INTERVIEW: The opinion of a state police officer on current events.
By: Nick Verdi, Staff Writer
Representing the Blue Line is a California Highway Patrol Officer, who was asked to provide his opinion on current political issues regarding the Police in the United States. Due to requests to remain anonymous, the interviewee will be referred to hereafter as Klein. Officer Klein has been a California Highway Patrolman for fifteen years. He has had extensive experience in his career, and he formerly served in the military as an Army Ranger. Klein is not the highway patrolman that may have pulled you over for going one hundred miles per-hour on the 91 freeway, however. He currently works in the Investigative Services Unit, which handles major criminal investigations, focused on organised crime.
When asked why he decided to join the California Highway Patrol (C.H.P.), Klein had this to say: “My uncle had been a highway patrol officer for 30 years at that point, and he encouraged me to submit my application as a backup plan,”. Klein was going to go to college, but in his transition to a civilian life, he saw that serving his state was fit. Many people are not informed on the difference between state and local police, and Klein gave insight commenting: “…the most obvious difference is ours is a state agency and officers have the opportunity to travel and be stationed anywhere in the state if they choose to do so,” meaning that local officers only have jurisdiction in their own cities.
After giving a basic understanding of his work; when asked if he had been assigned to the BLM protests that have been happening in Los Angeles (L.A), as of recent, Klein responded: “Yes,” and when followed up by what is his general mindset, and that of his team he elaborated: “ I can only speak for myself, as I’m sure several other officers have a different mindset and/or opinions than my own,”. He further elaborated that he goes in with the intention to “mitigate,” the risk for him, and his teammates, so that the task at hand is completed swiftly. It is important to take away that officer Klein is not going into these situations to harm protestors, but that he is mitigating risk, as to prevent the need for violent action against protestors. Klein when asked if the BLM protestors were truly peaceful emphasized that he does believe that most protestors truly want change,” and that there is an element of protestors that “…target crimes of opportunity,”. Klein has been to BLM protests with sometimes thousands, to tens of thousands of people, and also distinguished that, “Whether this is an element of BLM, or criminals masking their identity within these protests, I don’t know,” making the puddle more muddy, as to the argument as to whether BLM is a peaceful organization or not. It should also be noted that officer Klein has no personal malice towards the group.
When asked to look introspectively upon the potential correlation between the current political climate of America, and that of 2016’s Klein commented: “I recall working several protests back in 2016 and the common theme seems to be an unnecessary ‘us versus them’ mentality,” in reference to law enforcement vs. citizens, liberals vs. conservatives etc. Klein’s comments bring up memories of the Ferguson riots which were also related to cases of ‘police brutality’, but what comes to mind more often than not is the controversy of the 2016 election itself. It is evident that the events of an election year could be a factor in the political turbulence of America. There are clear emotional ties to the subjects of race, and politics, and given Klein’s experience, past, and present, one must ask, if the organizations that we stand by are operating on the agendas of the people, or those beyond our understanding, and emotions.
Klein left with one last statement to the people he serves: “We are people, just like you. This is our job. We get paid to wear a vest, a gun, and put ourselves in harm’s way in protection of ourselves, our partners and the public. It’s a very hard, thankless, and stressful job. But having been in this profession for well over a decade, I can say that an overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers are good human beings. This goes for the public as well! Treat others as you want to be treated. Show respect to others, and you’d be surprised what is given in return.”