letter to the cops, the mayor and the chief of police...
some wording in this is from
kennycreeper he had a brilliant way of saying the police need to stick to just the facts. i will italicize his insperation.
Dear Officer Chxxxxx,
I don’t know if you remember me, but the Kenmore Police Department adopted us, the Monterrubio Family for Christmas 2 years ago. We are still using the lovely glasses, sweatshirt and other neat gifts you gave us.
I am writing to you because I know you are very active in the community and very much about educating our youth about the law and the police. I feel you do an excellent job in showing youth that police are human and have a vital role in the community, a role that is more than just a professional bully or babysitter. A role that probably gets taken for granted and misconstrued far too often.
I had an experience last night with one Kenmore Police Officer and one King County Sherriff. The first one brought my son home and when I met them at the door they both looked like they were ready to go to blows. My son who is 16 was with his friends at Safeway doing things he admittedly knows weren’t good choices. I agree that he should have been called on his judgment and he knows that it was bad decision making. Yet we had to work through the most pressing situation first which was the insult slinging that was going on between Officer Vxxxx and my child. The officer even admitted that he had called my son the “F” word, and stated he had no respect for him and also that my son wouldn’t amount to anything. This automatically takes me out of the role of discipliner and now rather than deal with the situation, I am defending my son. This police officer stepped outside the role of police officer, and became offensive. First off, the police should exercise care when using language. Yes, emotions become high, but that is the time that trained professionals should remain as such. It is not this officer's duty to tell me what he thinks of my son or his behavior. It is not this officer's duty to tell me how to raise my child. It was his duty to bring him to me, and/or lay charges. Although had he given his opinion of my son in a rational and calm effect I may have been able to confer or dispute in like manner, but all I did was end up trying to advocate and protect my offspring from what appeared to be an irrational man that was larger than us both and wears a gun.
It is the policeman, who when confronted with ill manners (such as he expressed), who must remain neutral and not let it get to them, or respond in exactly the way he claims he is being abused. This is not a good example of law enforcement, not one I would expect from a police force that works hard to be understood in the community.
I work with youth as well, high-risk youth from Seattle’s roughest neighborhoods. I totally can appreciate how exasperating they can be. There are days when I want to get angry, or yell or say what I am really thinking, but in keeping with a professional demeanor I am not allowed to break that boundary, because how many kids will I alienate and not be able to mold into decent citizens if I do so. It is as equally an important boundary as becoming overly involved and friendly. Plus it is just plain good to role model self control.
The second officer that came out is one like you, active in the community, knows the kids, is in on education and PR. Sheriff Zxxxxx came out to follow up per my request. My son, already knew the sheriff, and knows that he is an officer who role models courteous behavior. He does his job by being affable, direct, and calm while maintaining a strong authoritive presence. The difference in the interaction was startling. My son remained calm, polite, saying “Yes Sir” and listening to what Sheriff Zornes had to say, taking the advice and processing the wisdom that the sheriff had to offer.
Isn’t that what we are trying to do as a community? Teach our kids the value of our experience, aid them in decision making, and help them learn from their mistakes? The only way to do that is to model the behavior we expect from them. Just grabbing them and belittling them and throwing them into cop cars won’t get us anywhere, not with them or their parents.
I know my son well. I know he has two responses to authority, and as shown in the 2 examples above they are like night and day. If given respect my son is a very honest forthright young man, who behaves humbly and responds well to constructive criticism. He will own up to his errors on his own and take full responsibility for his choices. When he is being treated unjustly or discourteously he responds as he feels the climate dictates. For better or worse, he has always valued mutual respect and happily gives it when the same is reciprocated.
This is not the first time my son has had problems with the hostility of an officer. There is one officer that makes him assume the position on the police car every time he comes across him in the streets, he gets frisked (nothing is ever found) and verbally abused and then sent on his way with promises of future encounters. Then police like Volpe wonder why his attitude seems angry towards them. I can also assure you this will not aid in turning my son into a law abiding citizen.
I want my children and their friends to respect and understand law and law enforcers! Believe me, with all my heart! There is a definitely seedy side of Kenmore with the rampant epidemic of crystal meth and the criminal aspect that brings with it. I don’t want these youth to have the confusion over who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. It shouldn’t be easier to make friends with a meth dealer than it is to have a pleasant interaction with a peace office/police person. There are no throw away kids in Kenmore or anywhere, but when this chasm is created and the children feel for whatever reason; economics, race, culture, or even just how they identify themselves in these formative years, that they are less than the kids that come from more privileged and/or stable homes, the children have no choice but to take the hand extended to them.
As you educate the youth about the law, I feel that the law needs to be educated around some of the fringe kids they have in their community, the backgrounds, the different cultures, how economics play into this and so on. I would value it very much if we could get together and discuss this. I am willing to start a program like you do in the schools only reverse it so that the community is represented fully to your police force. I feel it is very important that the officers responding to the scene of a situation have a better understanding of who they are dealing with. I assure you this is not going to be some bleeding heart festival, but a straightforward logical look into the community. I look forward to discussing this with you or whoever you can direct me to.
