To Serve and Protect
Megawords spoke with a local Philadelphia Police officer [under the condition of anonymity] working in one of the most crime ridden and dangerous districts in the city. In his own words, he gives us his thoughts about the perils of the job, crime, the prison and judicial systems, and the stop snitchin’ epidemic. Some locations have been changed, and we’ve kept the officer’s identity a secret for his protection.
ON THE STREETS
My district is about 2 miles by 3 miles, its one of the highest crime districts in the city. It’s bad. People are getting killed left and right, because no one cares and no one helps.
Drug dealing is so bad, and gone on for so long, that you can contain it, but you can’t stop it. When operation Safe Streets started there were tons of cops walking foot beats. A cop is standing on the corner that the drugs were sold on, so course it looks a lot safer; but all you’re really doing is moving it. That’s why Camden jumped off, because they just moved the operation. You’ll never stop it, and you just have to hope to god that someone who isn’t a piece of shit doesn’t get killed. Drugboy killing drugboy – I couldn’t care less. Airbrush a t-shirt and I’ll send a teddy bear. But when it’s the little kid who’s playing basketball at the Rec Center and someone ends up killing him, that’s the sad part.
We do a lot of roll-ups. Where we’ll just roll up on a corner and jump out. That’s where people are at their most vulnerable, but it’s also the most dangerous for us. And when we do it in plainclothes its even worse, because they think they are getting robbed, and they are a lot quicker to pull a gun out. You’ve gotta’ watch their hands. The only thing that can hurt you on a person is their hands; if you can see them you’re fine. Then you get the asshole that won’t show them, so you’ve got to get physical on people. Even a gun in the face doesn’t matter, because they know you won’t shoot them. You have to get in their mindset. They think they are in a rap video or movie – that’s really the mindset. For a bundle of drugs sold, they get paid $20; and some corners will go through 500 bundles in an afternoon. So they are making money. And it’s the young kids that sell it on the corners; they are the ones that want to fight. They are trying to make a name.
It so crazy how drug corners work. It’s so organized. People think they are just some stupid ghetto thugs. But they have ranks and shifts. Each corner has what’s called a caseworker, a manager basically, he makes sure the stashes are up and each dealer is where he’s supposed to be, he’s making sure the lookouts are where they are supposed to be. There’s corners in this city that have motion detectors on the roofs of the buildings, because cops would climb up to the roof and watch from there, and see dealers and buyers. It’s insane. The shit you see in the movies is nothing close to what really happens.
“The shit you see in the movies is nothing close to what really happens.”
ON STOP SNITCHIN’
I’ve seen nasty motherfuckers out here. I’ve seen guys with machine guns shoot up a street just to shoot up a street. I’ve seen them blow up cars and light houses on fire. That’s the mindset. They’ll burn a house down and kill an entire family because they thought they were going to snitch.
That’s the worst part about the job, especially where I work, is that the people hate us. A little girl was killed in shooting recently. We pull up to the scene and there’s a little girl lying there half-alive. We immediately have to attend to her, and when we ask the 30 people standing there watching, all you get is “Fuck you officer, I didn’t see shit.” There’s no cooperation at all. People are terrified to say anything. Every once in a while there’s an old person that will say something. But the whole stop snitchin’ thing is real. I’ve done drug corners where we’ll roll up and we can’t find anything, I know it’s somewhere, but we can’t find it. Sometimes an older guy will be out front sweeping, and he’ll whisper to us “Officer look up the block a little bit more.” But he’s not getting involved any further. We had a homicide investigation where we were knocking on doors, asking questions, and doors were getting slammed in our face. One little old lady was hanging out her window and said, “I’d check the third house in on the right.” And she closed her window and went back inside. We hit the house and picked up a few guns. Now, I’m not sure if it tied into the homicide, but it shows there are some people who will help.
ON THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
The problem with the city isn’t the Police Department. And it’s not the higher ups in the department. I feel like I’m well trained, well supplied, well paid. There is an abundance of overtime. It’s the judges. They just let people out. People know that if they get caught in Philadelphia, they are going to get off. There are two defense lawyers in the city that are bar-none the best at what they do. They are going to burn in hell, but they are good fuckin’ lawyers. For the right price, you can get off on any job.
I got kicked in the face, I was involved in a fight outside of a bar, and a girl booted me right in the face and split it open. In court the judge asks me if I’ll accept an apology from the defendant. I said, “In lieu of what?” Judge says, “She has a drug addiction and has three kids at home.” I said, “Your honor, number one – I will not accept an apology; and number two – you already made up your mind.” He said, “That’s right, I did.” And she got off. And that’s why people act the way they do. They see their friends get off for shooting 4 people, so why the fuck not? They think, “Dude looks at me wrong I’m going to put one in his face.”
ON THE JOB
They say our job is 98% boredom, and 2% sheer terror. It’s like being in a war where I work.
I don’t care if I get shot and killed on the job. I’ve accepted it. I’m not afraid of it. The worst thing that could happen in my opinion is me fucking up, and getting another cop killed. I have a partner, and we’re so in tune with each other. Just the way he’ll speed up the street or turn a corner, I’ll know something’s up. They call it the police sixth sense. This is my second partner now; my first one was five years. You get in tune with your partner, and that’s what makes it good.
I couldn’t tell you how many fish fries and soul food barbeques I’ve been to. For me growing up, I was mostly around white people, and it’s a neat aspect of the job to be exposed to, and be able to get in with, people from different backgrounds and cultures, and different neighborhoods. The friends I’ve made on this job I’ll have for life.
