A former Baltimore police officer emphasizes the need for empathy and criticizes the ‘us vs. them’ attitude common on police forces….
After writing a series of tweets last week naming various instances of corruption he witnessed as a cop, Sergeant Wood criticized urban police forces’ “us vs. them” mentality in an interview with The Washington Post. His prescription for the divided system, he said, is empathy.
“Police officers aren’t warriors. They aren’t soldiers,” Wood told the Post. “The important thing is to change the mindset, to foster a sense of empathy, so police officers see themselves as the protectors of these communities, not as an occupying force that’s at war with them…
”Ultimately, he said, the solution “starts with empathy. We need to stop all this warrior talk, the militaristic language, and the us versus them rhetoric. We need a better metaphor. Police officers aren’t warriors. They aren’t soldiers. I don’t even like the mentality that we’re ‘enforcing the laws.’ Maybe a term like ‘protectors.’
Sarah Caspari
