lansing police officer pulls me over and the first phrase out of his or her mouth is a blatant “how much.”
I’m trying to be sincere here. I don’t mind walking a straight line to prove the truth. I don’t mind blowing zeros into the little black machine.
But I cannot pretend to understand how that officer stooped next to my Geo with hand on holster can expect his loaded question to build in me any sort of respect for the law that isn’t rooted only in blind, instinctive fear.
Rick Hale is a State News assistant copy chief. Reach him at halerich@msu.edu
Commentary
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tedman
(11/05/09 1:03pm)Report
This is titled ‘Students should not fear police’ yet the article gives no reason why they shouldn’t. Is that your point?
There will alway be an us vs. them relationship. it’s the way it is.
The police could be a bit more forgiving and stop being such dicks to the students. but then again They get their money from the city of EL and that’s what the city wants them to be. Taht and drive the students out of the city limits.
jesus
(11/05/09 1:10pm)Report
Rick Hale rox my sox.
eff dem 5-0s.
Zeke
(11/05/09 3:23pm)Report
“They get their money from the city of EL and that’s what the city wants them to be. Taht and drive the students out of the city limits.”
Wait, so they need the students to make money but also want them to leave town? Are you learning impaired?
You want the police to help you? You could start by obeying the law and not bitching about the police when you get caught breaking it. You could not start fires and tear up property every year in Cedar Village. You could do your time for the crime instead of whining about the 5-0 being “out to get you.”
Respect goes both ways, folks.
ShellyDaKid
(11/05/09 4:14pm)Report
Well said Zeke.
EL police are notorious in the greater Lansing area for being jerks but they also have A LOT more crap to put up with then the rest of the area cops. Try doing a ride-along for one night to see what they go through. How many times do you hear of a “routine stop” going bad and the officer being killed? That’s what they have to think of daily. What’s the saying? “Instead of eff the police, how about you stop breaking the law @sshole.”
(all hail my) Respect
(11/05/09 4:24pm)Report
Zeke: speaking of respect you seem to have a good method for yourself – name calling. Oh and my personal favorite, stereotyping! Both almost always cause a respectable relationship…
so, can i assume that you never break the law? if you were pulled over for speeding 1 mph over the speed limit you wouldn’t be slightly upset? Or how about in the case of Rick Hale being pulled over for drunk driving while being completely sober? Or in my own personal account, getting pulled over by a cop in a large Tahoe/Suburban vehicle while i am riding my bicycle through a parking lot around 10pm on a Thursday night because the officer thought i looked suspicious. i then had to empty all of my pockets and stand there wasting my time and consider where my tax dollars really do end up… i don’t really care who you claim to be or think you are, such incidents are upsetting.
the benefit of the doubt. innocent until proven guilty. and maybe equally as pertinent, the golden rule. such thoughts usually create good relationships.
I believe that Rick Hale was attempting to point out cops should be in place to protect the people and not to scare the people with their presence or methods.
Zeke
(11/06/09 11:05am)Report
“speaking of respect you seem to have a good method for yourself – name calling”
So asking if someone has a learning disability is name calling? Amazing. If I said he was stupid, or a moron, or an idiot, THAT would have been name calling.
“so, can i assume that you never break the law?”
Sure, I have several times. The difference is that I don’t get pissy and assume the police are out to get me. You do the crime,l you do the time. It’s that simple.
As for your personal story and inconvenience, have you not noticed the police briefs lately? With cars being broken into and vandalized? You were riding in a parking lot when you should have been in a street where bikes belong. You can claim harassment all you want, but ultimately you weren’t charged, you weren’t arrested, and you weren’t locked up. Many in the country and the world are not so lucky.
“I believe that Rick Hale was attempting to point out cops should be in place to protect the people and not to scare the people with their presence or methods.”
The problem is that this doesn’t seem to work with college kids. The police refrain from beating the crap out of kids at Cedar Village while getting pelted with bottles and debris, and the students then complain about their very presence. Students want to drink themselves silly, and then piss and moan about cops cracking down on underage drinking – which protects a lot of them from drunken driving, sexual assault, and alcohol poisoning.
The police do their best with what the get from the student population. Maybe if the student population grew up a bit and showed some maturity when they violate the law, you’d see relations with police improve.
the point (give it up for)
(11/06/09 12:32pm)Report
stupid, moron, and idiot are all names someone might call a person who has a learning disability. did you just happen to pick those three examples out of thin air or are they exactly what came to mind when thinking about a learning disability? by asking if someone has a learning disability you are implying that you think they are a moron, idiot, or are stupid. ok, so i admit, you did not do any direct name calling but what you did was just as equally disrespectful. no ifs, ands, or buts.
the rest of your rebuttal is so riddled with irrelevant issues that it is obvious you are missing the point. the article is calling for a more amicable presence and relationship. would it be fair for me to judge you based on your peer’s actions? no. would it be fair for me to disrespect you because i dislike the name Zeke? no. stereotyping a large group of both graduate students and undergraduate students based on the actions of a minority of students present at things such as riots at cedar village is unfair as well. this is the point that you are missing. its not about following the rules or being a square or making all that is wrong in the world right. the point is your brash stereotyping, or anyone’s, is nothing but disrespectful. and i think we can both agree that being disrespected does not create good feelings or produce good results. as rick hale points out, he doesnt mind walking the line or blowing 0s to prove his sobriety but it was the fact that the officer came up to his vehicle with a loaded question which was disrespectful and stereotyping that caused him to be upset.
changing topics… i thought it would be pertinent to also point out in my personal story of while riding my bike through a parking lot and getting pulled over that this happened over a year ago, in the summer months while students are far fewer in numbers and i strongly believe that the real reason had to do with the officers boredom. and as for your getting on the streets where bikers belong comment, well, i value my life and with drivers who are scary (and super distracted) during the day at 10pm at night when it is dark out ill stick to my gut feeling which is to stay off the roads as much as possible. also, i never once claimed harassment and i was completely cooperative and polite and tactful to the not so happy (and eventually apologetic) officer. additionally, i agree, many in the country are not so lucky. there are a lot of people who are locked up over such petty things because they become so upset (and do something rash like run) because they are stopped by an officer and questioned, luckily i try not to let stereotypes affect my actions so greatly.
p.s. I actually do like the name Zeke for the record. i think its pretty unique and cool, even tho it is most likely an alias anyway.
p.s.s. RICK HALE: if my above comment put words into your mouth i apologize, that was my take on your article.
hehehe
(11/06/09 1:04pm)Report
to shellydakid:
im pretty sure that tha lil town of EL doesnt give the cops here a lot of “crap” to put up with in comparison to any other town of equal size, let alone a college town of equal size.
I Smell Bacon
(11/06/09 3:28pm)Report
Never, EVER trust the police.
jim cramer
(11/07/09 10:57pm)Report
shelly da idiot
“How many times do you hear of a “routine stop” going bad and the officer being killed? “ the last east lansing cop to be killed on duty Oct. 25, 1984.
and “What’s the saying? “ that isnt a sang, it is a poor attempt at a sang that you made up
Veteran Young Guy
(11/08/09 4:22pm)Report
The E.L.P.D. have been much more to blame for the tension between students and the city. Lets go back to 2005, when they went out of control shooting tear gas, and arresting people for no reason, and inciting the very thing they were supposed to be suppressing. They hand out MIP’s like candy to 19 and 20 year old students, and that stays on their record. They walk into houses and handout tickets to people who are not driving, and can arrest anyone based on vague criteria. Its a shame. My opinion hasn’t changed, and I an alumnus. I am glad they are cutting the force.