“I couldn’t tell you how many fish fries and soul food barbeques I’ve been to. For me growing up, I was mostly around white people, and it’s a neat aspect of the job to be exposed to, and be able to get in with, people from different backgrounds and cultures, and different neighborhoods. The friends I’ve made on this job I’ll have for life.”
ON DEATH
I’ve seen people shot over a dice game, card games – people don’t care. I saw a lady who just had her head tied to the train tracks and run over by a train, I’ve seen a lady who was as close as I am to you right now, slit her throat with a razor blade; she bled out and died like a bad horror movie. I’ve had more than enough people die in my arms. There are only two that really get me. One time a girl was hit by a car, she’s really hurt. I’m giving her CPR; I’m covered in blood. She’s dying. I’m used to seeing drug dealers die, but when’s it’s a respectable person … she had crystal green eyes, I watched them roll into the back of her head.
I had a baby die on me once; there was nothing I could do.
ON PRISON
Prison is crazy. Every once in a while you’ll lock up a dude and they are cool; they know it’s the game and it’s how it works. They know they have to deal with the cops; it’s a business hazard to them. They have the same friends on the street as they do in prison. Prison is hard for the random guy with a DUI, who doesn’t know anyone; they aren’t in tune to all the craziness.
You can be rival drug dealers in the neighborhood, but you’ll band together in prison because you are from the same neighborhood. I’ve been in every prison in the area. I’d kill myself before I went to prison. A couple guys I work with are prison guards, they tell me it’s more outrageous then you could ever imagine. My buddy got knocked out and thrown down a flight of steps at work at the prison. He said as a guard you have to establish a rep, just like these animals on the street. The next day he took a tougher and more “physical” stance with the inmates. He never got fucked with again and everyone listens to him now.
Like any other job, there are a lot of crooked prison guards too. Every inmate has a cell phone; they have all sorts of contraband. The guards are the ones bringing it in. Its one guard to 150 prisoners, someone gets hurt everyday.
ON PUBLIC OPINION
People think all cops are assholes, and they are bums and they eat donuts. And there are cops like that, but it’s in any line of work. Cops are good people; it’s the minority of us that create the bad image. People don’t understand that, it’s just like any other job. But I go out and I work hard. In my squad it’s an unofficial competition. If someone gets 50 bags of rock, my partner and me try to go out and get 60. You’ll hear another team get an arrest, and we’ll try and top what they caught. If there’s 9 shootings in 3 blocks, we know its 3 drug corners, and that they are shooting each other. We’ll go saturate the area and try and pull up some guns and make a few arrests. We’re really out there trying to make it happen, to have some effect.
The number one thing is the media is fucked. They’d kill 30 cops just to get a story. You don’t hear about the 750 good jobs that cops did in the course of 24 hours; that averted a shooting, or locked up a guy wanted for murder. All you hear about is the one kid that had handcuffs on him and got socked in the mouth by a cop because the kid spit on him. But also you don’t hear about the homicide detectives when they do solve a case. You don’t hear about the detective who spent 3 months working over time, really applying himself putting a case together. And there’s a racial thing, a white kid gets shot on Cottman Avenue outside of a bar, it’s all over the news. I’d say once a day there’s a shooting in North Philly, maybe it gets a blip of news.
What we do is shootings, stabbings, homicides; we take down doors for drugs, stolen cars, and surveillance, lots of plainclothes work. Imagine if one part of the district is getting killed with burglaries: over the last 30 days, say there’s 28 burglaries. We’ll go out in plainclothes, and cars, and walk around and have a presence. That’s how it works. We had a guy robbing a lot stores, must of robbed the same ones with a gun I’d say 15 times. Eventually we got him.
And don’t get me wrong, there are Joe Pro cops, he’s got his badge, and his gun, and was picked on in high school – and he ruins it for all of the cops. I’ve been able to keep myself away from idiots like that.
“People hold us to a higher standard, which is good. But when cops fuck up, it’s all over the news. And people can only see us as corrupt donut eaters, they can only see black and white. People gotta’ realize we’re people too. All they see is a gun and a badge.”
Don’t think just because a cop is a cop he’s a dick. There are people that come down to rallies against police, but they only know what they see on TV. People from outside the city they think they know how it is. They think they are fighting for a cause, but they don’t know how the real world works. Not all cops are bad, and you’ve gotta’ remember cops are people. You might catch a cop on a bad day, he’s got problems at home, and here you are being a knucklehead a little bit, and you’re not listening to him. You might get gripped up, or you might get smacked in the mouth. But when you deal with someone who is being a bitch at the DMV, that doesn’t make the news.
People hold us to a higher standard, which is good. But when cops fuck up, it’s all over the news. And people can only see us as corrupt donut eaters, they can only see black and white. People gotta’ realize we’re people too. All they see is a gun and a badge. Unless you do something wrong. Then they see everything. The first thing people look at on a cop is the gun, no matter what situation. Little kids, old people, everybody. And some cops abuse that power.
There’s an old saying at the police department that goes, “I’d rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6.” If someone tries to hurt or kill a cop they deserve what they get. A cop has a family and wife or husband, and kids they want to go home to. You can fire me; I’ll get another job. But you’re not going to hurt me. I’m going to defend myself. People gotta’ realize it’s just a job.
Tags: philadelphia, police
