In response to #blacklivesmatter and other grass root police reform movements, many cops started #bluelivesmatter as a way to go head to head with the protesters message.
Recently a story came out about a cop who went to a local staples store in Northern New Jersey, in order to have a special #bluelivesmatter stamp made. Here’s what the stamp said.
“WE’RE HERE TO PROTECT & SERVE YOUR ASS NOT KISS IT.
TO THOSE WHO ARE PRO-POLICE WE SAY, THANK YOU.
TO THOSE WHO HAVE WAGED WAR AGAINST US WE SAY, BRING IT ON.
WE’RE READY WILLING AND ABLE TO TOE TAG AND BODY BAG YOU.
YOU STARTED THE WAR NOW WE WILL FINISH IT.
BLUE LIVES MATTER”
The employee who received the officer’s request decided to discuss the matter with his manager. They jointly decided that Staples would not fulfill the officer’s order. The employee posted a picture of the request online as reddit user Carinamachina on reddits r/badcopnodonut, a police accountability subreddit.
Copblock.org had this to say about the incident:
“I am certain that once this story gets around, cops will soon want to boycott Staples, as they seem wont to do whenever a business or it’s [sic] employees refuses to serve them on grounds of their own moral stance, as was recently the case with Arby’s and Jimmy Johns.”
Unfortunately this does seem to be a pattern when it comes to police response to anyone who doesn’t bow to their authority, be they citizen or business.
The main question should be why do we even tolerate this behavior from police organizations? I think it could set a dangerous trend, imagine if politicians openly put themselves in a separate class, above the citizens they serve? Imagine politicians touting #politiciansknowbest in response to citizens criticizing their policies?
These are the kind of childish stunts which only serve to antagonize a populace which is already fed up with the growing “police state” this country has found itself in.
Across the country people have mobilized and come together in order to protest police brutality and the arrogant culture which breeds this behavior within too many police organizations. The people formed groups like #blacklivesmatter in order to protest what they know to be a culture of overreach and arrogance by a vast majority of police organizations in the United States.
You would think that after seeing so many people take to the streets just to demand the preservation of their human dignity, that most police organizations would start to examine these problems more seriously in order to find a solution.
Well, not so much. Year after year, most police organizations pay good lip service to “improving community relations”. They visit a few schools and play “Secret Santa”, then call it “Community Policing.” But the numbers don’t lie. Police have become puppets for corporations, which profit from the extend criminalization of American citizens.
Meanwhile more and more people are seeing the police as the enemy, as opposed to protectors who serve their community. I wonder how they could possibly get the idea that the police have become too power drunk and entitled? If more citizens and very quiet “good cops” stood up and just said “NO” to this kind of behavior, much like those staples employees had done, things would start to change very quickly.
By the way, the cop who made the request has yet to be identified. On top of that, the cop is probably still walking around with a badge and loaded weapon.
