I had a Deputy walk in my office last week and tell me, “I was called a racist today on a traffic stop!” With everything going on in our state and nationwide, that obviously got my attention. He continued to explain how he had done a traffic stop and wrote the gentleman a ticket for not having a valid driver’s license. Apparently because of these actions, the driver (who was African American) accused him of being racist. Really?
For those of you that don’t know my background, I grew up in Dodge County and attended K-12th grade in Kasson. My father was a career long teacher and a deputy while my mom stayed home and raised me and three brothers. Growing up here, the only non-white students I can really remember were the foreign exchange students. We weren’t very diverse in the 70’s and early 80’s here in Dodge. As kids, we all really enjoyed these students – learning about their new culture while sharing ours. I still keep in contact with some today via Facebook.
When I went to broadcasting school in Phoenix Arizona I met my first openly gay friend, a fellow broadcasting student. While I didn’t pretend to understand what he was going thru, I did stick up for him when others picked on him. When I moved to my first broadcasting job in SE Nebraska in 1988, I became friends with the radio station’s consultant who was from Memphis Tennessee. Leon and I ended up being roommates there and have been lifelong friends since. Leon was a large black man with a big heart and even bigger smile. I learned so much from that man while working for that company, both about the radio business and about people.
As an adult I now have relatives that are African American, South African, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Canadian, European, and Australian. I have relatives that are straight, and I have relatives that are gay. In my career in law enforcement, I’ve had the opportunity to work with great people from all backgrounds – I’ve worked with deputies and officers that are Mexican, African American, Haitian, and Asian, male, female, homosexual, and lesbian. I love my family and my law enforcement family – and I enjoy the diversity we have. I love learning about history and of different cultures. I’m sure our deputies and other staff have stories very similar to mine.
The blanket label of racism that some groups are placing on law enforcement nationwide has proven dangerous and divisive. It frustrates me to no end that someone may assume that because I wear a badge, I’m racist? They couldn’t be further from the truth, which is usually the case with career law enforcement officers – especially with our staff. While I know there are many involved with good intentions, movements like Black Lives Matter lose any credibility with law enforcement when they stand silent while officers are murdered and groups riot cities and destroy businesses in the name of BLM. While their movement was started to address racism, when they turn a blind eye to violence against cops it does nothing more than fuel race tensions within the law enforcement community. With their actions, or lack of action in many instances, they’ve in essence become part of the problem, not the solution. For example, prior to BLM, I don’t recall ever thinking about black people differently when dealing with them as a deputy. Today, I’m sad to say that I find myself being more guarded and cautious when dealing with someone who is African American while in uniform – not because they are black – but because I worry now that they now assume I am racist because of my badge. Is this the BLM affect? How is this helping race relations? Sadly, regardless of good intentions, I fear organizations like BLM are only making things worse. Shooting related deaths for law enforcement officers is up 78% compared to this same time last year. In the past few weeks we’ve suffered mass shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge where officers were targeted simply because they were cops – five died in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge with many more injured.
I wish I could tell you I have the answers on how to fix this, but I don’t. I get so frustrated watching the national news and seeing many of our leaders, state and national, choosing politics over peace officers. I can tell you that we have an amazing group of men and women serving in this county. While we’ve been fortunate enough not to have any issues since I’ve been here, we do not and will not tolerate any semblance of racism within our organization. That I can tell you with utmost confidence.
If you are stopped and get a ticket from one of our deputies for driving with an invalid driver’s license, or any other crime for that matter – you got the ticket or were charged because you broke the law. Period. Not because of the color of your skin. That I can also tell you with utmost confidence.
Thanks to all who’ve shown our staff your support over these past weeks and months. Even the smallest gesture of appreciation means a lot to our men and women who serve.
Your Sheriff,
Scott
This post was originally published in August 2016 on Sheriff Rose’s blog.
A follow-up post, “Q&A With Post Bulletin Regarding ‘I Was Called A Racist Today’ Column” can also be found on his blog.