Sincerely,
Mary Monterrubio
kennycreeper he had a brilliant way of saying the police need to stick to just the facts. i will italicize his insperation.
Dear Officer Chxxxxx,
I don’t know if you remember me, but the Kenmore Police Department adopted us, the Monterrubio Family for Christmas 2 years ago. We are still using the lovely glasses, sweatshirt and other neat gifts you gave us.
I am writing to you because I know you are very active in the community and very much about educating our youth about the law and the police. I feel you do an excellent job in showing youth that police are human and have a vital role in the community, a role that is more than just a professional bully or babysitter. A role that probably gets taken for granted and misconstrued far too often.
I had an experience last night with one Kenmore Police Officer and one King County Sherriff. The first one brought my son home and when I met them at the door they both looked like they were ready to go to blows. My son who is 16 was with his friends at Safeway doing things he admittedly knows weren’t good choices. I agree that he should have been called on his judgment and he knows that it was bad decision making. Yet we had to work through the most pressing situation first which was the insult slinging that was going on between Officer Vxxxx and my child. The officer even admitted that he had called my son the “F” word, and stated he had no respect for him and also that my son wouldn’t amount to anything. This automatically takes me out of the role of discipliner and now rather than deal with the situation, I am defending my son. This police officer stepped outside the role of police officer, and became offensive. First off, the police should exercise care when using language. Yes, emotions become high, but that is the time that trained professionals should remain as such. It is not this officer's duty to tell me what he thinks of my son or his behavior. It is not this officer's duty to tell me how to raise my child. It was his duty to bring him to me, and/or lay charges. Although had he given his opinion of my son in a rational and calm effect I may have been able to confer or dispute in like manner, but all I did was end up trying to advocate and protect my offspring from what appeared to be an irrational man that was larger than us both and wears a gun.
It is the policeman, who when confronted with ill manners (such as he expressed), who must remain neutral and not let it get to them, or respond in exactly the way he claims he is being abused. This is not a good example of law enforcement, not one I would expect from a police force that works hard to be understood in the community.
I work with youth as well, high-risk youth from Seattle’s roughest neighborhoods. I totally can appreciate how exasperating they can be. There are days when I want to get angry, or yell or say what I am really thinking, but in keeping with a professional demeanor I am not allowed to break that boundary, because how many kids will I alienate and not be able to mold into decent citizens if I do so. It is as equally an important boundary as becoming overly involved and friendly. Plus it is just plain good to role model self control.
The second officer that came out is one like you, active in the community, knows the kids, is in on education and PR. Sheriff Zxxxxx came out to follow up per my request. My son, already knew the sheriff, and knows that he is an officer who role models courteous behavior. He does his job by being affable, direct, and calm while maintaining a strong authoritive presence. The difference in the interaction was startling. My son remained calm, polite, saying “Yes Sir” and listening to what Sheriff Zornes had to say, taking the advice and processing the wisdom that the sheriff had to offer.
Isn’t that what we are trying to do as a community? Teach our kids the value of our experience, aid them in decision making, and help them learn from their mistakes? The only way to do that is to model the behavior we expect from them. Just grabbing them and belittling them and throwing them into cop cars won’t get us anywhere, not with them or their parents.
I know my son well. I know he has two responses to authority, and as shown in the 2 examples above they are like night and day. If given respect my son is a very honest forthright young man, who behaves humbly and responds well to constructive criticism. He will own up to his errors on his own and take full responsibility for his choices. When he is being treated unjustly or discourteously he responds as he feels the climate dictates. For better or worse, he has always valued mutual respect and happily gives it when the same is reciprocated.
This is not the first time my son has had problems with the hostility of an officer. There is one officer that makes him assume the position on the police car every time he comes across him in the streets, he gets frisked (nothing is ever found) and verbally abused and then sent on his way with promises of future encounters. Then police like Volpe wonder why his attitude seems angry towards them. I can also assure you this will not aid in turning my son into a law abiding citizen.
I want my children and their friends to respect and understand law and law enforcers! Believe me, with all my heart! There is a definitely seedy side of Kenmore with the rampant epidemic of crystal meth and the criminal aspect that brings with it. I don’t want these youth to have the confusion over who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. It shouldn’t be easier to make friends with a meth dealer than it is to have a pleasant interaction with a peace office/police person. There are no throw away kids in Kenmore or anywhere, but when this chasm is created and the children feel for whatever reason; economics, race, culture, or even just how they identify themselves in these formative years, that they are less than the kids that come from more privileged and/or stable homes, the children have no choice but to take the hand extended to them.
As you educate the youth about the law, I feel that the law needs to be educated around some of the fringe kids they have in their community, the backgrounds, the different cultures, how economics play into this and so on. I would value it very much if we could get together and discuss this. I am willing to start a program like you do in the schools only reverse it so that the community is represented fully to your police force. I feel it is very important that the officers responding to the scene of a situation have a better understanding of who they are dealing with. I assure you this is not going to be some bleeding heart festival, but a straightforward logical look into the community. I look forward to discussing this with you or whoever you can direct me to.
Sincerely,
Mary Monterrubio