Yes, this piece will partly defend the police in Buffalo. I don't agree with what happened and I think it shouldn't have happened. However, if I look at how people react to it and how they read the footage I think that they make some wrong conclusions and that that could be hurting the goal that most people want: A reformed and better police force.

I know and I don't mind that many people will disagree. And I don't assume I have everything right. However I think and hope that I can bring some valid points which can help giving a better view of the situation and in that way maybe help the discussion about how to improve the police.

First I will discuss some points where I think that many people misread the footage, after that I will address what I think what they did wrong. So if you only want to read that, you can skipt to that part. However I think I have some valid points and if I can make them, also the people that don't want change can use them against the public.

In the beginning I had the feeling that the focus was only on the killers of George Floyd and that the discussion about how to improve the police in such way that this would not happen again looked secondary. Luckily after a short and when the people were charged the focus seemed to change to how the police should change. But now I have the feeling again that there is so much focus on the shoving of Martin Gugino that the discussion about police reforms do not get the attention it needs and gives people to drive the point that there are some bad people and if they are fired that the situation is solved when that has happened.

Also seeing this discussion I always had the feeling in my head of but what about the women in New York. What I see there is wrong and in my eyes, if you disregard the outcome but only looking at the action of the police, worse than what the Buffalo police, so why is there less said about that and so much about this incident? Of course this is about the severity of the injuries, but if you want to reform the police you have to look more about what the action was. Because otherwise people get away with wrong behaviour when it does not result in severe injuries.

The footage

For the people that did not have seen the footage yet, here are both.

Buffalo

New York

Misinterpreted things in the footage

The shove itself

The first point is more about why I think the shoving in New York is worse because I think that they should not have shoved the man. However if you look at the footage of New York you can see a group of police officers walking by. Not clearing the street but just passing by. Only one officer steps out of the group to give an extreme push to the female that is standing close by.

If you then look at the incident of Buffalo, I see that they are going to clear the street. The two officers give the man a push but if you compare it with the push in New York it is less extreme. And I think that the two officers only wanted to push him back and not do him any harm. And that is not the feeling that I got watching the footage of New York. That does not say that I think that they should have pushed him, but I will come back to that later.

No first aid

As many pointed out, there was one police officer that seemed shocked and wanted to help the man. Wait I didn't read (maybe some people pointed it out but I did see their reactions) is that it is one of the two officers that pushed the man. And he seemed affected by the state of the victim.

Many pointed out that an other officer interrupted him and didn't gave him a chance to help the man. However, I would probably have done the same. If there is another option, you don't let the person that inflicted the damage do the first aid. It can have an negative impact because he can lose the focus to render first aid when he is confronted with what effect his action had. Even stronger, I would have pulled him from the front line. After an incident like that, you want to give the officer time to process the incident so that you prevent other incidents because the officer was in his head still at the incident.

Also the officer that interupted the other from rendering aid seems to radio for an EMT directly. If you look at the footage of New York you see that no cop takes a second to see if the girl is alright. Of course the injuries are a bit different. But she also needed to go to the hospital and needed help.

The resignation

Since I only read about that they resigned because they don't like how the two officers where treated and that they were only following orders it is hard to get a good view of this point. So here I will put how I hope what their reasenong was and later I will look at it from the other side.

But I hope that they had the reasoning that the orders that are given to them are not aligned with the purpose of the police and this incident was a wake up call that they should not follow all the orders. But that it could have happen to all of them because as long as everything goes fine, following orders and not questioning them is very easy and that it thus could happen to all of them. And because of that, that they feel that the two officers are not treated fairly. After all it could have happen to all of them.

This is wait I hope that their reasoning is. However I'm afraid that I miss the boat here and that the feeling that most people have is right here, and that they see this as normal. Since we now are on the topic of what they are doing wrong, I now point out what they did wrong or could have done better in my eyes.

What did they wrong?

The shove

If I look at the overall footage of the the police at the protests they always seem to have no patience. He was just walking up to them to say something, not to hit them or do something aggressive. There was no reason to push him. I can say more about it, but I guess everyone agrees. But I think if the police have some more patient and talk a bit more, a lot of damage can be avoided.

No first aid

Like I already said, I understand why the officer that pushed the victim was prevented to render aid. Also there was called voor EMT's. And I don't know how the first aid training was for these officers and how much they could have done but one or two should check on the victim and at least check basic signs of life. And also if they see that they can do nothing to help, paying attention to the victim shows that you care and only that already can help.

Also there are bystanders asking for ambulance and that they should call one. I don't get why they don't answer: Yes EMT's are on the way. It also shows that you care and could calm some bystanders.

The resignation

Like I already said, the information what I have about this is limited, so it is difficult to get a read on this. However it looks like that there viewpoint is that what the the officers did was normal and that they should not be prosecuted. Also that they applauded the officers seems to point into this direction instead of, the position that the officers are put in is not fair and it could sadly happen to anyone of us if the rules don't change.

Conclusion and final thoughs

All things combined, but situations where wrong, but I have the feeling that the one in New York is more the cop in question (however no other one seemed to render help afterwards) and here it seems more a problem in the organisation and orders.

So yes I think it is good that there are charges been filed. However I would like too see that the court looks at reasoning why it happened and if everything is the cops fault or if some of the blame on the organisation. Because without more information it is impossible to see the cops intensions and everything.

But I have the feeling that only held the two officers accountable is not fair and does not help to prevent this in the future. Only pointing at the person making the fault and not looking at the reasons behind it is easy but will not improve anything. And I have the feeling that pointing at the individual officers only will help the people that don't want change because they then can see, yes we have some bad officers, but if we can get rid of them everything is fine again.

This is also the reason why I put this online. I have the feeling that now people are looking to much at those two cops. But having them convicted will not improve the police in Buffalo. Changing the rules and behaviour of the police will.

And I hope that also officers will change there voice and say with these rules we can not do our job. We want better training and rules. We also want change. And being supportive of the cops in that way. And not that everthing that they do is right.