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The National Police Association wants the public to put away their cell phones during violent altercations between officers and civilians and start intervening instead of recording. Now, when I first came across this tweet by the association calling for people to “stop filming and start helping,” I naturally assumed law enforcement officials just wanted people to stop recording their acts of police brutality—although, I did think it was strange that they’d be asking people to jump in and help because obviously, that would only lead to some kind of obstruction or assault on a police officer charge unless they were actually asking the public to help cops beat some poor negroes head into the concrete. (I know, that’s pretty far-fetched…but so is Kyle Rittenhouse’s innocence, amirite?)

Well, it turns out the National Police Association is actually asking that the public intervene when they see an officer being attacked by civilians instead of recording the incident and posting the footage on social media.

“This year over 50,000 law enforcement officers have been assaulted while on duty,” the National Police Association said in its PSA accompanied by curiously edited videos that showed incidents between cops and citizens. “The vast number of these attacks were filmed and uploaded to social media in the pursuit of likes and attention.”

Already, I have a number of questions:

First, while I’m sure videos of police getting treated the way police often treat Black people do get posted to social media, are we to believe the vast majority of 50,000 videos have been posted? Is Blue Tears Twitter a thing? Have we all just been missing these tens of thousands of videos that show cops getting beat up that are being uploaded at any given moment?

Also, what happened before the cameras started rolling? Did the cops do anything to provoke civilians to violence? Were the civilians in fear for their lives? What were the cops wearing? Were these boys in blue sporting gang colors?

The New York Police Benevolent Association also got in on the Blue Lives Matter action by posting a video that reportedly showed a cop being pulled to the ground and choked by someone inside a Target store last Tuesday, according to the Independent.

“We have a police officer in distress, & nobody helps him,” the post was captioned. “Is this the city we want? Has this become normal? It has to stop. We need your help. We need your help on the street, & we need your help to force our reckless elec. officials to do their job.”

I just wish law enforcement kept that same energy when cops are using excessive force against Black people. They could be asking “Is this the police force we want?” or “Has this become normal?”—questions that are long overdue for answers—but instead they get offended by the very mention of police violence and racism in policing.

And I know these people couldn’t possibly be asking Black civilians to intervene, because even if we were inclined to, the risk that we would end up in handcuffs or worse for being anywhere near a scene where a cop was attacked is far too great for that to be a reasonable expectation.

Now, let’s get back to the National Police Association—because it’s certainly worth mentioning that this blue Legion of Doom organization is trash.

This is the same organization that has been called out for running a pro-police charity that even Indianapolis police chiefs called a scam.

This is the same organization that sued the city of Palo Alto, California, over a Black Lives Matter mural that included an image of former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur on the grounds that the mural is discriminatory to cops because Shakur was convicted of murdering a state trooper at a time when cops were demonstrably discriminatory towards Black people.

Finally, the National Police Association has shown that it doesn’t really care about police brutality as it blasted the media and government for probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot—an event where countless police officers were attacked—and suggested that energy be focused on civil unrest during protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd

So now, I’m back to thinking these police officials just don’t want people recording because they don’t want their own misconduct caught on film. It’s really the only thing that makes sense.

SEE ALSO:

‘Why Is He Dead?’ Few Details After Massachusetts Police ‘Murdered’ Anthony Harden Over Unspecified ‘Altercation’

Attorneys For Ex-Cop Convicted In Brutal Beating Of Black Undercover Officer Blame St. Louis Police Culture

National Police Association Wants Us To ‘Stop Filming And Start Helping’– Stop Laughing, They’re Serious!  was originally published on newsone.com