You need to determine if the two identities you hold are compatible. This is a consequence of the policies of the unions you belong to, qualified immunity that is your extraordinary privilege, and the unspoken blue line that makes it nearly impossible for good officers to enact change in a dysfunctional system.
But one part of that identity, as a police officer, makes me and others feel unsafe.
For those of us who faced officers in riot gear, who were tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets less than a year ago while kneeling with our hands up in support of our Black community members, we respectfully ask officers to stay away.įor L.G.B.T.Q.+ officers, my response is this: You have an identity that is complex. This is an appropriate and timely response to the collective trauma of a nation dealing with a year of reckoning regarding police brutality. I have to wholeheartedly disagree with your perception of the ban on uniformed police groups at New York’s Pride celebration as a misstep. Re “ A Misstep by Organizers of Pride” (editorial, May 19):
