The Smell of Bacon: An NYPD story

Introduction

Today, I offer you a short story I wrote recently, followed by my comments. But first, I offer some background for this story.


Background

My short story was inspired by the photo which the following link will connect you to. Which in turn was inspired by the ambush killing of two NYC police officers as they sat in their squad car in December, 2014:

http://www.usnews.com/dims4/USNEWS/a4bedca/2147483647/resize/652x%3E/quality/85/?url=%2Fcmsmedia%2Ff5%2Fa3%2Fd9088cf94263973dd602dfcea634%2F150108-police-editorial.jpg

The two officers in question were Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, whose recent funerals were attended by thousands of police officers, many from police departments across the nation.


The story: The Smell of Bacon*


DATE:       Jan. 3, 2016
Location:   NYC
Event:        A funeral for a recently-slain NYC police officer

I remember reading about the huge turnout of police officers who attended two funerals about a year ago - for slain officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. So when yet another officer was ambushed in that same city last week, I decided to join the mourners as they assembled in the street outside of the funeral home. I was never very comfortable among cops, so I decided to hang back at a distance and not immerse myself in the crowd.

I also remember how uncomfortable I felt when I saw photos of all those uniformed mourners packed so closely together. As fate would have it, my fears proved well-founded based on what happened when the crowd was at its peak. Two single-engine planes packed with explosives, flying low and coming from opposite directions, did a kamikaze on that crowd. Not long after, mortar rounds descended wreaking their predictable havoc.

That was well over a week ago. Death toll was in the hundreds - mostly uniforms. I had watched from a place spared by the attackers. It was awful - seeing all those scorched corpses and body parts. And watching a large number of officers trying to help the wounded. I also saw a fair number who ran away, thinking only of themselves - fearful of another possible assault. Something else as terrifying in its own way was wafting through the air - the unmistakable scent of fried bacon. Must be my imagination, I thought.

It didn't take long for the various police unions to start howling. Citing the precedent of the city's response to the Liu & Ramos killings, demands were issued. All of the dead NYPD officers:

• should have streets named after them;

• should be posthumously promoted to the highest, legally-permissible pay grade so their next-of-kin could be entitled to greater benefits.

Of course, the departments of the dead who weren't members of NYPD felt a ripple-effect of pressure for similar treatment.

I wonder if similar funerals in the future will be as well and vulnerably attended. But I don't have much time to wonder these days.  Ever since I hacked NSA's computers years ago, I knew I was on their shit list as a possibly dangerous non-conformist (they don't even call them "terrorists" anymore - how far we've come). So I went underground, which so far has proved good for me. But I feel sorry for the poor and minorities without influence or a place to hide. I heard that cops all over the nation unleashed their wrath, killing dozens and strong-arming untold thousands more. And grand juries routinely refused to indict any cops, even in cases where it was undeniable - undeniable except to such as the compliant and cowed members of these grand juries.

I cry and pray for the dead and those who felt they had to kill them - sometimes at the cost of their own lives.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My comments

I posted this on Yahoo:


QUOTE:

B'OR is the kind of guy who would call the murdered police officers "heroes." Even though they were really two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time - who weren't in the midst of doing anything heroic. The H-word is hugely overworked. As for cops in general? I don't know about NYC, but in Chicago [my home town] they comprise the biggest street gang in town.

Anecdote:  When I was in my [late] 20's, I was jumped by a couple of thugs and ended up with a bloody face. They fled, then I saw a squad car waiting for a green light at a nearby intersection. I ran up and knocked on the window. Cop turned his head, saw what a wreck I was, then took a bite out of his donut and drove off when the light turned green. No, I don't have a lot of love for cops. As for you cop supporters, heaven help you if a cop thinks you're guilty of something.

:UNQUOTE.

• Someone posted a one-word reply to the above-quote: "fibber." Uh, huh. This poster undoubtedly doesn't live in Chicago. If he did, then he would know what most Chicagoans know - my experience was not an isolated one. On occasion, I encounter such posters on line who like to accuse folks like me as being "libruls." (sigh): I don't care if anyone disagrees with me, but I don't care for one-word respondents bent on showing off their stupidity.

• Hundreds of cops had turned their backs on their mayor since they felt he, in effect, encouraged anti-police demonstrators who had protested the recent death of Eric Garner at the hands of a police-officer using a choke-hold to subdue him. [NOTE: None of the other four officers, who had Eric pinned to the ground and heard him say "I can't breathe," bothered to try to break the choke-hold, or tell that cop to ease up. You will never hear of any such behavior.] Also, the number of arrests and parking tickets saw a precipitous drop over the last two weeks. Looks like these cops are being insubordinate. In the first case, if (for example) President Obama were to suffer such an episode (say) during a speech he were to offer to West Point graduates, they would be severely punished. But, no, cops get a pass, as they all-too-often do.

• Members of the NYPD are called New York's Finest. "Finest" what, I must ask? Are we to believe that even the worst-behaved of their corp are to be held in higher esteem than (say) a highly-effective medical doctor or school teacher?

• Then there's that TV show "Blue Bloods," which is a term used to indicate a person of noble birth. Excuse me? That smacks of hubris - for which there is karmic retribution (sooner or later).

• In cases where a cop is accused of killing a citizen, it's too much to hope a grand jury will ever indict.  Such jurymen are too easily cowed by a prosecutor who presents evidence - but perhaps not all of it nor with any conviction to indict. Instead, a special prosecutor (a neutral party from another state or from the federal DOJ) should handle such cases.

• The feds should randomly set up sting operations focused on local departments to see if cops are breaking the law.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Steven Searle, just another member of the

Virtual Samgha of The Lotus Sutra and

a former candidate for US President (in 2008 and 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

Footnote: 

Bacon* - This is based on the habit of some to refer to police officers as pigs.