The part of this one that really stands out for me in a good way is what the Chief of Police is reported as saying later in the article:
Register said he’s known Abbott for many years and has known him to be an honorable man. The report from the internal review indicates that Abbott was trying to be sarcastic and to address the situation as he perceived it, Register said.
“He made a mistake,” Register said. “I don’t know what’s in his heart but I certainly know what came out of his mouth. It’s inexcusable.”
This is important.
It doesn’t matter that the cop had a long history of being an “honorable man”. It doesn’t matter what he was trying to do even if it is in fact the case. And it doesn’t matter what’s ‘in his heart.’
What came out of his mouth is inexcusable and utterly incompatible with being an officer of the law. And it is not being excused, and he is no longer being allowed to be an officer of the law.
This is actually a very, very important bit of distinction and juxtaposition. There are things you can say, just once, or do, just once, there are mistakes you can make just once that do in fact make you unsuitable thereafter to be an officer of the law (or, harking back to more recent Canadian similar issues, a justice of the peace, or other empowered official in the field of law enforcement). Even if you are otherwise a good person. Even if you didn’t mean it like that.
Because that’s how important these jobs are. And how important building trust is, and how fraught the situations are, and how DAMAGING this shit can be to that trust.
Georgia Cop Fired After Telling White Woman ‘We Only Shoot Black People’
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